Colgate University

Profile

Colgate, founded in 1819, is a small liberal arts college located in the rural community of Hamilton in central New York State. The campus serves approximately 2,700 undergraduates enrolled in 51 academic programs under 251 faculty members. Colgate is involved in a variety of environmental issues. Students get involved through the organization “Students for Environmental Action”, which provides listings of upcoming events, organizes current projects and coordinates a variety of environmental initiatives to be accessible to the Colby community. Recognizing climate change as a leading concern in the environmental arena, Colgate recently partnered with Clean Air - Cool Planet in a committed effort to address their greenhouse gas emissions. As part of their “Green Strides” program, Colgate is making an ongoing, university-wide effort to address climate related concerns regarding air quality, energy use, facilities design and transportation.

Past Initiatives

Colgate has formed the “Green Print”, a comprehensive strategic plan of initiatives to be implemented through the collaborative work of students, faculty, staff and administrators of the University. A dynamic document, it is to be reviewed and reassessed on a regular basis to ensure that it is responsive to current and future environmental concerns of the Colgate community. The plan outlines initiatives regarding air quality, water and energy management, facilities design, grounds and land management, resources and materials, ding and food services, transportation, marketing and education. The report breaks the plans into three categories; initiatives with action plans outlining steps to be taken, costs and timelines, selected initiatives that do not yet have action plans in place, and potential strides that can be implemented once they are selected and an action plan is in place.

Current Initiatives

Among the University’s current initiatives are several measures to reduce energy consumption and convert to cleaner energy sources to minimize the emission of greenhouse gasses. Electricity saving measures, such as fluorescent lighting, motion sensors, and computer “sleep” protocols, have been undertaken. Energy efficient windows have been placed in all buildings except Alumni, Chapel, and Lathrop Rink. Regarding energy sources, most of the universities electricity is hydroelectric, and any additional electricity is nuclear. In addition, a wood boiler is used to provide most (60%) of the steam for campus heat and hot water. The wood boiler uses wood chips as fuel. The wood chip burning plant offers the use of a renewable energy source. A regional furniture manufacturer supplies 30% of our requirement as a by-product of their manufacturing process. The wood chip portion of the heat plant supplies approximately 70% of our total energy requirement. Biomass-fueled heating facility produces no net CO2 emissions.
Regarding building design, Colgate is pursuing LEEDS Certification for the Library/IT renovation project.

Find out more on these and other current Colgate initiatives.

Future Initiatives

Institution's Goal

The goal of Colgate's Students for Environmental Action (S.E.A.) is to lead the Colgate community in creating for ourselves a healthy and livable future based on a sustainable relationship with our natural environment.