Gold-rated Rice is tops in Texas for sustainability

Rice received the highest score in Texas and its first Gold rating for its sustainability initiatives by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Ratings System (STARS), administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

Rice received the highest score in Texas and its first Gold rating for its sustainability initiatives by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Ratings System (STARS), administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

Through STARS, institutions evaluate performance in five main categories: academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration and innovation and leadership. Institutions can earn a range of ratings based on point totals: bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

Rice earned a STARS score of 70.76 based on a snapshot of its performance at the end of 2016. Other Gold-rated institutions in Texas are Texas A&M (67.81) and the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley (67).

Several factors contributed to Rice’s strong showing.

A rising number of courses and degree programs related to the environment, as well as accompanying environment and sustainability-specific course and program learning outcomes, led to a significant number of credits within the curriculum category. Similarly, Rice’s extensive research related to environmental and sustainability issues and its open-access policy to disseminate research earned a perfect score in the research category.

Measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the procurement of renewable energy and the installation of solar panels at Jones College as well as extensive environmental initiatives in campus kitchens, helped Rice gain points related to the greening of campus operations.

Rapid growth in the number of student environmental clubs and organizations, along with the creation of the Rice Environmental Society as the umbrella organization for these groups, contributed to Rice’s performance related to engagement.

Rice received a near-perfect rating in the diversity and affordability category, a testament to the success of Rice’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion and, more broadly, the university’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity, affordability and access.

Rice earned additional points for several innovations. All serveries on campus are certified by the Green Restaurant Association, joining Harvard as the only universities to earn this distinction for all undergraduate dining facilities. In addition, the weekly Cultures of Energy podcast produced by the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences was cited for its wide range of topics related to energy and the environment.

Richard Johnson ’92, director of Rice’s Administrative Center for Sustainability and Energy Management, credited student project manager Amy Griffiths and fellow interns Alyssa Graham, Ethan Hasiuk, Ansley Jones and Nimi Oyeleye with documenting and reporting Rice’s sustainability initiatives.

“I am grateful for all of the hard work of the interns this past summer,” Johnson said. “Amy is a real go-getter and is highly organized. Her pleasant persistence kept everyone on track — including me — to get the project done.”

Rice’s previous rating, based on a submittal at the end of 2013, was Silver (58.49).

“We looked at the previous submittal and identified areas where we think Rice deserved a higher score,” Griffiths said. “It was a team effort between the Sustainability office and other faculty and staff at Rice. Everyone from Housing and Dining and Facilities Engineering and Planning was extremely helpful with answering all of our questions and helping us gather the necessary information.”

Johnson and his team of interns will next study whether Rice should set a goal to achieve Platinum status, a level reached by only three institutions: Stanford University, Colorado State University and the University of New Hampshire.

“Rice continues to take more steps toward becoming sustainable,” Griffiths said. “We have a growing student EcoRep program and several environmental clubs on campus that show students’ interest in improving sustainability on campus. Furthermore, the campus has added green roofs, installed solar panels and committed that all new buildings on campus must be built to LEED-Silver rating or higher. (Because of) this in combination with Rice’s commitment to becoming a carbon-neutral campus by 2038, I believe we will achieve Platinum status in the future.”

Johnson said his team will work with the Student Association’s Environmental Committee and university leadership to identify priorities and next steps, including the possibility of pursuing a Platinum rating.

AASHE, an organization of more than 800 colleges and universities around the world committed to a sustainable future, developed the STARS system as a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. It is the only program of its kind that involves publicly reporting comprehensive information related to sustainability performance.

For more information on the STARS program, visit stars.aashe.org. To read Rice’s report, visit http://stars.aashe.org/institutions/rice-university-tx/report/2017-10-13.