HAMILTON, N.Y. — Colgate University announced Monday it has achieved carbon neutrality after a 10-year initiative in which the private university cut its emissions by 46 percent.
Colgate contends it is the first university in New York state to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero, according to a release posted to its website.
The steps Colgate took over the last decade to reach this milestone included building several Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings on campus, installing solar arrays and a geothermal heating and cooling system, establishing a $1.25 million self-sustaining fund for energy and carbon-reduction projects, updating the university’s heating facility biomass boiler, and investing in several carbon offset-projects to mitigate remaining university emissions from employee travel, heating, and cooling.
Colgate is a 200-year-old liberal-arts college located in Hamilton, with about 3,000 undergraduate students.
Contact Nilsen at knilsen@cnybj.com
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