Case Western Reserve University - Strategic Energy Planning and Climate Action Refresh

ENERGY AND CLIMATE ACTION PLANNING

Case Western Reserve University (“Case Western”) is one of the country’s leading research institutions, serving 10,000 students spread out among 155 acres just five miles east of downtown Cleveland. Steven Baumgartner was a strategic advisor to Case Western for over five years.   Steven was introduced to Case Western when he led the sustainability framework for Case Western’s master plan in 2015 led by Sasaki.  This master plan outlined a vision for revitalizing existing elements of the urban campus and helped unify the campus into a composed, more vibrant, continuous whole.  Steven played a key role in the master planning effort by working to include all campus stakeholders in the planning process through interviews, meetings and surveys to see how faculty, staff and students use existing campus spaces.   Steven led the team that provided energy planning, utility infrastructure planning and sustainability consulting services, which included an intensive assessment of Case Western’s baseline, future state goals and key gap assessment.  This effort led to two follow-on projects that Steven led:  a comprehensive Energy Improvement Plan, which focused on existing buildings processes and operations; and the University’s Climate Action Plan Refresh, which set out the road map to climate neutrality for scopes 1 and 2 emissions.

With the Climate Action Plan Refresh, the university acknowledged the progress and efforts of the 2011 Climate Action Plan as a foundation for a set of new climate goals for the future. The document is to act as an addendum to the original plan and to adjust our strategies to keep pace with the changing times.

Steven led these efforts while at previous firms.

Location:  Cleveland, OH

Client:  Case Western Reserve University

Collaborators:  Masterplan:  Sasaki. CAP Refresh: Fovea (now part of Brailsford & Dunlavey).