Public Universities Outpace Private Counterparts in Sustainability Efforts

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — According to a study conducted by sustainable furniture asset management company The Refinishing Touch, top public universities are outperforming top private universities when it comes to campus sustainability initiatives. From student resources to LEED certifications, public universities are edging out their private counterparts in almost every category.

The Refinishing Touch (TRT), which provides on-site furniture refinishing and renovation services to universities, hotels and other large-scale companies and providers, has long worked with higher education institutions on both sides of the public-private divide. The company wanted to further examine how public and private universities differ in terms of sustainability as well as various refinishing and renovation initiatives.

To do so, TRT marketing professionals selected the country’s 10 top private and public universities from the U.S. News National University Rankings 2013 list and compared various sustainability initiatives and resources across both categories. Private universities included in the study consisted of Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania and the California Institute of Technology. The public universities included the University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles, University of Virginia, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, College of William and Mary, Georgia Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, University of California Davis and University of California Santa Barbara.

Research showed that, from course offerings to recycling programs, top public schools showed a greater, or at least more visible, commitment to on-campus sustainability efforts and environmental awareness. Of the top 10 private institutions profiled, TRT found that eight offer courses in sustainability or environmental studies, while four have designated majors in the area of environmental sustainability. Additionally, three of these top private institutions have established separate schools or offices of sustainability on campus.

Though impressive, these numbers are slightly lower when compared with the public sector. Public universities included in the study offered an average of nine sustainability or environmental courses, five majors and three on-campus schools or offices of sustainability. Public universities also led the LEED certification race, boasting a combined total of 120 LEED-certified buildings across the top 10 campuses. The gap widened in this particular category, as private universities offered only 73 qualifying structures.

TRT researchers also developed web crawling software, which allowed them greater insight into what colleges and universities say they are doing and in what areas they are actually following through. With this tool, study authors examined the website density of sustainability terms such as “recycling” and “LEED,” which showed the top public university websites contained a higher frequency of green terminology. This seemed to imply that a broader, more public discussion of environmental sustainability is taking place on public campuses, and that public schools are more active in spreading awareness about various green initiatives.

Further TRT research found:
• “Sustainability,” “recycling” and “refinishing” were mentioned an average of three times more frequently on public university websites than private university websites.
• “LEED” was mentioned 20 percent more frequently on private university websites than public university websites.
• The websites of top 10 public university websites mentioned the term a total of 22,511 times; private university websites mentioned “sustainability” 15,034 times
• Public websites mentioned “recycling” 18,872 times; private websites mentioned the term 2,111 times
• Private websites mentioned “LEED” 728 times; public websites mentioned it 603 times

Mario Isenga, president of The Refinishing Touch, was not necessarily surprised by the findings. “Being in the university markets for some time, we were aware of the differences between the interest in sustainability between the two segments to some degree, but not to this level,” Isenga said in a statement.

These differences can largely be attributed to differing financial structures and resources, according to Isenga. “I think the funding element really drives interest [in sustainability],” he said. “Publicly funded institutions probably have more initiatives of this nature because their funding is very slowly receding. The private school sector is a little more insulated, while the public schools are taking the brunt. So, they’re more interested in these initiatives as far as reusing existing assets and managing their assets more effectively because they just don’t have the funds available to buy or purchase new. Their budgets have just been affected more aggressively than the private schools.”

Isenga also points to a previous executive order that put a greater responsibility on public institutions to conserve resources. Executive Order 13101, which has since been revoked, was signed by President Clinton in 1998, and strengthened the federal government’s commitment to recycling and waste prevention in its various agencies.

“At that time, federal organizations had to now work within the scope that the EPA laid out with regard to purchasing,” Isenga said. “That meant they had to meet certain criteria with regard to making a buy. In other words, they can’t just buy something because they want it. They have to prove that they need it and that there is no other way of getting it than to buy something new. That kind of leaked into the rest of the public markets and some states adopted some of the federal activities.”

Though the TRT study still shows private universities lagging in their greening efforts, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, sustainability efforts at private institutions are increasing. The Going Green in the Ivy Halls program in particular focuses on improving sustainability in categories such as water management, green house gases, recycling and waste, and transportation and food. It even highlights several universities profiled in the TRT study.

The NAICU notes in particular that Stanford University, which has worked with TRT to refinish and renovate some of its existing resources, has allocated roughly $15 million for improvements on its most energy-intensive campus buildings. Meanwhile, Harvard has established the Harvard Green Campus Initiative to further commit the school to sustainability.

Duke University has also contracted with TRT to reduce its water consumption by an impressive 70 percent in roughly six months. The school has also instituted a community bike program to reduce driving and increase fitness.

Princeton University has a similar water minimization goal. The school has removed outdated plumbing fixtures and replaced them with more efficient, low-flow and even water-free models. Recycling has also been prevalent on the campus for years, and the school has even instituted a software system that allows it to monitor food use and waste.

Yale University also instituted a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy in 2005. This strategy committed the school to reducing its harmful gas emissions to 43 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. According to the school’s report, 2013 marked a 16 percent gas reduction, despite a 12 percent increase in campus size. The Ivy is also a leader in LEED-certified construction and is currently home to 20 LEED recognized buildings and/or laboratories, ranging from LEED Silver to LEED Platinum.

Despite the progress being made on both sides of the public-private divide, Isenga believes drawing attention to imbalances like these is important. “These kinds of things are absolutely necessary to bring awareness to both sectors,” he said. There are plans to conduct further studies in the future, according to the company’s marketing representatives.