2008 Woodie Awards
CUNY turns eco-friendly
Leah Aronova
Issue date: 3/17/08 Section: News
The City University of New York's Sustainability Coalition is a student-led organization that encourages student initiatives to develop sustainable practices that benefit their campuses. According to their website, greencuny.org, the Coalition's mission is for "students and affiliates from all 23 campuses [to] organize, take action and share ideas to forward the endeavor." A recent blog entry on greencuny.org was a reposting of CUNY's recent newsletter, discussing major sustainability projects and cutting edge research done by CUNY faculty.
Last June, CUNY and eight other universities accepted Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's call to cut their emissions by 30 percent. The recent newsletter titled "CUNY Matters," was aimed at educating students about its efforts on going green. The efforts include reducing greenhouse emissions by a third, construction of more "green" buildings and laboratory research.
CUNY is the city's biggest collegiate member with 23 campuses and 280 buildings. It has already started reducing consumption of oil, gas and electricity. In addition, 10 percent of its needs for electricity come from wind generation. In research laboratories, CUNY scientists are seeking ways to help reduce our negative impacts on the environment, including building better batteries for electric cars, purifying sewage sludge and turning algae into biofuel.
Over the last decade CUNY has invested $110 million in upgrading its physical plant at sites including Hunter, York and City Colleges. Now the University is gradually adding solar power. A science lab at Bronx Community College already runs off a solar- powered roof. Keyspan will provide a 100-kilowatt roof for a computer lab at LaGuardia Community College, and a 51-kilowatt array for Kingsborough Community College.
CUNY's first eco-friendly science building will be at Lehman College, with additional "green" science buildings on the drawing board for City College and a replacement for Roosevelt Hall at Brooklyn College. In addition, renovation of Baruch College's 17 Lexington building could start as early as the fall 2009, said Assistant Vice President for Campus Orientations Jim Lloyd. Baruch is shooting for a more efficient, innovative interior design while preserving classic architectural features and installing skylights to bring in natural light, he said.
Last June, CUNY and eight other universities accepted Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's call to cut their emissions by 30 percent. The recent newsletter titled "CUNY Matters," was aimed at educating students about its efforts on going green. The efforts include reducing greenhouse emissions by a third, construction of more "green" buildings and laboratory research.
CUNY is the city's biggest collegiate member with 23 campuses and 280 buildings. It has already started reducing consumption of oil, gas and electricity. In addition, 10 percent of its needs for electricity come from wind generation. In research laboratories, CUNY scientists are seeking ways to help reduce our negative impacts on the environment, including building better batteries for electric cars, purifying sewage sludge and turning algae into biofuel.
Over the last decade CUNY has invested $110 million in upgrading its physical plant at sites including Hunter, York and City Colleges. Now the University is gradually adding solar power. A science lab at Bronx Community College already runs off a solar- powered roof. Keyspan will provide a 100-kilowatt roof for a computer lab at LaGuardia Community College, and a 51-kilowatt array for Kingsborough Community College.
CUNY's first eco-friendly science building will be at Lehman College, with additional "green" science buildings on the drawing board for City College and a replacement for Roosevelt Hall at Brooklyn College. In addition, renovation of Baruch College's 17 Lexington building could start as early as the fall 2009, said Assistant Vice President for Campus Orientations Jim Lloyd. Baruch is shooting for a more efficient, innovative interior design while preserving classic architectural features and installing skylights to bring in natural light, he said.
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