October 2024

The Office of Sustainability hosted a successful Campus Sustainability Forum on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Staff, students, and faculty joined in efforts to prioritize campus sustainability initiatives, determine gaps in skillsets needed to acheive these priorities, and identify how each group on campus can contribute. The results of the forum will help inform sustainability-related decision making on campus. OOS will continue to provide progress updates throughout the year. Thank you to all who participated!

We are excited to announce that the Office of Sustainability now offers Living Campus Pathways to support the use of campus as a living lab while advancing sustainability on campus. 

Projects for the Living Campus Pathway 2 are now open for 2025. Pathway 2 projects are aligned with campus sustainability priorities and provide an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to learn and conduct research while helping to meet Institute sustainability goals. Review project areas for 2025 and submit an interest form here. 

The Office of Sustainability sponsored three professional waste audits on campus this month that engaged students and staff in learning about our campus waste composition. The purpose of the waste audits was to collect and benchmark data to establish baseline waste metrics. Further, these metrics provide a foundation for developing informed institute-wide strategies for achieving a zero waste campus. 

For colleges and universities, October is Campus Sustainability Month. It's also National Clean Energy Action Month, a time to celebrate the clean energy transition. In support, our Office of Sustainability student assistants provide highlights on campus energy initiatives.

Georgia Tech began implementing renewable energy on campus in the mid-1990s. Since then, we have implemented over 1 megawatt (MW) of photovoltaics (PV) on building rooftops. While renewable energy has grown, it is only a small amount of the total energy we use, and we still need to make significant progress. Our renewable energy goal, highlighted in our Climate Action Plan, is to reach 7 MW of renewable energy by 2050.

Georgia Tech students are driving a clean energy future. Student-led clubs and organizations on campus lead projects, host events, and push for change. We spoke to several energy-focused clubs about their current initiatives and what makes their communities special. 

October's campus sustainability champion, Justin Bowen, has been a strong advocate for sustainability on the Georgia Tech campus. They coordinated events to connect students to organizations, such as Trees Atlanta, promoted public transit activism, and helped raise awareness for sustainability causes on and off campus. Thank you, Justin, for your important contributions to our Institute! 

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