How the University of San Diego Highlights Sustainability Initiatives

In a sea of colleges, recent high school graduates have thousands of schools to choose from. To differentiate themselves, colleges and universities need to appeal to a wide segment of potential students. Sustainability is one area that can make an university stand out, and the University of San Diego is doing an amazing job of profiling the sustainability work happening on its campus.

Sustainability is important not only to millennials, but also to college alumni and the greater community. According to a 2017 survey by Morgan Stanley, 86 percent of millennials are either very or somewhat interested in sustainable investing. They believe that their investing in sustainable companies can make a real change in the community. Higher education is certainly an investment, and many institutions are working hard to make their campuses more eco-friendly.

The University of San Diego (USD) has launched sustainability initiatives including the installation of 28 electric vehicle chargers on campus and a Zero Waste goal for the campus. To this goal, the USD has had a 27% decrease in energy consumption since 2010, has diverted 3,000,000 lbs of electronic waste since 2011, and decrease water consumption by 19% from 2010-2016.

While colleges like USD may be eco-friendly and have statistics listed on their websites, seeing is believing, and USD has put its Concept3D-powered interactive campus map to good use to highlight all of its eco-friendly initiatives.

On the interactive campus map you can view and interact with six different sustainability icons. USD has established almost 30 different types of sustainable features across their campus including:

• Energy: Bloom Fuel Cell, solar panels and solar powered umbrellas.
• Engagement: Be Blue Go Green Club, Coffee with a Conscience, Fair Trade Club, Office of Sustainability, SOLES Sustainability Committee and Vigor Gardening Club.
• Landscaping and Grounds: USD’s three gardens - the community garden, Kumeyaay Garden and Manchester Vegetable Garden.
• Transportation: Tram stops, bike parking, carpool spaces, electric vehicle charging stations and Zipcar spots.
• Waste: a variety of compost and recycling centers, including, Alcala Vistas Compost, Community Garden Compost, Electronics Recycling Center, USD’s Food Digester, Green Waste Compost Area, SOLES Compost and Vermicompost.
• Water: bathroom water-flow upgrades, community garden rainwater collection, ornamental grass removal, rain collection barrel and weather based irrigation system.

When an icon on the map is clicked, a pop-up appears where the user can see images and a description of each feature. The Engagement icons not only show a description and which building the club or effort is located, but also shows the exact room in the building that the club has access to.

Additionally, on USD’s web pages detailing these sustainability initiatives, direct links to the map location - facility, garden, etc. - are included and easy to explore. See the example by scrolling down on USD’s Campus Transportation initiatives page: https://www.sandiego.edu/sustainability/initiatives/transportation.php

Beyond highlighting USD’s extensive sustainability efforts, the interactive 3D map has 15 other icon types, ranging from academic and administrative buildings to constructions projects that are occurring on campus. You also can get walking directions from one place on campus to another, giving visitors or new students a better idea of where they are going, and making it easy for them to explore the sustainability initiatives and - of course - everything else on this beautiful campus.

It can be difficult to highlight all of your sustainability initiatives in one concise area, and an interactive campus map is a powerful tool to bring it all together and put your best foot forward.

Explore USD’s interactive campus map: https://www.sandiego.edu/maps/

You can learn more about Concept3D interactive maps here, and see how our College Campus Tour systemswork here.

Interested in hearing how the Concept3D platform can bring your campus or location into the digital world? Contact us today for a no-pressure chat.