August 2024

In August, the Office of Sustainability submitted campus energy efficiency data to the City of Atlanta for the first time in compliance with the city’s Commercial Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance, which requires public reporting of energy consumption in buildings over 25,000 square feet.   

As a state institution, Georgia Tech has historically been exempt from participating in the program. The voluntary decision to participate this year aims to increase data transparency and support energy efficiency initiatives on and off campus.   

Georgia Tech is excited to announce the launch of Green Forks, a pioneering program aimed at tackling both food waste and student hunger on campus. Green Forks offers a simple yet impactful solution: event organizers can now easily share their catering leftovers to help divert food waste and provide meals to students facing food insecurity. This innovative program is a collaborative effort between Tech Dining, Klemis Kitchen, and the Office of Sustainability.

Want to design an icon to let students know when food is available after events? Follow our Instagram for upcoming details about a Green Forks design competition.

The Office of Sustainability is inviting staff, faculty, and students to join one of the nine GT Climate Action Plan (CAP) implementation committees. They will meet monthly to share on-the-ground expertise to help implement the 30 strategies in the CAP.  Learn more by joining us for a virtual information session August 29 from 11:15 to 12:15 a.m.      

Infrastructure & Sustainability has started developing a Utilities Master Plan that addresses the Climate Action Plan’s Building Energy Strategy 1.1: "Transition to electrification of combustion-based heating systems."

Georgia Tech's campus is currently dependent on the combustion of natural gas, which produces most of our Scope 1 emissions. By electrifying campus heat generation in the form of large industrial heat pumps, Georgia Tech can recover rejected waste heat from the cooling process and transform it to usable energy to serve the campus heating needs. This process will make our systems over 5 times more efficient, save millions of dollars annually, and conserve millions of gallons of water per year. 

Arianna Robinson celebrates her 10th anniversary at Georgia Tech this month. During her time with the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, she has been involved in starting many of the Center's signature programs and initiatives. A sustainability educator and mentor, Arianna's commitment to making the world a better place shines through in her work.

Students now have a free way to access reused goods on campus and keep items out of the landfill. Green Goodbyes, a longstanding program that enabled donations of used goods during move-out, now has a permanent location above Barnes and Noble. Visit this link to learn more about this initiative and how you can donate or shop! 

Georgia Tech's Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS) Urban Agriculture (UrbanAg) project recently concluded a successful trip to Singapore, where they presented their research at the 8th Global Botanic Garden Congress and explored sustainable initiatives at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. 

Georgia Tech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently published a report detailing the findings of the Southeast Decarbonization Workshop hosted on campus in November 2023. The workshop's goal was to bring together community members and experts to discuss regional opportunities to move away from fossil energy production towards carbon neutral solutions. Dr. Jennifer Chirico and Greg Spiro of Infrastructure and Sustainability (I&S) participated in the workshop. 

Is your Georgia Tech organization's newsletter missing? Email us at sustain@gatech.edu to be added to our list.

We had a great time greeting new students during various Week of Welcome events. We look forward to a fall semester filled with sustainability, fun, and community!