7,005: Sustainable Building Policy

Last Revised: November 2022

The University is committed to protecting the environment by promoting the construction, maintenance, renovation, and decommissioning of campus buildings in a sustainable, environmentally responsible and economically feasible way.  As new buildings are designed, it will be a priority to incorporate Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design-New Construction (LEED-NC™) green building design principles or an equivalent standard adopted by the Director of the State of Nevada Office of Energy in accordance with the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Energy and Sustainable Building Policy and any additional procedures and guidelines developed by the Chancellor.

The purpose of this is to implement sustainable building concepts that benefit the environment, yield potential cost savings to taxpayers of Nevada, and provide healthy spaces for students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

Implementing sustainable building concepts for efficient management of energy and water resources, material resources and waste, environmental quality, health and indoor environmental quality, natural systems, building materials and design, construction techniques, and operations and maintenance minimizes impacts to the overall environment.

Minimum requirements for achieving this policy will be incorporated into the campus design standards.

To achieve these goals, specific measures and design strategies will be described during the project programming phase.  If it is determined that a project cannot meet the requirements of the policy, the reasons must be documented in the project program and presented to the President for review and concurrence prior to the schematic design project phase.