CSUDH has been recognized nationally for its sustainability efforts in the recently published 2021 Sustainable Campus Index.
A publication of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the Sustainable Campus Index recognizes innovative and high-impact initiatives from colleges and universities that submitted a Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) report in the most recent calendar year. Initiatives were selected by a team of AASHE staff based on the level of innovation and overall impact in advancing sustainability, potential for replicability, and the added impacts this would present.
AASHE’s STARS program is a framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. More than a thousand higher education institutions self-report data on their sustainability efforts. An AASHE STARS committee reviews all submissions and awards a rating based on a common set of measurements. CSUDH earned a Silver STARS rating in 2020, which is valid until 2023.
CSUDH was among approximately 30 Institutional Highlights in the index report. The university was singled out in the index report for being an innovator in adopting clean energy solutions on a college campus. The profile highlighted the university’s installation of one of the largest behind-the-meter battery storage systems in Southern California, which currently provides demand response services that net the campus approximately $80,000 per year in savings on peak demand costs. It also noted CSUDH’s selection to the Clean Energy Pilot program, a partnership between Southern California Edison, the CSU, and University of California systems to identify and apply sustainable actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
“While this (recognition) is a direct example of the outstanding individual efforts of our campus energy manager Kenny Seeton, as well as the innovative efforts of Facilities Services as a whole to integrate sustainability throughout our campus operations, students and faculty are a fundamental part of our continued efforts to lead the charge as a national higher education leader in sustainability,” said Ellie Perry, CSUDH’s sustainability manager in the Office of Sustainability.
