Demand is up for eco-friendly campuses (Boston)

Faced with shrinking endowments and an increasingly competitive enrollment environment, colleges and universities are leaning heavily on investments made in energy efficiency and sustainable practices to cut operational costs while attracting environmentally conscious students and alumni supporters.

Higher education traditionally is a leader in green. More than 90 public and private institutions in the New England region alone signed on to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which commits schools to setting out and executing an action plan to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. (Eight Oregon universities have also signed on.) Yet the Great Recession of 2009 surprised many college administrators with its double-whammy of steep investment losses and pressure on enrollment, causing many schools to put the brakes on infrastructure investments. But administrators now say they will continue to press forward with green initiatives for the long-term economic and cultural benefits.

“In many ways, corporations and universities sort of have the financial flexibility to make investments in sustainability. We made the commitment to be greener and more efficient because we take climate change and sustainability seriously,” said John Bassett, president of Clark University in Worcester. The university’s goal is to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2015, with deeper cuts by 2030.

One of the most obvious benefits to tackling sustainability, particularly energy efficiency, on campus is financial. With their large real estate footprint, including power-hungry dormitories and scientific labs, colleges and universities in general spend a greater percentage of their operating budget on energy than commercial building owners — reportedly upwards of $150 million in the case of large research universities.

“The needs are acute: old buildings, old infrastructure and customers — students and alumni — that want to see schools take steps to reduce their carbon footprint because it’s a part of their social consciousness,” said Tim Healy, chief executive of Boston energy management firm EnerNOC Inc. “You put $5 (million), $6 million back in the budget, you’re talking a number of jobs, a number of programs that can be saved.”

Read the full story in Mass High Tech.