The resources below work in tandem with the Roadmap to a Green Campus to provide clarity, inspiration, and supporting research.

ORGANIZATION RESOURCES

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
  • Green Building Certification Institute
    The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) is an independent, third-party organization committed to ensuring precision in the design, development, and implementation of the processes used to increase and measure green building performance (certification) and green building practice (credentialing). Established in 2008 to administer project certifications and professional credentials and certificates within the framework of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating Systems™, GBCI offers the marketplace the highest-level validation that LEED building certifications and LEED professional credentials have met specific, rigorous criteria.
  • USGBC Courses
  • USGBC Green Campus Campaign
    This site hosts links to Greenbuild sessions for higher education stakeholders, research on using LEED for campus sustainability planning, Higher Ed FAQs, the Higher Ed Update Newsletter, LEED course recommendations, and template advocacy presentations (for Administration, Students, Alumni, Faculty, Facilities Management, and Parents), among other resources.
  • USGBC Green Office Guide
    This guide is a practical resource for project teams and real estate executives to manage the nuances of the tenant/landlord relationship. The guide helps office tenants integrate green decision-making throughout the leasing process—encompassing team selection, site selection, negotiations, lease language, build-out and the tenant's ongoing operations within the leased space.
  • USGBC Green Venue Selection Guide
    This guide helps travel, meeting, and event planners incorporate LEED's approach to measuring buildings' environmental attributes during the RFP and venue selection process. The guide includes the five-page Hotel & Conference Center Environmental Questionnaire, which planners can use to identify and select the greenest facilities based on LEED criteria. It will also help venue sales staff communicate their facility's environmental efforts and accomplishments when submitting proposals to potential customers.
  • USGBC K–12 and Higher Ed Resources
  • USGBC Students™
    USGBC Students is the college/university student engagement program of USGBC. The program was created to help recruit, equip, and connect the next generation of leaders to the green building movement and sustainable design industry by empowering students to transform their campuses, careers, and communities. USGBC Students are chartered and officially recognized student organizations by their respective college and university campuses across the country and USGBC.
U.S. Government
  • Department of Energy
    • High-Performance Building Database
      This database collects data on various factors that affect a building's performance, such as energy, materials, and land use, from various types of buildings—even whole campuses—around the world.
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
    EPA's partnership programs and initiatives offer free, non-regulatory guidance, technical support, and resources that can help LEED project owners and ACUPCC signatories to achieve their goals. As the signatories expand their sustainability objectives, partnering with EPA's ENERGY STAR®, Green Power Partnership, and WasteWise programs can lead to efficient, cost effective solutions. EPA offers green building information and many partnership programs with components specific to colleges and universities, including energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, resource conservation, and toxics reduction. A comprehensive overview is available.
  • Labs 21® Conference
    The Laboratories for the twenty-first Century (Labs21®) Annual Conference is sponsored by the EPA, DOE, and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL). Since 1999, it has been the largest gathering of sustainable laboratory professionals in the nation, sharing recent advancements in laboratory efficiency and performance, and providing the campus, medical, and similar communities with a forum for information exchange and education. The I2SL website's E-Library is a portal of information from around the world on new technologies, case studies, lessons learned, and other valuable resources for architects, engineers, builders, owners, and operators of laboratories and other high-technology facilities.
Higher Education Associations
Other Organizations
  • American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC)
    • Climate Neutral Campus Report
      A print and online collection of white papers, case studies, and interviews from USGBC and over thirty other authors to address how the higher education sector is fighting the climate crisis. It includes a range of topics, from the re-orientation of student education and re-design of campus operations, to policy reforms for renewable energy and carbon reduction in college sports.
    • Education for Climate Neutrality and Sustainability: Academic Guidance for ACUPCC Institutions
      This document contains several examples of how colleges and universities and their presidents, chancellors, and senior academic administrators are providing desired experiences that will lead to fulfilling the commitment's educational component.
      April 2009.
    • Leading Profound Change: A Resource for Presidents and Chancellors of the ACUPCC
      The members of the ACUPCC Steering Committee developed Leading Profound Change to support all ACUPCC presidents and chancellors in taking an active leadership role in the ongoing process of developing and implementing the climate action plan. It provides an overview of research on select approaches to leading transformational change and examples of successful strategies from ACUPCC campuses to help with the big-picture thinking needed to sustain enthusiasm and implement climate action plans over the long-term.
      July 2009
    • Higher Education’s Role in Adapting to a Changing Climate
      This report evaluates how colleges and universities are preparing society for a changing climate through their education, research, operations, and community engagement activities. The report was developed by the Higher Education Climate Adaptation Committee, a group of thirteen leaders in higher education and experts in climate adaptation, convened by the ACUPCC in March 2011.
  • Campus Ecology from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF)
    This resource supports a campus sustainability case study database, webinars, fellowship leads, guides, and action tips for both individuals and their campuses.
    • Higher Education in a Warming World
      This resource highlights examples and practices already being used at campuses nationwide, and how cutting carbon emissions has increasingly become synonymous with the business case to cut costs.
    • Guide to Climate Action Planning
      The Guide outlines the planning process to reduce the campus carbon footprint by engaging a wide range of staff, faculty, administrators, and students to analyze and prioritize an array of emissions reduction strategies.
    • Generation E, Students Leading for a Sustainable, Clean Energy Future by Christina Erickson and David J. Eagan
      This seventy-page, example-rich, best practices guide reports on exemplary student-led sustainability activities and programs, including thirty-five ways students are creating a sustainable future at colleges and universities—cutting carbon emissions, saving resources, and equipping the coming generation for a green energy economy. More than 160 campuses from more than forty-six states are included. As an illustrated "idea-book," it shows students, faculty, and staff a wide range of project possibilities, encouraging them to engage with their campus and community in ways that make real reductions in their school's carbon footprint and also foster the technical and intellectual skills needed in the future green economy.
  • Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability (DANS)
    Sponsored by the U.S. Partnership on Education for Sustainable Development, DANS is an informal network of professional associations working on development for its members; educating the public about sustainability; curricula, standards and tenure requirements to reflect sustainability; legislative briefings on what higher education can bring to sustainability related policies; and cross disciplinary projects on education for sustainability.
  • Second Nature
    Second Nature is a Boston-based nonprofit organization that works to accelerate movement toward a sustainable future by helping senior college and university leaders make sustainability the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education. Second Nature is the lead supporting organization of the ACUPCC.
    • Campus Green Builder
      The Campus Green Builder is Second Nature's Kresge Foundation-backed clearinghouse of on-campus green building strategies, events, and case studies that support the pursuit of climate neutrality and institutional sustainability. There is a strong focus on access to funding and technical opportunities for under-resourced institutions, including Campus Green Building 101 for Building Contractors, which provides opportunities to apply for technical assistance grants that offer training opportunities for the building professionals who work at their schools.
    • Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC)
      Managed by Second Nature, HEASC is an informal umbrella network of higher education associations with a commitment to advancing sustainability within their constituencies and within the system of higher education itself.
  • Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) of the Sierra Club
    SSC is the youth-led chapter of the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization. The broad network of high school and college-aged students, with 250 groups nationwide, works through grassroots training programs to promote its mission: "to train, empower, and organize youth to run effective campaigns that result in tangible environmental victories and that develop leaders for the environmental movement." Its Campuses Beyond Coal Guidebook is a related resource of note.
  • Worldwatch University of Worldwatch Institute
    A general resource center for students and professors with research tools, useful facts, and ideas for taking action, including green campus write-ups under the Campus Greening Initiatives page.

TOPICAL RESOURCES

Curriculum
  • Yavapai College, Residential Building Technology Program
    Yavapai College's progressive Residential Building Technology (RBT) program introduces students to residential design, build and construction management. The program combines classroom-based learning with a hands-on construction project. In the classroom, lessons connect building-science basics with green building principles. In the field, students develop their understanding by apply concepts to the construction of a high-performance home. A collaborative relationship with Prescott Area Habitat for Humanity further invests students in their community, while providing a much-needed service to area residents. The unique blend of classroom and jobsite-based training prepare Yavapai students become leaders in the green, residential marketplace.
    November 2009.
    Learning Objectives:
    • Understand how to design, manage, and build healthy, safe, durable, environmentally responsibly houses
    • Learn and apply skills in all phases of the residential construction process
    • Construct green, sustainable, high-performance homes for the 21st century
Climate Change
Ratings
  • The College Sustainability Report Card from the Sustainable Endowments Institute
    The Report Card is an annual independent evaluation of campus and endowment sustainability activities at the colleges and universities with the 300 largest endowments in the United States and Canada. The profiled schools have combined holdings representing more than $325 billion in endowment assets, or more than 95% of all university endowments, (but by no means include all of the leading green campuses). The Report Card's grading system seeks to encourage sustainability as a priority in college operations and endowment investment practices by offering assessments of progress with a focus on policies and practices in nine main categories: Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, Student Involvement, Transportation, Endowment Transparency, Investment Priorities, and Shareholder Engagement.
  • Green Rating from the Princeton Review
    The annual rating is a measure of how environmentally friendly, responsible, and committed colleges and universities are by evaluating them on their sustainability policies, practices, and academic offerings. The result is a numerical score on a scale of 60-99. Each college's (703 in 2010) rating is found on the Campus Life/Facilities tab of their profile. The rating was developed in consultation with ecoAmerica, a nonprofit environmental marketing agency.
  • Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS)
    The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS®) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to gauge relative progress toward sustainability.
Project Management
Funding, Financing, and Budgeting
Higher Education Research—Building Performance and Sustainability
Green Cleaning
  • ISSA – The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association
    ISSA and its more than 5,500 distributor, manufacturer, building service contractor, in-house service provider and associated service members help deliver and maintain clean, healthy, and sustainable facilities across the globe. ISSA offers business tools, education, standards, and other resources to “advance clean,” “drive innovation” and help facilities implement green cleaning programs and healthy indoor environments.
  • Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) & CIMS-Green Building
    Setting forth the key elements of a quality, dependable and sustainable cleaning operation, CIMSand CIMS-GB serve as THE road map for an effective green cleaning program. By aligning management and operations with the CIMS/CIMS-GB criteria, educational facilities may pursue points toward LEED: EBOM certification, while greening their operations overall and delivering a healthy environment that is conducive to student productivity and success.
School Profiles
Other
Roadmap to a Green Campus
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