Building a Cleaner, More Sustainable Future
Our environment is changing. Research shows that global temperatures are rising and this is having an effect on ecosystems, agriculture, travel, and many other areas of life. To combat these changes, SUNY and our 64 colleges and universities are making a collective effort to lower energy use and limit the amount of pollution and carbon gasses released into the atmosphere that lead to climate change.
SUNY campuses account for 40 percent of all State-owned building assets (excluding infrastructure and land), with Educational Facilities alone accounting for more than 1,800 academic buildings covering over 62 million gross square feet (GSF). A comprehensive energy management program is vital for colleges and universities. This is especially true in an age where energy costs represent a significant percentage of operating budgets and reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions has become critical to both protecting the environment and communicating organizational values.
Clean the Grid – 100% Clean, Carbon-Free Electricity by 2040
- Increasing distributed solar deployment to 6,000 megawatts by 2025
- Deploying 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030
- 70% electricity from renewable energy by 2030
- Increasing NY’s offshore wind to 9,000 megawatts by 2035
- 100% clean electricity (emission free) by 2040
Carbon Neutral Buildings and Transportation
- 23% Increase in energy efficiency by 2020
- 185 trillion Btu reduction through energy efficiency by 2025
- 40% reduction in GHG from 1990 base by 2030
- 85% reduction in GHG from 1990 base by 2050