What happens when an institution like Yale makes a commitment to decarbonize its campus? The impact can ripple far beyond our borders.
That was the focus of “The Ripple Effect: Institutional Decarbonization as Regional Catalyst,” a Yale @ Climate Week NYC panel held September 22 that brought together leaders from Yale, industry, and government to explore how institutional investments in climate solutions can influence markets, workforce development, infrastructure, and innovation across Connecticut.
The panel was convened by the Yale Office of Sustainability and the Yale Office of the University Architect. Co-moderator Misha SemeLev ’19 M.Arch, M.E.M., Yale’s associate university architect for sustainability, described a simple framework for understanding the ripple effect: Yale makes a commitment, an industry partner responds, and the resulting impact extends beyond the university to the region and its ability to decarbonize at scale.
“There’s a whole world outside of campus that is being affected by every decision Yale makes here,” SemeLev said.
Putting geothermal to work
Yale’s current wave of construction and renovation projects represents an opportunity to strengthen the low-carbon economy at a significant scale. J. Mike Bellamy, Yale’s vice president for facilities, campus development, and sustainability, described a facilities operation responsible for roughly 22 million square feet of space, over 500 buildings, 1,100 acres of grounds, and a community of about 33,000 people. Over the next five years, Yale plans to invest more than $4 billion in capital projects.
“We want to make sure that everything that we are building on campus is aligned to that north star, to make sure that the campus is emissions-free by 2050,” Bellamy said.
One example is Yale’s geothermal clean energy project on Science Hill. The system includes more than 263 geothermal wells and, according to Bellamy, is expected to avoid approximately 27,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually—roughly equivalent to 6,300 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year.
Yale’s willingness to deploy geothermal at this scale has provided an important validation for a technology that has been available for decades but remains relatively uncommon in North America, said Mike Richter ’07, president of Brightcore Energy, Yale’s geothermal contractor on upper Science Hill.
Richter said that Yale’s decision to use the technology gives Brightcore an important reference point when talking with potential customers. “When you walk into a room and say, ‘We have this great product,’ they say, ‘Well, who the heck uses it?’” he said. Being able to answer “Yale University does” gives the technology a level of credibility that can help open the door to broader adoption.
But Richter said the geothermal project is also creating another ripple effect: workforce development.
The geothermal industry faces a shortage of skilled workers, he said, and developing a localized workforce requires projects large enough to support apprenticeships and training. Yale’s project provides an opportunity to build that capacity in Connecticut.
That workforce can then move on to other projects. Katie Dykes ’00, ’06 J.D., former commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, pointed to a major geothermal project planned around New Haven’s Union Station, noting that apprentices trained through the Yale project could help make that project more cost-effective.
“It’s really remarkable,” Dykes said. “Those same workers that are being trained up, those apprentices to help support the Yale project are going to be invaluable to help make that climate pollution reduction grant-funded project at the train station even more cost effective.”
In that sense, Yale’s investment in geothermal is doing more than changing how buildings on campus are heated and cooled. It is helping build the expertise and workforce needed to deploy similar systems elsewhere.
Changing what buildings are made of
The ripple effect also extends to the materials used to construct Yale’s buildings.
Louis Grasso Jr., CEO of Urban Mining Industries, described his company’s work producing Pozzotive, a ground-glass pozzolan made from unwanted post-consumer glass that can replace a portion of cement in concrete. Cement production is responsible for roughly 7% of global CO2 emissions, making reducing the amount of conventional cement used in construction an important opportunity for lowering embodied carbon.
When an institution like Yale chooses lower-carbon materials in its buildings, Grasso said, that decision “doesn’t stop at the boundaries of the Yale campus. It moves through architects, engineers, construction managers, contractors, and eventually through the entire regional supply chain.”
Yale has used Pozzotive in several building projects, including the Peabody Museum renovation and construction of the Physical Sciences and Engineering Building. At the Peabody, the material replaced 15 percent of the cement in concrete, repurposing approximately 120,000 glass bottles and avoiding an estimated 28 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
At the Physical Sciences and Engineering Building, the share increased to 30 percent. Grasso said that represented roughly 25 million bottles repurposed and approximately 4,800 tons of avoided carbon dioxide emissions.
Yale’s decision to use the material creates demand that moves through the construction industry: architects and engineers specify it, contractors learn how to work with it, and concrete producers incorporate it into their operations. In turn, each successful project can make it easier for the next project to use the material.
“A successful application creates confidence, and confidence allows for the next project to go further,” Grasso said.
Creating a market for food waste
A third example came from Yale’s approach to food waste.
Yale generates approximately 600 tons of food waste each year from its dining halls and retail operations. Rather than sending that material for disposal, Yale made an early commitment to diverting its food scraps, investing in transportation, education, and collection infrastructure to send them to an organics recycling facility in Southington, Connecticut.
At the facility, food waste is processed through anaerobic digestion, producing methane that can be used to generate renewable energy. The remaining material can be processed into compost and soils.
Brian Paganini of Circular Services, whose company operates the facility, told the audience that Yale was one of its first customers.
“When Yale decides to sign the contract or get engaged, they don’t just move a project; they move the industry,” Paganini said.
That early commitment helped give the facility a commercial foundation, while also contributing to a broader system for managing food waste in Connecticut.
Dykes described Yale as an “anchor customer” whose early investment helped create the infrastructure that allowed municipalities across the state to begin food-scrap diversion programs.
‘How do we scale?’
The discussion then turned to a larger question: How can these individual investments be scaled across Connecticut?
Panelists pointed to several pieces of the puzzle, including Yale’s ability to convene other institutions, the need for stable markets and policy support, and the importance of sharing what works—and what doesn’t—with other potential customers and policymakers.
Dykes emphasized the role that state and federal policies can play in creating the certainty businesses need to make long-term investments in emerging technologies.
For Yale, making those experiences visible is itself part of the ripple effect. Sharing what Yale learns can help other institutions, businesses, and municipalities understand what is possible—and make it easier for them to take the next step, said panel co-moderator Lindsay Crum ’15, M.E.M, Associate Director in the Yale Office of Sustainability.
“When we share what we’re learning, it gives people more confidence that these goals are achievable—and that there are benefits beyond just reducing emissions,” Crum said.