“This year, we’ve tried to focus more on the stories of the people,” Assistant Director of the Office of Campus Sustainability Ann Erhardt said. “There are a number of people at the university working to make a difference on a broader scale than just on campus.”

The report discusses international research, such as MSU’s Global Water Initiative and an anaerobic digester in Costa Rica, similar to the one built on MSU’s south campus.

“We’ve also made strides in energy efficiency, reducing the amount of coal used and greenhouse gas emissions,” Erhardt said. “But sustainability is about a lot more than just energy.”

MSU’s Energy Transition Plan — in which one goal is for campus to be powered by 15 percent renewable energy by 2015 — also was touched on in the report.

MSU has one of the nation’s largest residence hall systems and dining facilities in the nation, leading to a lot of energy usage, Infrastructure Planning and Facilities Managing Environmental Engineer Lynda Boomer said in the report.

“Our facilities use a lot of energy,” she said. “Campus continues to grow each year, and there’s a footprint to that — not just a physical footprint but an energy footprint as well.”

A number of sustainability projects are completed or ongoing with funding from the Be Spartan Green Student Project Fund. There’s been a positive student response for this year’s new recycling initiative on football Saturdays, MSU Waste Reduction Coordinator Dave Smith said.

Volunteers help to gather materials both inside the stadium and out on game days, with more recycling bins in the stadium and in the tailgate areas.

“Our volunteer program continues to grow,” Smith said. “We’re now capturing material where we never captured it before.”