Q| How do you elevate sustainability at one of the world’s most progressive campus communities?
UNC THREE ZEROS ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE
STRATEGIC SUSTAINABILITY PLANNING LEAD, SUST. INFRASTRUCTURE LEAD, TZEI PROGRAM LEAD
Steven Baumgartner has a long-standing relationship with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, having worked closely with the University to develop its Strategic Sustainability Plan (SSP) that built upon its existing efforts to create a cohesive vison for sustainability. A key outcome of the SSP was the Three Zeros Initiative. Launched in the fall of 2017 by the University Chancellor, Carol Folt, this initiative moved the campus towards water neutrality, zero waste, and greenhouse gas neutrality and played a critical role in UNC’s sustainability efforts.
The Three Zeros Environmental Initiative is the University of North Carolina’s integrated approach to reducing its environmental footprint through three ambitious environmental sustainability goals:
Net zero water usage means finding new ways to reduce the use of drinking water and expand the use of reclaimed water (treated wastewater for non-drinking purposes);
Zero waste to landfills calls for reducing the materials coming onto its campus and maximizing efforts to reuse, recycle and compost waste; and
Net zero greenhouse gas emissions focuses on minimizing the reliance on hydrocarbons (such as coal, petroleum and natural gas) while switching to renewable energy sources wherever practical.
This initiative, tied directly to the (previous) Chancellor’s strategic plan, was integral part of the 2018 Campus Masterplan led by Ayers Saint Gross (supported by VHB, AEI and Biohabitats). The SSP was led in partnership with brightspot strategy.
Steven led this effort while at previous firms.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Client: UNC Chapel Hill
A| Clarify goals, get the data and build a clear roadmap.
Understanding the current state is a critical first step: where does the University sit now, what are the baseline data it has, are there gaps in the data and how do we find the right information to fill those gaps.
Working with a very solid set of energy data at campus and building scale, and aggregating and interpolating central plant information to establish a robust building-x-building profile, we were able to create a sound baseline and benchmark that baseline against other peer institutions. We created a set of energy tiers based on program types and unpacked the high-intensity program uses (predominately wet and dry lab research buildings).
Unique to this baselining effort was a robust data visualization portal created in partnership with Hiker. Using software called Unity , we were able to visualize a number of building-scale data sets (age, energy, carbon emissions) into an easily searchable and navigable portal (see image below).
Critical to the success of the Three Zeros Environmental Initiative was a clear understanding of various activities happening on campus, as well as prioritization of investments to meet these three goals. To do this, Steven and his team built a digestible organizational framework which established cross-cutting ‘enablers for success,’ which were fundamental to achieving these goals. These included communication protocols, data management and celebrating successes.
In addition, a variety of operational, cultural, and academic strategies were implemented. These included both physical as well as operational strategies. Each of these strategies were then prioritized based on a value-add proposition for the University based on several factors. These include obvious factors such as first costs and operational costs implications, but also included factors such as how closely it connected to the Blueprint for “Next, Carolina’s Strategic Plan”, as well as how it was able to enhance the educational outcomes for students - core to the University’s mission.
Interactive Data Portal via HikerID - (data edited for this page)
Data Visualization Outputs (data edited for this page).
TZEI Framework Tied to The Blueprint for Next, UNC Chapel Hill’s Strategic Plan
Steven with Brad Ives, Chancellor Folt and Cindy Shea at Three Zeros Day.
Steven has not only been a great supporter and driver of our technical content but has been a champion and advocate for sustainability at UNC Chapel Hill. He has demonstrated dedication to our partnership and shown flexibility as our institution evolved.
-A. Bradley Ives, Former AVC for Campus Enterprises and Chief Sustainability Officer
