Miami University’s Board of Trustees approved Cook Field as the site for a potential new arena to replace Millett Hall, which could bring vast change to Miami’s campus – both in appearance and functionality. This decision also raises questions about how Miami can execute these changes while staying committed to sustainability, specifically to its 2040 carbon neutrality goal.
Miami staff plan to fit the project into the 2040 commitment and incorporate sustainability into arena designs, but specific strategies are subject to change as the project goes through further planning.
Powering the arena
Cody Powell, associate vice president of facilities planning and operations, said the new arena would comply with Miami’s transition off carbon-intensive steam power. He said new renovations and construction on campus expect a 20% reduction in energy consumption at minimum, and that they are looking to put the arena onto one of Miami’s geothermal systems.
“We will be looking to have a pretty substantial energy reduction,” Powell said.
This would replace an earlier plan to change Millett’s infrastructure and move it to geothermal energy from the well field being constructed nearby. Miami’s buildings are also designed to meet a minimum of LEED silver, which sets guidelines for sustainable construction and operation. Powell said the new arena will most likely exceed these guidelines.
David Creamer, senior vice president for finance and business services and treasurer, said the new arena project could explore other forms of renewable energy.
“There’s obviously a very large roof structure that will overlay this building, we could, during the process, evaluate whether solar is an option to take advantage of that,” Creamer said.
However, Creamer also said that at this point in time it is too early to know where exactly the new arena will pull power from and that more planning will bring more certainty.
Gray areas of carbon neutrality
Miami breaks down its emissions tracking into three scopes: emissions produced on campus, purchased electricity and commuting and university air travel. As it stands now, Powell said construction and demolition emissions would not be evaluated in the new arena project.
“One of the things carbon neutrality looks at – you define bounds around what you’re considering trackable versus what you don’t,” Powell said. “We have often not considered construction waste in those calculations.”
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However, he echoed Creamer in that he is not certain what the future holds for this scope of emissions.
Moreover, the development of a hotel remains a possibility for the new Cook Field site. Creamer said Miami is looking at the possibility of a private developer. Similar to the third party emissions of construction and demolition, the private hotel emissions may not be considered in Miami’s net zero calculations.
“We would be leasing ground to the developer,” Powell said. “That wouldn’t be considered part of the university’s public production. Again, it’s one of those things that can change over time, depending on what the expectations are, but that’s typically how that’s handled.”
However, Powell said that if this plan is executed, he believes the developer will be mindful of the university’s goals and have an interest in creating a sustainable facility. Creamer said these emissions will remain a part of the conversation.
A waiting game
Plans for the arena, including its sustainability considerations, are an ongoing conversation. Powell said several groups with different objectives work on monitoring the progress of the 2040 goal and will be engaged as these conversations arise.
“It is important to remember that we don’t have final approval on the project,” Creamer said. “I think that gets confused. The board is continuing to have us do more work to get them more information.”
Creamer said there is still more information to be gathered, and a final approval from the Board of Trustees is expected towards the end of 2025 or early 2026.
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