Sustainability
Commitment & Results
In keeping with its commitment and results, Stanford Redwood City incorporates a number of high-performance features and follows California’s stringent green building codes.
Stanford’s Redwood City campus, aims to meet and exceed the university’s sustainability goals, capitalizing on the advantage of a fresh start.
Sustainability is a core value at Stanford, which the university prioritizes at operational and programmatic levels.
Recycled Water
Water reuse (also known as water recycling) reclaims water from a variety of sources, treats it, then reuses it for purposes like irrigation, landscaping, toilet flushing, groundwater replenishment, industrial processes, and environmental restoration. All of the buildings, except Cardinal Hall, use reclaimed water, as required by Redwood City. None of our sinks or showers rely on the recycled water system.
Your Actions Matter
Sustainable Stanford also provides a host of resources and tools that highlight sustainability programs and can help guide you toward a more sustainable workplace.
Renewable Energy
The campus features a Central Energy Hub that utilizes the same technology developed as part of Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI) and will rely on 100 percent clean, renewable electricity by the end of 2022. Stanford has reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 80% below its peak in 2011.
Recycling & Composting
To support the university’s effort of achieving zero waste, Redwood City buildings feature shared waste stations, with access to recycling and compost bins, as well as paper towel composting in bathrooms. Some break rooms have reusable dishes and utensils while all have certified compostable single use cups and utensils.
Commuting
Mitigating the environmental impacts of transportation to and around campus remains a critical component in Redwood City. As such, Stanford Redwood City’s transportation program is focused on encouraging sustainable commutes and reducing single-occupancy vehicle travel.
Dining
The Cardinal Café and Stanford Catering and Conferences at Redwood City are managed by Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE), which prioritizes sustainability across all aspects of its operations, and will incorporate sustainable purchasing, reusable dishware, and food donation into its operations.
Events
Sustainable Stanford provides the information, tools and resources to all event organizers to establish sustainable events as the norm. Learn how to reduce the environmental impact of events by maximizing resources, reducing waste and exemplifying environmental stewardship.
Landscaping
The landscape design incorporates native plants and natural bio-swales to maximize water conservation.
If you have questions about sustainability at SRWC, please email SustainableRWC@stanford.edu.
Learn More
Learn more about additional sustainability features in Redwood City, which facilities teams will monitor and benchmark to establish performance targets related to water, purchasing and other key performance categories.