University of Washington, Seattle
OP-3: Building Operations and Maintenance

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Our custodial staff across all three campuses, as well as custodial staff in our medical centers operations adhere to green cleaning policies. Our Custodial Services team has a long and recognized history of being a campus leader in the use of safe, environmentally friendly and effective cleaning products and practices. The University has a stated policy to practice environmentally conscious cleaning and sanitation procedures. We have also established a Green Cleaning Policy and Green Cleaning Guidelines to education our staff and develop partnerships among faculty and staff to encourage greater environmental responsibility. Information on these programs can be found at links below: https://green.uw.edu/promote/snapshots/green-cleaning https://green.uw.edu/news/uw-wins-green-cleaning-award https://green.uw.edu/engage/green-office/resources The purchase of green cleaning supplies is also included in our Sustainable Procurement guidelines: https://finance.uw.edu/ps/resources/sustainable-green-purchasing In addition, our Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Department offers a repeating course on green chemistry and sustainability which includes information on green cleaning. https://osha.washington.edu/MoDRN/module-3 More information on green cleaning can be found Facilities Services' "Focus on Environmental Sustainability" publication: https://facilities.uw.edu/orgrel/files/documents/sustainability/FS_Focus_on_Sustainability_lowres.pdf?ref=

The Energy Resource Conservation Management Program plans, prioritizes, implements and administers energy and natural resource conservation efforts for the Seattle campus infrastructure, facilities and grounds, including the UW Energy Dashboard (http://dashboard.mckinstry.com/uw/) that provides data and benchmarking for buildings on the Seattle campus, including solar energy performance. The Program provides support, information and leadership in the areas of sustainability, greenhouse gas reduction and energy and resource conservation to Facilities Services, process partners and the UW community at large. The energy dashboard is allows the university to assess performance, set goals, create and implement energy conservation action plans, and evaluate progress related to energy usage on 100% of the campus. The dashboard and the measures that have been produced from energy conservation efforts have saved the UW millions of dollars in direct and avoided costs. The energy dashboard is included in our Sustainability Dashboard (https://green.uw.edu/dashboard/electricity), and cost savings and avoidance from conservation programs (gas, water, electricity, etc.) are reflected in our our Sustainability Dashboard on utility costs (https://green.uw.edu/dashboard/utility-costs). More information on energy conservation efforts and performance can be found at website below: https://facilities.uw.edu/finadmin/energy In addition, since 2011, all new residence halls have Lucid dashboards available in the buildings so that residents can follow energy usage. The residence hall student club, Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED), uses these dashboards to develop energy conservation efforts within the halls. Since the dashboards are not publicly available online (they can be visited in person), a link to an article on these boards is provided below: http://www.washington.edu/news/2011/09/28/two-new-student-residence-halls-and-an-increased-commitment-to-sustainability/

Although the UW Facilities Department does not have a public dashboard for water similar to the Energy Dashboard referred to in the Energy Management and Benchmarking section above, management and benchmarking programs are in place internally and cover 100% of the campus. Evidence of the outcomes of these programs can be seen in our Sustainability Dashboard on utility costs which indicates over $5 million in water utility costs were avoided in 2016 alone as a result of water conservation efforts (https://green.uw.edu/dashboard/utility-costs). Our UW Facilities departments lead ongoing efforts to manage water wisely on our campuses including policies, programs, and initiatives focused on water efficiencies in new buildings, retrofits of existing buildings, and water recovery and reuse systems where appropriate. The UW has spent approximately $3 million on water conservation efforts and has significantly reduced water usage since 2001 when water management efforts were initiated and tracked. The Seattle area has experienced hot and dry summers in recent years so the City of Seattle has asked businesses and residents to voluntarily reduce water usage by 10 percent during these periods of extreme weather. The University of Washington supports this effort, and has called on the UW community to conserve water and be aware of its water usage during these times by launching campus-wide communication campaigns. Water demand for lawn maintenance is especially targeted for reduction during these times allowing some areas of campus lawns to go dormant during periods of water scarcity. More information on water management and conservation efforts can be found at the website below: https://facilities.uw.edu/services/categories/Sustainability-and-Education

Additional information: Energy Conservation: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=39.35C&full=true Facilities Focus on Sustainability: https://facilities.uw.edu/services/categories/Sustainability-and-Education Presentation on resource conservation: https://green.uw.edu/sites/default/files/docs/uw-res-conservation.pptx http://green.uw.edu/cap