Binghamton University
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Education and Research:
Binghamton University students have infinite opportunities to explore sustainability as they study alongside faculty who are difference-makers in the community and the world. While strongly influenced by discoveries in science and engineering classrooms, sustainability is an interdisciplinary topic not relegated to a single school, major or class. Avenues for sustainable living and learning exist throughout the University.
The Environmental Studies Program provides an outlet for those interested in environmental policy and law, environmental planning and environmental anthropology. Curriculum fosters an understanding of the relationships between humans and the world around us and critical issues such as global warming, species extinction, water contamination and soil erosion.
The Department of Geography touts programs in environmental and resource management and urban and regional planning, but also allows students to combine tracks of study to achieve an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability. Students work on projects to understand and measure the potential environmental impacts of different types of development and how to avoid or mitigate them as they relate to urban decay, physical resource development, environmental resource management and economic sustainability.
Students in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science have shown such exceptional enthusiasm for sustainability that the administration is working to implement a sustainability engineering minor to meet the students’ educational needs.
Invaluable learning also takes place outside classroom through the many natural learning environments on campus and in the community. Ecological agriculture students use the compost organic garden as a field lab, while urban planning students inspect streets, buildings and homes in local neighborhoods.
Our research centers — including the Center for Autonomous Solar Power (CASP), the Center for Integrated Watershed Studies (CIWS) and the Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing (CAMM) — are cutting edge. Whether it’s flexible solar cells, supercapacitors for storing solar energy, renewable energy or hydrological and geochemical examinations, our faculty and students are at the forefront of sustainability research.
Students from the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science are putting their sustainability ideas into action through national competitions. In 2008, they placed fourth nationally for their super-mileage car, which gets more than 1,300 miles per gallon, in a competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Computer science students are getting in on the action, too, with a first place finish in a Federal Aviation Administration competition in which they teamed up with local businesses to tackle issues such as geothermal heating and chemical waste minimization.
Campus Operations:
Binghamton’s comprehensive sustainability efforts include, but are not limited to:
- Converting 85,426 square feet of pavement into green space
- Use of wood chips in our Central Heating Plant to reduce coal consumption / emissions
- A 182-acre Nature Preserve provides a living lab for education, recreation, flood prevention, improved water quality to support biodiversity and a means for carbon storage
- A 12,500-square-foot, four-climate teaching greenhouse holds 6,000 exotic plants and is a living lab
- A Center for Autonomous Solar Power focuses on harnessing the sun’s energy for an easily accessible, low-cost power source and is developing technologies that integrate solar power sources with new product designs
- Pilot solar hot water system
- A Center for Integrated Watershed Studies addresses biological, geological, geographic, economic and societal components. Activities include field data collection for research, policy analysis and education
- Low-flow faucets and toilets
- 2,500 pounds of compostable waste collected annually
- Reduced disposable items in dining halls, recycle or compost more than 90 percent of service ware
- A Compost Organic Garden also serves as a field lab
- Food service provider participates in the Food Alliance, using in-season, organic and local produce and dairy products
- A Food Co-op with low-cost organic groceries, produce, ecologically friendly ingredients and personal care products
- University Police use electric cars, bike patrols, solar- and battery-powered parking meters, interactive speed signs and computer-based reporting systems
- Phasing out gasoline- and diesel-operated vehicles to replace (where appropriate) with electric vehicles or ones that use alternative-energy sources
- Off Campus College Transport student-operated buses transport students and community members throughout Greater Binghamton
- Designated preferred parking for qualified, fuel-efficient vehicles and carpoolers
- Use of nontoxic, biodegradable cleaners
Since 2005, Binghamton University has invested over $3 million in energy-saving projects:
- Energy management system (EMS) with 46,000 monitoring points to control mechanical, lighting and other systems in accordance with how the buildings are used and occupied
- Replaced 5,800 incandescent lights with fluorescent lights, saving approximately $195,000 annually, and occupancy sensors expected to save another $160,000 a year
- An energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR-certified products
- LEED certification from the USGBC for Windham and Cascade halls -- the first SUNY residence halls and Binghamton-region buildings to achieve this
- All new building or major renovation projects are built to at least LEED Silver standards or the equivalent
- Replaced 880 exit signs with LED technology
- Free cooling; upgraded boiler controls, use of energy-efficient motors, replacement of air filters and building temperatures kept at 70 degrees during heating season, and 74 during cooling season
- Comprehensive recycling
- Participate in RecycleMania, a national collegiate contest that promotes waste reduction
Administration and Finance:
- For the third consecutive year, Binghamton University has been rated a ‘Best Buy’ by the Fiske Guide to Colleges, and recognized yet again as the ‘premier public in the Northeast.’ Binghamton is one of 44 institutions, 20 public and 24 private, to be recognized by the college guide. The “Best Buy” rating is based on the quality of academic offerings in relation to the cost of attendance.
- Binghamton is one of only 11 colleges in the nation, and the only SUNY school to receive the highest score on The Princeton Review’s first-ever “green rating” for campus environmentally-related policies, practices and academic offerings. (The Princeton Review, 2008)
- The Binghamton metropolitan area was named one of America’s Top Ten “Best Green Places” (Country Home 2007).
- As one of the largest employers in the Greater Binghamton area, the University will be partnering with Broome County on a “Green Ride” on-line ride sharing program to further enhance sustainability efforts at the University and in the community.
- Recently participated in a SUNY-wide “Think Green Fair” effort which brought together universities and the business community to share information, best practices, and review future opportunities for collaboration.
- Substantial financial investment in LEEDS certification for new buildings. We currently have two LEEDS certified residence halls and the following buildings in the construction and/or planning phase tracking gold: one residence hall in construction, three in the planning stage, a collegiate center about to begin construction and a research facility in construction.
- The $3 million invested in energy conservation projects since 2005 has resulted in over $4 million worth of savings in energy and utility expenditures.
- The University’s Small Business Development Center sponsors free workshops for small and medium sized businesses, as well as industrial and commercial facilities, outlining opportunities presented in adopting renewable energy and energy efficiency models of business.
- The University is currently in the process of developing a plan to implement Executive Order 18 which is a mandate from NYS to eliminate the expenditure of state funds for the purchase of single serve bottles and larger, cooler sized bottles for water consumed at state agency facilities.
- A project is currently underway to begin converting paper documentation to digital format in many departments across campus.
- The campus utilizes ‘Interview Exchange” for recruiting of faculty and staff. Prior to the use of Interview Exchange the recruiting process was cumbersome. Some of the advantages of this electronic system are as follows: reduced administrative burden for required reporting; the screening/sorting assistance for search committees; the ability for committees and the university to understand what advertising sources yield the most applicants; search committee members being able to review resumes online from any location that's web-accessible, and communicate from any distance; and an automatic email confirmation that candidate materials have been received. We no longer make copies of dozens of resumes for multiple search committee members.
AASHE Bulletin
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