Sustainability
One of the five Core Values of Facilities Services is stewardship. As stewards of the university’s facility-related services, we strive to conduct our business in an environmentally, socially, and economically responsible manner.
Facilities Services actively reduces consumption, recycles, protects the environment, and restores resources in our day-to-day operations. We also support other campus community sustainability efforts.
Visit these pages to learn more about Facilities Services sustainability activities:
- NEW! Energy & Resource Conservation initiatives:
- UTakeCharge Challenge - This energy and water conservation program engages the campus community in practicing simple, daily conservation behaviors: turning off lights, powering down equipment not in use, adjusting thermostats to recommended ranges, shutting the sash on fume hoods, consolidating and regularly maintaining cold storage equipment, and saving water--to name a few.
- Longhorn Lights Out - This initiative to conserve energy launched on April 24, 2013,from noon to 1 p.m., when members of the campus community turned off building lights and powered-down devices to start the habit of turning off electronic devices not in use.
- Building Manuals - Our Energy Stewardship Progam is partnering with stakeholders to develop manuals for building occupants that include energy-saving recommendations and much more
- Renewable Energy Projects — What we are doing to explore the use of sustainable energy on campus
- Building Optimization - How we restore buildings' heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to operate as originally designed
- Reducing — How we avoid, reduce, or eliminate waste
- Recycling — What we do to recycle materials, equipment, and other resources
- Renewing — How we restore and renew resources to extend their useful life
- Protecting — Steps we take to safeguard the environment
- UTakeCharge - How Facilities Services and the campus community are Taking Charge of demand-side energy and water conservation
Facilities Services was a key participant in the Greenhouse Gas Inventory of the university's Main and J.J. Pickle Research Campuses, published in March 2009. Learn more about the inventory and related activities at the university by visiting the Office of Sustainability Climate Action Planning site.
