Built Environment
Buildings that Improve the Quality of Life
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average American spends nearly 90% of his or her lifetime indoors. Yale is committed to ensuring healthy living and working environments for people working, living, studying and visiting our buildings.
Yale’s Efforts
- Yale’s standards for new construction and renovations address energy and water efficiency, access to natural light and use of nontoxic materials.
- Since 2009, Yale has been committed to LEED Gold certification for all comprehensive scope construction projects and to using Yale’s Sustainable Design Requirements for smaller scope projects. Since 2010, Yale has invested $1.3 billion dollars towards projects that meet these Requirements.
- Yale is testing a Carbon Charge to assess if price signals can motivate building occupants to save energy.
What You Can Do
- We want to optimize how and when we condition our buildings. Use buildings during operating hours and avoid heating and cooling spaces unnecessarily.
- Green certify your workspace, laboratory, or next event to help save energy, water, and materials.
Our Objectives and Goals
Transformative Design, Construction, and Maintenance
Develop transformative approaches to project design, construction, and maintenance that address financial, environmental, and social imperatives.
After a four-year renovation, Yale reopened its Peabody Museum of Natural History in the spring of 2024. The updated building—which anticipates cutting its energy use by half, despite expanding gallery space by 60,000 square feet—features numerous high-performance design features, as well as expanded spaces for student and community events. “Evolutions,” the museum’s free program that provides local high schoolers with college-level science exposure, ensures Yale’s intellectual and cultural assets are shared beyond campus borders. Other sustainability improvements include water use reduction, energy efficiency, improved waste diversion, and accessibility improvements. Thanks to a generous gift, the reopened Peabody is now free to all visitors in perpetuity.
High-Performance Design Standards
ACHIEVED
This goal was achieved in 2019. In keeping with the requirement that all comprehensive construction projects achieve LEED Gold certification at minimum, Yale has achieved 32 LEED Gold and three LEED Platinum certifications as of 2024.
Campus Development Strategy for Carbon Neutrality
ACHIEVED
This goal was achieved in 2020. Since then, a new greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal has been set and campus decarbonization strategies have accelerated. By 2050, we plan to reduce campus energy use through conservation and expansion of our renewable energy portfolio. For detailed information about our decarbonization efforts, visit our Climate Action Strategy page.
Optimal Building Performance
Develop effective approaches to maintenance, operation, and occupancy of buildings that both ensure optimal performance and are responsive to environmental, social, and financial imperatives.
Maintenance, Operations, and Occupancy Standards
ON TRACK
By 2025, pilot, document, and apply enhanced high-performance standards and protocols for maintenance and operations that integrate sustainability for all Yale-owned and operated energy-intensive buildings.
In 2024, Yale Office of Facilities expanded its work to improve the efficiency, performance, and resiliency of Yale’s physical assets. Initiatives include the creation of a Campus Stewardship group; deployment of a data dashboard to help monitor building performance; and identification of an improved organizational structure that will help Facilities Operations to align with Yale’s sustainability goals.
Enhanced Space Use Policy
ACHIEVED
By 2019, develop and adopt a University policy for efficient use of campus space that improves utilization of buildings and facilities by identifying and reducing redundancies and excess capacity.
This goal was achieved in 2019. In response to Yale’s FlexPlace and FlexTime policies initiated during the pandemic, workplace efficiency strategies have been implemented within some academic departments and administrative units.