Green Initiatives at SUNY Brockport

SUNY Brockport is one of several local schools being recognized for it's green efforts.  Recently they were named one of princeton review's "green schools".
 
At SUNY Brockport,  there is no shortage of green ideas.  For the last ten years the school has done a lot to reduce the amount of energy used.   David Turkow, Brockport's Director of Environmental Health and Safety says, "since we teach the sustainability green line, we'd also like to practice it."

They are doing that in a number of ways.  "This is the latest improvement we have made," Turkow says. 

The solar panels have been on campus for a couple of months and on a sunny day they supply electricity to the entire maintenance building.

"On a sunny day when the building is empty, it's actually running the meter backwards," says Turkow.

Across campus, Thompson Hall is LEED certified gold for its energy efficiency.

"We have a rainwater collection system. All of the toilets basically flush using rainwater from the roof. We have permeable sidewalks around building. We have low voc wall finishes and kind of an innovative air conditioning system," Turkow adds.

Geothermal energy is also used on some other buildings on campus.  They also have ponds, that collect dirty runoff from parking lots and clean it. 

"We've added eco stones or eco jacks. They are kind of weird they lock together and create spaces for cattail roots to grow. And if there is space for contaminants to get into the roots it actually uptakes contaminants better and gets rid of contaminants like oil and grease from the parking lot," says Turkow. 

A campus that's becoming "greener" by the minute.