The Sustainable Lifecycle of the Terman Engineering Center
The construction, operation, and demolition of the Terman Building inform sustainable building projects across Stanford’s campus.
Land and Buildings – Blending the Natural and Built Environments
Stanford’s sustainable land management ensures environmental stewardship endures alongside the university’s academic achievements. Through significant growth and development, the university maintains a balance between progress and preservation in our approach to development, habitat conservation and restoration, and the thoughtful design and use of landscaping and grounds. Efforts to mitigate the potential impact of development on heritage resources include policies protecting archaeological sites and historically significant buildings, as well as consultation with the indigenous Muwekma Ohlone tribe to ensure respect for cultural values.
Balancing Growth & Green
Stanford’s campus is located in the area formerly known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight, which has transformed from rural orchards to a center of knowledge-based industries. Despite this urbanization, 60% of Stanford’s 8,180 contiguous acres remain undeveloped, providing a crucial balance between growth and preservation.
Stanford land includes research and academic facilities, residential housing, and commercial buildings. The land use and campus planning policies emphasize sustainable development by:
- Maximizing land use efficiency
- Reuse and redevelopment: adapting historic buildings for new purposes and increasing land and building capacity
- Historic preservation: restoring and repurposing buildings
- Agricultural sustainability: including organic crop farming, plant nurseries, and grazing
Nurturing Nature
Stanford supports high levels of native biodiversity across developed and undeveloped lands. Notably, Stanford takes actions to protect and monitor several special status species including California red-legged frog, California tiger salamander, steelhead trout, an intergrade form of San Francisco garter snake, western pond turtle, western burrowing owl, monarch butterfly, and crotch’s bumblebee.
Key conservation and restoration efforts include:
- Establishment of Stanford’s Habitat Conservation Plan: A 50-year plan covering 4,372 acres that aims to stabilize or increase the population size of covered species listed under the federal and state endangered species acts through monitoring, habitat enhancement, minimization of human impact, and permanent dedication of land.
- Designating land for sustainable academic use, including the establishment of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve: 1,200 acres for teaching and research, which support studies by Stanford and other universities and an outdoor classroom for K-12 students and local organizations.
- Oak woodland stewardship including planting or protecting over 2000 oak seedlings in collaboration with Stanford researchers, non-profits, and community volunteers.
Building Sustainably
The built environment at Stanford is a critical component of supporting academic life. We design and create buildings that preserve existing green space while using responsibly sourced materials to mitigate environmental impacts. Stanford aims to ensure all buildings on campus are as efficient as possible, which is key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Green Labs
As a leading research institution, Stanford occupies 2 million square feet of laboratory space, housing over 5,000 diverse research projects concurrently. On average, laboratory buildings consume 3-5 times more energy than office buildings, generate considerable waste, and consume high amounts of water. Stanford Green Labs aims to empower researchers to reduce the environmental impact of their laboratories while maintaining research excellence.
To support labs in lowering their environmental footprint, the Green Labs Program provides essential resources, including in-lab recycling collection, energy-efficient equipment rebates, surplus chemical sharing, tips for conserving water, and tools like outlet timers and cold-storage optimization guides. Through these resources, labs can reduce waste and water consumption, and effectively lower energy usage. Learn more about how you can get involved in Green Labs on campus and enhance lab safety and the well-being of lab personnel.
Land & Building Resources
Project: Reducing Embodied Carbon in Construction
Doctoral student Eleni Alexandraki, B.S. ’19 and M.S. ’21, developed a set of Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment Guidelines for her Living Lab Fellowship Project.
Project: Planned Fire and Fuels Management on Stanford Lands
Zander Opperman developed a fire management plan for the Jasper Ridge Preserve as part of his Living Lab Fellowship.
Green Buildings to Envy
Stanford designs, constructs, and operates beautiful, high-performing sustainable buildings. Explore our sustainable building portfolio.