The President's Task Force on Climate Change put forth a final report last March on the University's carbon footprint which included recommendations to reduce Hopkins' impact on the environment.
Currently, the task force is creating a detailed plan to implement these recommendations and attain carbon neutrality in the next 15 years.
This plan is to be presented to President Ronald Daniels by next month.
According to Benjamin Hobbs, chair of the task force, in writing the report, the task force gave prime importance to be responsive to the President's charge to achieve a significant reduction in the University's carbon footprint.
"[We gave importance to coming up with] a plan to put Hopkins at the forefront of research and education that is responsive to the potential threat of global climate change," Hobbs wrote in an e-mail to the News-Letter.
"And to partner with organizations in Baltimore and Maryland in this effort."
Three working groups were in charge of gathering information and producing reports in response to the goals of the task force. These groups were focused on tactics and strategies, innovation and research and community partnerships.
Though the path to sustainability is still in the planning stages, the report outlines the University's vision towards a greener future.
"Implementation of the report's recommendations will contribute to making Johns Hopkins a leader in sustainability research and education," Hobbs wrote in the report.
The recommendations address reducing energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency and broadening visibility of the sustainability initiative.
The goal outlined in the report is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 51 percent by the year 2025, amounting to 141,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The total GHG emitted in 2008 was 259,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
According to the report, data suggests that electric consumption is the largest overall contributor to GHG emissions.
The largest consumers of electricity on the Hopkins campuses are laboratory buildings, computing centers and chilled water plants that provide air conditioning.
The report suggests that "implementing cogeneration opportunities, where both heat and power are used to produce energy, will make a difference in energy consumption."
The University's electricity comes from large power plants and smaller district heating and cooling plants, which are controlled centrally.
According to the report, even a minor change in fuel input and efficiency can have an impact on the campus.
In addition, the task force is also considering installing a gas turbine on the Homewood campus that can generate electricity while capturing heat for steam production to be used in heating and chilling plants.
The turbine is predicted to be up and running by April 2010, and is expected to reduce approximately five percent of the total university GHG emissions. More turbines may be installed on the East Baltimore campus as well.
Another issue the task force addressed in the report is the consolidation of data and computing centers. The computing centers utilize a great deal of electricity and require a lot of cooling.
The report recommended a plan for "virtualizing servers" by replacing several physical servers with just one that would run multiple virtual servers. Such a replacement could reduce the number of physical servers by a factor of 20, with current technology for virtual servers.
A general change in behavior and lifestyle was also recommended in the report. It suggested that "reduction targets, coupled with rewards for meeting those targets and local leadership to help reinforce the behaviors, would seem to offer the best combination to influence and change behaviors."
Steps to make this change in behavior easier include installing occupancy sensors in lighting fixtures. This would serve to eliminate the need for occupants to turn lights off when they are not in use. It would also improve buildings with more efficient temperature-control systems to reduce the need for space heaters near work stations.
Another initiative recommended in the report is the establishment of an institute that would serve as a University-wide research and education organization.
"The [Environment Institute] will coordinate research and education efforts across the University's division in the areas of global change, public health and sustainability," Hobbs wrote in an e-mail to the News-Letter.
"It will provide fertile soil for new initiatives in that area."
According to Hobbs, plans are well underway for an Environment House, which will be a home for sustainability-oriented student organizations on campus.
This would include the sustainability group run by Davis Bookhart, the manager of Energy Management and Environmental Stewardship for the University.
Bookhart was not available to comment on plans for the Environment House.
However, the recommendations posed by the report do not come without costs of the actions they call for.
The task force is still framing the costs of implementation, but according to the report, assuming a five-year payback for investments, the total value of energy savings in 2025 would be $26 million, which is roughly 97 percent of the total investment.
If the savings are calculated over the entire useful life of the implemented changes, then the overall savings would be $37.7 million, a 140 percent gain over the initial investment.
In general, students have expressed an appreciation for the work done by the task force.
"Hopkins is an epicenter of so many brilliant minds," freshman Amelia Mumford said.
"It would be crazy not to put it to use and work towards a sustainable campus. We need to start changing as soon as possible."
Freshman Nisha Donthi said she thought that the competitive environment at Hopkins would encourage greater participation.
"Since Hopkins students are so competitive, maybe more competition can encourage more students to participate," Donthi said.
However, some people still feel that there is more work to be done.
"Plans are all well and good," sophomore Global Environmental Change and Sustainability major Joni Sliger said. "But plans don't mean anything until they're implemented."
