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Please describe your institution's greenhouse gas mitigation strategies.
Chatham has identified high-priority projects to show an actual reduction in our carbon footprint. They have been assigned a priority, based on costs, ROI and carbon reduction.
#1. Enhanced Metering and Power Quality: Completed energy audit of the main campus and Eastside suggests energy management systems units could be installed in each building at a cost of $55,295 with an energy savings of 387,650 kWh and a cost savings of approximately $48,486 including demand savings.
#2. Lighting Efficiency Upgrade
The lighting fixtures in many campus buildings can be upgraded to T8 ballasts. Replacement high efficiency electronic ballast will cost approximately $96,800.00 , with an anticipated energy savings of 616,711 kWh and a cost savings of approximately $60,999.00. This project estimate includes both demand savings and occupancy sensors.
The motor controls and lighting upgrades projects would, when fully implemented, show an estimated 10% annual real reduction in emissions, within a maximum 4-year ROI time frame.
#3. Photovoltaic Power - 50 kW Array on the Eastside Building
The array would consist of high efficiency PV panels with array combiners, a DC/AC inverter; disconnect switches and an isolation transformer. Cost estimates: around $408,000.00 to install, yield 85,600 kWh annually at a savings of $11,124.00 per year.
#4. Centralized Geothermal Co-generation
On the Woodland campus, we plan to consolidate all heating and cooling into one centralized natural-gas fired co-generation plant. The plants three megawatt co-generation plant would be located in the center of the quad below grade. Co-generation units would provide electricity to upper campus grid via new connections. We are also planning for a natural gas cogeneration / geothermal system to be located under the parking lot at Eastside. Preliminary numbers show an estimated cost of $3-5 million dollars, with estimated reduction of 15,000,000 kWh , about $1 million saved annually.
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Please describe your institution's plans to make sustainability a part of the
curriculum for all students.
Chatham has always had a strong science program and a very strong focus on environmental issues across the curriculum. We offer courses in environmental science, environmental studies and policy, and environmental citizenship as part of our core curriculum. Our outreach centers offer programs in environmental policy, sustainable business practices, and even organic gardening, while our health sciences programs examine womens environmental health issues and our education programs offers environmental science certification for teachers.
Growing from our environmental mission initiative, Chatham in 2009 established the School of Sustainability and the Environment. The new School will provide ground-breaking and innovative, interdisciplinary education and research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and professional students to better prepare them to identify and solve challenges related to the environment and sustainability.
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Please describe your institution's plans to expand community outreach efforts toward the
achievement of climate neutrality.
The Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham works to advance the understanding that all living things on Earth are linked, bound by systems and cycles that are both interdependent and currently at risk. The Institute was founded in 1989 as Chathams environmental education and outreach arm in order to promote awareness and understanding of current environmental issues through public symposia and educational programs. Programming includes womens environmental concerns and leadership in environmental policy and science, environmental education programs for youth, and campus-based programs for environmental stewardship and campus sustainability.
Each year, in conjunction with local or national environmental groups, Chatham hosts a variety of educational programs for middle and high school students to provide education on current environmental issues and to encourage them to become actively involved in the movement toward a healthier, more sustainable global environment. Rachel Carson Environmental Awareness Day has been held each spring for over sixteen years.
Both the Rachel Carson Institute and the Sustainability Office provide training sessions for dislocated workers enrolled in a state green jobs and brownfields program. Our community partnerships include the City of Pittsburgh, Phipps Conservatory, the Garden Club of Allegheny County, childrens groups such as Girl Scouts, and, new this year, Eco-Nature camp for children in the city and near Eden Hall Farm.
Chatham is a supporting member of the Urban Ecology Collaborative, a unique multi-city network for urban ecosystem research and restoration working to develop healthy sustainable cities. Chatham employees and graduate students co-chair the Education Working Group.
The Chatham University Arboretum was designated an arboretum in 1998 by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (now known as the American Public Garden Association. The Arboretum provides an outdoor classroom for students in the Universitys Landscape Architecture and Landscape Studies programs and campus visitors.
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