Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

About MIT:
The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Facts:
Burning the midnight oil may go out of fashion at MIT. The Institute is working hard to make its campus more energy efficient—and utilities are a big target, accounting for 90 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2004 survey.

To meet the challenge, MIT is harnessing the minds and hands (mens et manus) of faculty, staff, and particularly students, engaging the entire community in the drive toward a more sustainable campus.

Behavior changes are a big part of the solution. In 2006, student research estimated that MIT could save $1 million a year just by addressing the energy wasted when laboratory fume hoods are left open; a pilot program has already saved the Institute approximately $40,000. In 2008, undergraduates were able to cut their electricity use by 13 percent in the second annual Dorm Electricity Competition, and efforts are under way to encourage everyone to turn out lights, use revolving doors, and employ computing power-management tools that save energy.

Recognizing that older buildings can be inefficient, MIT has dedicated $500,000 to fund pilot projects for remedial energy-conservation measures such as retrofitting lightbulbs and remotely monitoring temperature-control systems. New buildings can be much greener—and at MIT, they are. Institute policy calls for all new buildings and major renovations to meet or exceed the requirements set for Silver-level certification in the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

Ashdown House, the new graduate dorm on campus (opened fall 2008) features low-usage appliances, energy-efficient roofing materials, and a storm water reuse system for landscape irrigation. Due to be completed in 2010, the new Sloan School of Management building is expected to be the greenest on campus. With eco-friendly features like daylighting and radiant ceiling panels, it is expected to merit LEED Gold.

Meanwhile, the MIT Energy Initiative's Campus Energy Task Force is working to make MIT a learning laboratory for sustainability. A grant program for student energy projects is supporting efforts to reclaim waste heat from MIT's co-generation power plant and use leftover vegetable oil to power MIT vehicles. Undergraduate research projects are putting students to work on everything from studying the impact of MIT purchasing to analyzing ways to green the MIT fleet.

Involving the whole MIT community—from the staff Working Group Recycling Committee to the student Undergraduate Association Committee on Sustainability—extends the reach of the Institute's efforts. Already MIT has won accolades for its progress, including high marks on the 2008 College Sustainability Report Card put out by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

MIT hasn't come up with one perfect solution to greening its campus—it has thrown down the gauntlet. Its impressive constituencies are rising to the occasion.

For more Info:
web.mit.edu