Sustainability
Duke has committed significant resources, education and personnel to making the buildings and grounds sustainable for future generations. Landscape features provide a lasting impression on students and visitors and represent both a cost and benefit to the overall assets of the campus. The sustainability of the landscape requires planning at all stages of the review process, positive implementation of plans and a complete comprehensive management plan for maintenance. Duke is finding new and innovative ways to maintain the landscape including using new environmentally safe equipment and processes, recycling all reusable materials, capturing water for future use and preventing unnecessary runoff, using permeable vs. non-permeable materials, all while being cognizant of and consistent with campus planning and design objectives.
Existing practices:
- Composting (leaves, food/restaurant waste & annual flowers)
- Recycle woodchips for use in parking lots and natural areas
- Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
- Collect water run-off and building condensate in cisterns
- Campus Tree Management Plan
- Elimination of invasive plants
- Use local nurseries and businesses
- Monitor irrigation systems
Goals:
- Develop and implement irrigation system management plan
- Install additional collection systems for rainwater and condensate
- Update current maintenance vehicles to use alternative fuels
- Install solar panels to charge electric vehicles
- Use organic more fertilizers
- Continue to educate workforce
- Coordinate all aspects of the planning and installation process of landscape projects
- Reuse all uncontaminated organic material generated by Duke
- Implement tree protection policy
- Continue to survey and document trees and tree health throughout grounds
- GIS all major landscape
- Update all metrics for landscape sites