About Sustainable Campus Initiative
The Sustainable Campus for the Year 2018 Initiative is a laboratory-wide effort that builds upon the Laboratory’s strength as a premier science and technology organization in integrating energy efficiency, robust and cutting-edge technologies, operational and business processes, and behavior to achieve sustainability. The initiative was launched in October 2008 and continues a modernization program that began in 2002. For more information, see:
Sustainability embodies how we make choices in business practices; environmental stewardship, safety, and health; and employee, family, and community engagement. Making choices in a sustainable way increases the types of options that are available in the future while meeting the needs of today.
Federal leadership on sustainability
The federal government’s policy is to provide leadership on sustainability issues. Executive orders, legislation, and DOE orders and initiatives provide specific environmental goals for federal agencies to meet. Regulations underlying ORNL's sustainability efforts are discussed here.
In creating a sustainable campus, ORNL will
- demonstrate excellence and innovation in on-campus practices,
- share our science and technology expertise in such areas as buildings, vehicles, and environmental management with others, and
- share the practical lessons learned as we strive for sustainability.
Thus, ORNL will be a sustainability leader—embracing sustainable practices and using its enormous expertise to benefit interested individuals, communities, commercial and industrial facilities, and the nation.
Progress toward sustainability
In its operations ORNL is making substantial progress toward sustainability with its LEED-certified new buildings, 11 new electric vehicles, and fleet of bicycles, as examples. We also are leading the way with such new installations as the 51.25 kW solar array you see along Bethel Valley Road. (You can view an energy awareness video highlighting the ribbon cutting for the solar array.) In addition, the $89M Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) with Johnson Controls, Inc., is part of DOE’s Transformational Energy Action Management (TEAM) Initiative. The ESPC will implement many energy saving measures in our facilities, the largest of which is the bio-energy steam boiler that will produce energy savings of approximately $8.7 million. A list of ORNL contacts for each of the 24 segments of the program is found here.
Everyone can contribute
Making sustainable choices runs the gamut from very technological solutions to things as simple as turning off the lights when you leave a room, participating in work and community recycling programs and buying environmentally friendly products. Everyone at ORNL can be a participant in helping this campus and our community become sustainable.
Buddy's Café is doing its part to make ORNL a sustainable campus. In an effort to eliminate foam eating/drinking products and start a transition towards more environmentally friendly (GREEN) products, it permanently switched to paper cups effective in early February 2009.