On April 8, Robert Maffia, Vice President for Facilities and Campus Operations, sent an email to the Stevens community that beginning on October 1, 2021, Stevens “will source 100% of its electricity directly from a local renewable energy source.”
As of March of last year, Stevens received a STARS Gold (Sustainability Tracking and Rating System) rating, one of 126 universities in the U.S. to receive the recognition and only one of two in New Jersey. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) published a report highlighting Stevens’ journey to the Gold rating (in 2015, Stevens achieved a Silver rating). Transportation Demand Management initiatives, while on pause for the Spring semester due to COVID-19 precautions, have been integral in actively “reducing carbon emissions,” according to Maffia.
According to Maffia, Stevens’ energy supplier ENGIE North set up a contract with the university to connect the renewable energy source, which will be “either wind, solar, or hydropower,” to our main power grid.
Members of the Stevens community that were instrumental in this initiative included members of Stevens senior leadership, Stevens energy consultants, and the Facilities and Operation department.
Maffia stated that support from President Favardin enabled them to “achieve an AASHE STARS Gold Rating and are featured in The Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges and on The Sierra Club’s Cool Schools ranking.” Furthermore, he credited Stevens energy consultants, Gotham 360, who brought the opportunity to the attention of the Facilities and Operations department causing them to “immediately act upon” the initiative. He also wanted to credit Frank LoCastro, Assistant Vice President for the Division of Facilities and Campus Operations, who is “actively involved in [Stevens’] sustainability and energy work.”
Maffia noted that “sustainability is woven into the fabric of our campus operations.” Sustainability initiatives have been a consistent part of Facilities and Campus Operations with “installations such as solar panels, LED light installations, EV charging stations, a commitment to LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) or better construction, as well as robust recycling and stormwater management programs.”
More insight into sustainability initiatives on campus can be found on the Stevens Sustainability website. According to the website, Stevens Dining purchases locally grown ingredients and has reprocessed over “5,294 lbs of cooking oil processed per year,” which according to GHG emissions reports is equivalent to taking “2 cars off the road every year.”
Behavioral changes in the student population toward sustainability have come from programs “like Recyclemania, and the installation of 18 water bottle filling stations, which divert thousands of plastic bottles from landfills,” which according to Maffia enables Stevens to encourage sustainable practices among the Stevens community on campus. Water chillers installed across campus have the ability to “save more than 1.3 million gallons of potable water each year,” according to Stevens’ Water Conservation information on the sustainability website. Stevens has gone further to double the savings by having three smaller chillers within each system.
Maffia wanted to also note that Stevens “just became an education partner of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, the premier professional society of sustainability practitioners.” Stevens currently offers a Master’s program in Sustainability Management and a graduate certificate in sustainable energy systems, spearheaded by Professor Dibyendu Sarkar of the Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering program.
Be First to Comment