UMass Chan cracks top 10 for sustainable buildings

In a highly respected review of academic campus sustainability, UMass Chan Medical School ranked in the top 10 for building performance this year.

The 2022 Sustainable Campus Index is published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The index is based on data collect through the association’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) program, a rigorous framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability across many metrics.

“This is special. It’s quite an achievement for stand-alone medical school, with significant energy demands, to hit the top 10,” said Kortni Wroten, sustainability and energy manager at UMass Chan. 

Wroten said the high rank is a result of many initiatives completed on campus over the past several years, such as updating plumbing fixtures in older buildings to reduce water usage, swapping out old lighting fixtures with more efficient LED technology, and reducing heating and cooling needs by retro-commissioning several buildings.

“And we are building on that momentum, with ongoing efficiency projects and the design for LEED Gold on the new education and research building now under construction,” she said.

UMass Chan Medical School has a “silver” designation from STARS. AASHE is the leading association for the advancement of sustainability in higher education. It was founded in 2005 and now has more than 900 members across the United States, Canada and 20 other countries.