Sustainability indicators in university campuses

Abstract

This article aims at describing the performance of sustainability indicators for Universidade de São Paulo, developed in Agência USP de Inovação/USP Recicla Program. In this context, the university's resources consumption has been assessed and indicators have been established so as to support actions, goals and sustainability policies for the institution. Generally, indicators are attributes that facilitate the understanding of a situation, by indicating - as possible - the current situation and comparing it with the desired situation. A survey performed in 2009 considered two steps: i) introduction and analysis of certain consumption indicators in 7 USP campuses, such as disposable glasses, water, electric power, built-up areas and vegetal covering, transportation and generation of waste; ii) partial data conversion into "ecological footprint". The data presented and discussed herein were raised with each campus, including colleges, schools and teaching and research institutes; in specific purchase and material distribution, water and power consumption and engineering sectors and green areas inside USP. The results achieved indicated that each member of the university community demands approximately 160m²/year of forest to absorb the impacts caused by resources consumption and waste production. The main environmental impacts noticed are related to power consumption (66%), buildings (17%) and paper consumption (13%). By considering the several challenges we faced the lack of an articulated data measurement and a control system at USP.