Green Summit 2008: ECAR Research Bulletin

Don Spicer, an ECAR senior fellow and associate vice chancellor and CIO at the University System of Maryland is updating attendees and explaining the work behind one of the latest ECAR Research Bulletins, "Climate Change, Campus Commitments, and IT."

The bulletin analyzes how several IT offices, largely at Maryland colleges and universities, are responding to the challenges issued in the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitmentinitiative. The bulletin also leaves readers with, "Key Questions to Ask," including:

• What is the status of climate commitments at your institution?
• Have you undertaken a baseline assessment of energy use?
• Who is looking into procurement policies to assess the degree to which they take climate-change issues into account?
• What initiatives have you undertaken that might have implications for carbon-footprint reduction?
• What policy changes might your institution need to make to move forward in overall energy reduction and other sustainability activities?
• What are the cultural barriers in your institutional community that might need to be addressed to move forward?