Community Connections
We are all deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. So much is in flux and our daily lives have been upended by stay-at-home advisories and travel restrictions. Practically all the schools using GRITS are closed and on-campus living experienced an early close this year. We hope you and your loved ones are able to stay safe.
Many of our users are key staff on university campuses, usually managing energy efficiency and other sustainability efforts. We have heard that some have been called into duty on the front lines of health & safety operations, participating in facility closures, emergency planning, and pandemic response measures. We wish these folks the best of luck and fortitude.
By working together, we will make it through the significant challenges we now face. Let us know if there’s anything we can help you with.
GRITS Goals
Coming Soon: The BIGGEST Enhancement to GRITS ever!
After years of optimization and incremental improvements, we have begun work on a dramatic expansion of the scope of the GRITS platform.
A new suite of features called “GRITS Goals” will empower users to develop detailed climate and sustainability action plans by assembling their projects into resource-reduction scenarios. You’ll be able to build out a pathway to your institution’s targets for emissions, energy, water, waste, and even cost reduction.
Below is a sneak peek at a draft build of the GRITS Goals chart.
GRITS in Facilities Manager Magazine
We are proud to share a recent article about GRITS in Facilities Manager, the journal of APPA – Leadership in Educational Facilities. The article provides a succinct description of how GRITS supports facilities professionals and how it illustrates the impact of their work. Read descriptions of the case study webinars we have held over the past several months from Colgate University, Macalester College, City of Philadelphia, and the State of Vermont.
How can a stimulus bill create free money?
In 2009, $650k of ARRA money provided the University of New Hampshire an important seed investment for setting up their green revolving fund. The initial investment was used to upgrade their facilities, which lowered utility bills. Those savings were reinvested into more energy efficiency projects. Ten years later, over 50 projects have been financed through their GRF and resulted in more than $4 million in savings. This is what we hope to see in the coming years using pandemic response stimulus funding. Let us know if you anticipate setting up a revolving fund in the near future. Our parent organization, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, has a lot of resources on how to make it happen!
Let us know how we can partner with you to support your important work. You can reach out via our contact form.