Download Courtney Murphy Annotation 2 RPI`s IPR The College Sustainability

Courtney Murphy Annotation 2 RPI’s IPR
The College Sustainability Survey for 2011 gave Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute an overall grade
of a B for its sustainability efforts. While this is a good grade, the institute sill has ways to improve. The
article breaks down the report into nine different categories, including transportation, student
involvement, green building and food and recycling. The key argument that this article makes is that
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute overall has a good grasp on sustainability, but there are areas that need
improvements. “RPI has conducted a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and, since 2005, has seen an
11 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions…RPI purchases renewable energy credits that
represent 6 percent of the campus's energy needs” (“Report Card”). This is stated in the Climate Change
and Energy portion of the report. Rensselaer received an A in this aspect. The green buildings section did
not score as well. The new buildings on campus must be built to be LEED Silver certified. In 2011 there
was only one LEED certified building and one LEED Gold certified building. This can help with our project
because our aim is to better insulate and equip the older buildings. This report gives us the standards
that the new buildings must meet which can help us evaluate the older buildings. The institute received
very poor grades in shareholder engagement, transportation, and endowment transparency. However,
Student involvement received and A. This is good for our project because a large portion of the success
of the project rests on the students shoulders. We need the students to want to abide by the policy that
we hope to instill. The most helpful piece of information gathered from this article is that Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute received an A for investment priorities.
The institute aims to optimize investment returns, and the endowment is currently invested in
on-campus efficiency projects and renewable energy funds. The institute also uses investment
managers who consider environmental and sustainability factors. Donors can request that gifts
be directed into sustainable and socially responsible investment options. (“Report Card”)
This is important to our project because it shows that investments could be made to fund our project.
Our main concern was that there would be little funding for our project, but this shows that the
investors do care about the environment and thus could be highly supportive. Overall this article can be
very useful in our project. Information from the article that can be used to justify and support our
project is:
 Rensselaer scored well in Student Involvement, Investment Priorities, Food and recycling, and
Climate Change and Energy
 RPI’s worst category out of the nine was Shareholder Engagement, which nearly failed.
 Buildings must receive a LEED Silver certification.
 RPI has the ability to use renewable energy sources. The campus has already had an eleven
percent decrease in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in six years.
Works Cited
"Report Card 2011- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute College Sustainability Report Card 2011." The
College Sustainability Report Card. Sustainable Endowments Institute, 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2011/schools/rensselaer-polytechnic-institute>.