Sustainable ORNL
Who We Are
The Sustainable Campus Initiative (SCI) was chartered in 2008 during a time when federal governance in efficient and sustainable operations was moving to the forefront in facilities management. ORNL leadership considered the SCI charter to be a logical extension of the remarkable national laboratory transformation that launched in the very first year of the twenty-first century.
Beginning in 2000, through a creative mix of facility development funding, construction, and renovation, ORNL's World War II-era infrastructure became home to state-of-the-art facilities hosting major new research programs in areas such as high-performance computing (HPC). Advanced building technologies - many developed, tested, and proven at ORNL - were incorporated into new construction and renovation to further advance the laboratory's goal of efficient, sustainable operations.
It was recognized that continuous improvements in operational and business processes must be integrated into the fabric of the ORNL culture to maximize the return from the investment made in modernizing facilities and equipment. For 10 years, SCI played a critical role in the advancement of innovations in sustainable and efficient facility operations. In 2018, we recognized that SCI had indeed been successful in utilizing innovation in equipment processes to advance resource efficiencies and that an integrated. We had become more than an initiative, and we rebranded as the Sustainable ORNL Program.