UCF was among the first universities to commit to the American College & University Presidents �鶹��Ʒ S� Climate Commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Since that commitment, the university has saved more than $30 million in operating expenses, reduced the campus energy use intensity by 41% dating back to 2006 and have become a leader in green building standards.

Sustainability Initiatives at UCF focuses on the strategic advancement of sustainability and incorporates its economic, environmental, and social dimensions into education and research. We offer a wide range of programming for faculty, staff and students to grow their sustainability literacy. With so many built and natural assets on campus, we assist faculty in using the campus as a �鶹��Ʒ S�living laboratory, �鶹��Ʒ S� providing tours of LEED-certified facilities, solar sites, and natural lands.

We encourage sharing utility data with students and faculty, giving researchers the ability to test theories and new technologies. The annual Kill-A-Watt energy conservation scholarship competition for on-campus residents, UN World Water Day Fair and Campus Swap Shops help students and the university save money and precious resources. The Sustainability Training Series for faculty and staff provides the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge in sustainability for use on the job and at home. Altogether, our programming, academic and operations support helps create a culture of conservation that expands beyond our campuses.

The maxim �鶹��Ʒ S�you can �鶹��Ʒ S�t manage what you don �鶹��Ʒ S�t measure �鶹��Ʒ S� applies in many respects to sustainability. Despite UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s growth in enrollment and building square footage, our green building and retrofitting efforts have led to a 45% reduction in emissions per 1,000 square feet of building space and 28% reduction per full-time enrollment since 2007. Transparency is also key to the university �鶹��Ʒ S�s sustainability commitment. We submit UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s progress in emissions and other facets of sustainability to organizations, such as the Princeton Review. More importantly, we submit comprehensive data about our activity to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education �鶹��Ʒ S�s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). UCF was rated silver in 2016 and 2021 in this global benchmarking system. We aspire to reach gold and, eventually, platinum.

In March, Sustainability Initiatives embarked on a new strategic plan. Building on the 2010 Climate Action Plan and the successes that earned us a silver STARS rating, the new plan will cover academics, the built environment, waste, transportation and landscape and natural resources. It will guide us to become a �鶹��Ʒ S�Zero Waste �鶹��Ʒ S� university that integrates sustainability across all disciplines. We �鶹��Ʒ S�ve already engaged many faculty, staff and students via committee meetings and town halls. There �鶹��Ʒ S�s still time for you to join us in charting UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s path toward innovative sustainability leadership in academics and operations. We invite you to share your vision in the survey below to earn a limited-edition sticker. You can also email your ideas at any time to sustainable@ucf.edu.

Learn more: https://sustainable.ucf.edu/resources/climate-action-plan

UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s Green Building Portfolio: https://energy.ucf.edu/high-performance-buildings/

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STARS report:

Hannah Hollinger is one of the few who does. A senior studying environmental studies, Hollinger became aware of UCF Facilities and Safety by being involved in Energy Knights, a student club that focuses on spreading knowledge of how to be more environmentally friendly. The Energy Knights �鶹��Ʒ S� president at the time told Hollinger that Facilities and Safety was looking for an intern.

�鶹��Ʒ S�I went to see what it was about, and I was beside myself, �鶹��Ʒ S� Hollinger said. �鶹��Ʒ S�I thought �鶹��Ʒ S�This is what I want to get into. �鶹��Ʒ S� I didn �鶹��Ʒ S�t even realize it existed. �鶹��Ʒ S�

In July 2015 Hollinger became Facilities and Safety �鶹��Ʒ S�s Sustainability Initiatives �鶹��Ʒ S� social outreach intern, in charge of marketing campaigns that can educate the UCF community on sustainability efforts. After a year of seeing firsthand how Facilities and Safety works to make UCF a more sustainable campus, she realized something was missing: student input.

�鶹��Ʒ S�I realized how, as a student, we don �鶹��Ʒ S�t have access to understand what happens behind closed doors when it comes to sustainability, operations and facilities at UCF, �鶹��Ʒ S� she said. �鶹��Ʒ S�We needed a connecting piece between students and operations. �鶹��Ʒ S�

That �鶹��Ʒ S�s what inspired her to create the Student Sustainability Advisory Committee, a 13-person committee that began last August. It gives students access to UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s faculty and staff Sustainability Advisory Committee meetings, and the opportunity to help improve UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s sustainability in return for internship credit. Students commit for one academic year to create proposals on how they think UCF can improve its sustainability and present them to SAC members who can help make them a reality. The first proposals are expected to be presented this month.

Although there �鶹��Ʒ S�s no guarantee the student ideas will be implemented, Hollinger is confident most are at least feasible. One proposal is a composting pilot program in The Burnett Honors College. Another idea is to take a plain exterior wall on campus and make it a green wall with plants hanging from top to bottom, which can improve air quality and overall quality of life. �鶹��Ʒ S�We can utilize what used to be just concrete or drywall and make it into a living organism and a place you desire to be, �鶹��Ʒ S� said Hollinger, who also is the Student Government Association �鶹��Ʒ S�s health and sustainability coordinator.

A third proposal is to create a community garden at Lake Claire where students can manage their own plot and grow their own fruits and vegetables.

Targets of each proposal range from improving campus buildings, land, energy usage, food, transportation, waste and water.

The creation of the student committee has been mutually beneficial for students and staff. Students get hands-on learning experiences outside the classroom, and in turn, Facilities and Safety has a stream of fresh, innovative ideas, said Yarazeth Watson Colon, coordinator of UCF Sustainability Initiatives. Even though Hollinger will graduate in May, the student committee will live on.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We want to continue having students come out of the classroom and into the field to help prepare them for the workforce that �鶹��Ʒ S�s growing and changing, �鶹��Ʒ S� Colon said.

Hollinger first became passionate about environmental issues in her AP Environmental Studies class in high school where she learned the importance of the field and that its job demand was growing. With a Pegasus Scholarship in hand and a growing passion due to the �鶹��Ʒ S�climate-change uproar �鶹��Ʒ S� at the time, as she calls it, Hollinger came to UCF in 2013 to pursue an environmental studies degree and a career in urban planning or public administration.

�鶹��Ʒ S�I found other people that care �鶹��Ʒ S� sometimes I feel like even more than I do �鶹��Ʒ S� and that �鶹��Ʒ S�s been really encouraging to me, �鶹��Ʒ S� she said. �鶹��Ʒ S�Plus, there are so many clubs on campus with an environmental aspect. I don �鶹��Ʒ S�t think I would �鶹��Ʒ S�ve gotten that level of exposure had I not come to UCF. �鶹��Ʒ S�

As Hollinger �鶹��Ʒ S�s time at UCF winds down, she can rest easy knowing her original mission of social outreach for sustainability initiatives at UCF has been successful.

�鶹��Ʒ S�People have emailed me often asking about the opportunity with the SSAC, �鶹��Ʒ S� she said. �鶹��Ʒ S�It �鶹��Ʒ S�s now something other people want to be part of. �鶹��Ʒ S�

�鶹��Ʒ S�I �鶹��Ʒ S�ve always been interested in science, �鶹��Ʒ S� Norvell said. �鶹��Ʒ S�Even as a kid I was doing things out of the box, building things and trying to understand how things work and how to make things better and more efficient. �鶹��Ʒ S�

That intellectual curiosity and an eye for conservation will serve Norvell well as the University of Central Florida �鶹��Ʒ S�s new �鶹��Ʒ S� and first �鶹��Ʒ S� assistant vice president for sustainability initiatives. The newly created position elevates UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s vow to have a greener campus.

�鶹��Ʒ S�It shows UCF has reaffirmed the commitment for the sustainability initiatives we �鶹��Ʒ S�ve been pursuing, �鶹��Ʒ S� said Norvell, a 1993 alumnus who graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. �鶹��Ʒ S�Our vision is to provide students with a campus environment that not only supports sustainability but becomes a leader in the industry. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Norvell �鶹��Ʒ S�s new job puts an increased focus on UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s sustainability goals. He has no shortage of work. In 2007, UCF President John C. Hitt signed the American College & University Presidents �鶹��Ʒ S� Climate Commitment, making UCF one of the first to pledge to be climate neutral by 2050.

To achieve that goal, the university must have no net greenhouse gas emissions. There are interim goals, including a big one already underway: ensuring that by 2020, 15 percent of the energy used by UCF comes from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels.

There are already some solar panels spread around campus, the largest of which �鶹��Ʒ S� a 107-kilowatt installation �鶹��Ʒ S� sits next to Garage B. But it will take a lot more to help meet the 2020 goal. The university has set aside about 40 acres east of the Robinson Observatory for construction of a solar farm.

It is Norvell �鶹��Ʒ S�s job to keep that project and others on track.

He �鶹��Ʒ S�s not new to UCF. Norvell came to the university in 2001 as energy manager, and in the past decade has served as director of sustainability and energy management, saving the university more than $14 million through energy-efficiency projects. For the past two years, Norvell has been assistant vice president of facilities.

Among the university �鶹��Ʒ S�s other projects that Norvell has had a hand in is the construction of a natural gas-fueled power plant on the main campus. It �鶹��Ʒ S�s been providing about a third of the campus �鶹��Ʒ S� electricity since its launch in late 2012, reducing UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s dependency on outside utilities that may use less-clean fuel. UCF is considering building a similar plant to serve its planned downtown campus.

In addition, UCF is constructing and planning several buildings with sustainable designs that are expected to earn LEED designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Norvell hopes to make the campus �鶹��Ʒ S� sustainability projects academically accessible to students who will be able to learn firsthand how they work �鶹��Ʒ S� and offer input.

�鶹��Ʒ S�There are so many passionate students out there, �鶹��Ʒ S� Norvell said. �鶹��Ʒ S�I want to get them very much involved in the workings of the university at all levels. I want to get their ideas. We want the campus to be a living laboratory for students. �鶹��Ʒ S�