1. Rhodes & the Presidents Climate Commitment
Will Leibner, Jeff Mueller
and Josh McMurray
Faculty Mentor: Carol Ekstrom

2. Background on the PCC
The Presidents Climate Commitment was signed by President Troutt last year.
The document is a contract for colleges and universities across the nation to bring about environmental awareness and conservation on its campuses.
By signing the PCC, Rhodes has pledged to minimize emissions, conserve energy on campus and promote sustainability.
To this point, 526 College and University Presidents have signed onto the PCC

3. Background on the PCC
The Presidents Climate Commitment was written by Anthony Cortese and finalized in 2007 by a committee of 12 college presidents.
The PCC “is a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions, and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earths climate.” (

4. The PCC Itself
The Commitment calls for a concrete plan of action from each institution to work for a sustainable campus culture.
Sustainability: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (
If each institution can become a leader in promoting sustainability, the effort to spread awareness concerning the issue can become more manageable.
The Action Plan includes these stipulations:
Within two months of signing this document, create institutional structures to guide the development and implementation of the plan
b. Within one year of signing this document, complete a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions (including emissions from electricity, heating, commuting, and air travel) and update the inventory every other year thereafter.
c. Within two years of signing this document, develop an institutional action plan for becoming climate neutral
(also courtesy of

5. The PCC Itself
The second portion of the Presidents Climate Commitment calls for the implementation of at least two of the following actions.
These policy prescriptions are concrete goals for Rhodes in the coming years to try to become more energy-friendly as a community.
These Recommendations Include:
“a. Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Councilﾕs LEED Silver standard or equivalent.
b. Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.
c. Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution.
d. Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution
e. Within one year of signing this document, begin purchasing or producing at least 15% of our institutionﾕs electricity consumption from renewable sources.
f. Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our institution's endowment is invested.
g. Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste”

6. How is Rhodes Doing?
Our group set out to try to gather information to determine a base line for Rhodes’ future performance with regards to the PCC.
We focused on three main areas:
-Budget
-Population
-Physical Size

7. Budget Energy ($) Research ($) 1998 928,545 499,943 1999 973,234
524,809
2000
973,187
697,282
2001
1,451,376
603,313
2002
1,125,373
648,042
2003
1,254,482
643,312
2004
1,271,111
513,957
2005
1,471,769
597,694
2006
1,826,267
645,637
2007
1,880,069
643,389
Total
13,155,413
6,017,378
We were able to obtain data on Rhodes’ budget dating back to 1998.
Keep in Mind: The Operating Budget of the College was $68 million for this past year.
Kyle Webb, the Asst. Comptroller was essential to this step, as he provided us with the budget data necessary.
This information is extremely important to gain a basis on Rhodes should plan to perform in the future in deference to the PCC.

8. Population Student Pop. Faculty Staff (est.) 2007 1670 159 400
The official data was obtained through the help of the Registrar’s Office here at Rhodes.
Most of this information is made available on the Rhodes website, which is an important part of the PCC, since the document calls for the public release of information pertaining to the a campus’ Greenhouse Gas inventory.
The Staff/Faculty number is an educated estimate with the help of the Directory on the Rhodes website.
The higher the population of our community is, the more we will have to work to become energy-friendly as each person adds to the collective Rhodes’ Carbon footprint.

9. Physical Size Building Space ( in sq. ft.) Research Building Space
751,942
831, 942
844,942
2001
919, 392
924, 932
1,062,932
12,400
This data was collected with the help of Brian Foshee from Physical Plant.
The research space data was collected with the help Biology chair Gary Lindquster, Chemistry Chair Jon Russ and Physics chair Brent Hoffmeister.
All future construction on campus should be up to the “Silver” level of LEEDS Certification.
Rhodes is forced to heat, AC, and provide lighting for all of this space, most of which are old buildings to begin with, which is why the Energy Budget is so high here.

10. Athletics Travel Miles
The Table below details the total miles traveled by the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams as well as the both Swimming teams.
Basketball
(M&W) miles
Swimming
Air
(all people)
26,172
25,142
Ground
(all vehicles)
4,576
1,830
Total
30,748
26,972
Another important area to keep watch on in the coming years is the amount of miles our teams travel for road games.
The data you see is courtesy of Armanda Venezia, who is an Environmental Resident here at Rhodes.
The Winter Sports teams alone traveled almost 60,000 miles, a number very important to watch when calculating the Rhodes’ community Carbon footprint, and thus adherence to PCC in the coming years.

11. Summary
Our research group was able to obtain a base-line for the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions that the Rhodes community produces.
We hope this data can be useful in the coming years for the community to track its progress in adhering to the PCC.

12. Implications
By signing and adhering to the Presidents Climate Commitment, Rhodes joins an important movement across the nation.
Rhodes is one of only five colleges or universities in the state of Tennessee to sign to PCC.
The Memphis community, one absent of a strong environmental conscious can look to Rhodes as a leader to try to bring about environmental awareness in the city.
Hopefully, Rhodes will live up to its pledge in signing the PCC.