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Michael Waller
Michael Waller
Listen to this articleDirector of Sustainability, Rochester Regional Health
Years in current role: 9
What sustainability initiative or environmental goal has your organization made the most progress on in the past year?
We have been working on developing a full decarbonization plan through funding from NYSERDA and in partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology. This plan includes a deep dive at the larger sites across our organization, including all our hospitals across NY as well as numerous sites representing our outpatient facilities.
What gives you confidence about how Rochester businesses and institutions are addressing environmental challenges?
There are a lot of organizations in Rochester who have come together to share ideas and get real projects done to reduce their environmental footprints. Along with strong support from the state, county and city, organizations continue to make substantial progress.
What area do you think needs more attention or collaboration to strengthen Rochester’s environmental future?
Generating and utilizing more renewable power is key to reducing our collective environmental impacts. Rochester Regional Health and many other organizations have done an excellent job of executing on our renewable energy targets, but new generation is simply not growing fast enough.
What advice would you offer to individuals or organizations that want to start making a measurable environmental difference?
The sooner you start making changes, the better. We started our journey in earnest back in 2016 with most projects having a payback of as just a few months to under two years. Since most environmental efforts focus on reducing waste and being more efficient, there is nearly always a cost savings. Usually when I seek to get a project funded, I talk about all the dollars we will save and add in “oh by the way, we will be reducing our environmental impact as well!”
What’s your favorite way to enjoy the natural beauty of the Rochester area?
Enjoying the outdoors.
