The Oregon Institute of Technology recently earned a bronze rating in an international sustainability assessment program developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
More than 140 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada have participated in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) framework. STARS is a self-reporting system designed to help institutions see how they stack up against each other in regard to energy efficiency, waste, water use, renewable energy and other sustainability issues.
OTI has a long track record of successful sustainability projects. The institute in 1974 opened its Geo-Heat Center, and now the entire Klamath Falls campus is heated with geothermal energy. The college also has a geothermal power plant, which will soon be accompanied by a photovoltaic system.
The school is striving to be climate neutral by 2050 via energy conservation, building design improvements, carbon offset purchases and construction of a larger geothermal power plant.
The OTI curriculum also focuses on sustainability issues: The renewable energy engineering program was the first of its kind in the U.S, and the civil engineering and environmental sciences majors also include core classes related to sustainability.
