Table of Contents

1. What to Expect from Copenhagen
2. Engaging Campus Sustainability through Students at COP15
3. Lessons in a Design-Build Approach: The U.S. Department of Energy Leads the Way to Affordable Energy Efficient Designs
4. Sodexo Partnerships Strengthen Sustainability Performance

What to Expect from Copenhagen

In a few weeks, the results of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP) in Copenhagen, Denmark will influence the future path of climate change policy. December seventh marks the opening of the 12 day event. Those involved are expected to make progress toward an international agreement on combating global warming. The results should be a function of several factors, including the political will of the attending nations and the strength of the scientific evidence at hand - making it difficult to predict the conference's outcome. Nevertheless, the conclusion from the 2007 COP event in Bali includes a short list of key goals for the 2009 conference, providing a sharper sense of what we can anticipate... Read more.

Engaging Campus Sustainability through Students at COP15

As the world turns to watch climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this December, institutions of higher education are paying particular attention to the potential for translated educational opportunities and institutional reform. Eight college and university delegations will be attending the UNFCCC 15th Conference of the Parties, contributing 300 students from U.S. institutions in addition to the more than 500 American youth and 3,000 international youth expected to participate. Student and institutional delegates are attending as researchers, observers, teachers, administrators, and climate activists, and they will be blogging, twittering, and reporting on lessons and developments of the COP15 through live Q & A calls to make information and updates accessible to the broader higher education sustainability community. Connect your campus directly to the politics, lessons, pedagogical strategies, mitigation techniques, and policy strategies of the COP15 by engaging students with peer experiences, interacting with delegation members during the conference, and using these tools to translate international climate negotiations into campus mitigation techniques... Read more.

Lessons in a Design-Build Approach: The U.S. Department of Energy Leads the Way to Affordable Energy Efficient Designs

Commercial buildings account for 19% of the nation's energy consumption, so when the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) decided to build a new office building to house its staff, energy performance was naturally a top priority. The new Research Support Facilities (RSF), currently in construction on the campus of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is utilizing a wide variety of energy efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption by 50% over standard commercial buildings. But the goal to achieve a LEED Platinum rating didn't override a focus on cost. The RSF's construction costs are competitive with today's less energy efficient commercial buildings, proof that energy efficiency doesn't have to come at a premium. The RSF project uses a progressive design-build approach to unleash the creativity of the private sector while shifting much of the project cost and performance risk to the design-build team... Read more.

Sodexo Partnerships Strengthen Sustainability Performance

Sodexo Inc., a leader in Quality of Life Service Solutions, is moving sustainability issues forward with action in many ways, including partnering with Second Nature, sponsoring and supporting the mission of ACUPCC, and listening to our clients and effectively helping them achieve their sustainability goals. Sodexo's Corporate Social Responsibility strategy focuses on the environment, nutrition, health and wellness and local community development. This strategy has recently included the launching of a new sustainability fellowship program in partnership with Net Impact, a global organization of students and professionals using business to improve the world, as well as a groundbreaking collaboration with a group of sustainability-minded Ithaca College students in an endeavor to improve the efficiency of their campus... Read more.