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Cape Cod Community College 2006 Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Application

Category

Community college or other two-year institutions

Contact

Kathleen Schatzberg
President
Cape Cod Community College
West Barnstable, MA
(508) 362-2131 ext. 4300
kschatzb@capecod.edu

Governance & Administration

For much more than a decade, Cape Cod Community College has focused the community's attention and the education of its students on the critical need to view the natural environment holistically, and make strategic and operational decisions with sustainability as a core theme. The College's institutional commitment to sustainability can be seen organizationally at every level, and has earned it regional and national honors from its peers, state, and national agencies.

Mission Statement & Master Plan: Embedded within this statement is the commitment to awarding "Technical and occupational degrees and certificates in such fields as …environmental technology." The College's current Academic Master Plan in part focuses on the health of the collaborative relationships between the College, business, and the community, as a critical factor in promoting sustainable economic growth. Individuals representing Science and Technology (ST), and Environmental Technology (ET) report very strong collaborations in this area, adding that of great benefit is aggressive outreach to employers.

Trustee Commitment: The College's Board of Trustees repeatedly have voted both financial and policy support for sustainability as a core element of College curriculum, management decisions, and operation. Board members live this commitment as well. One leads the Cape Cod Center for Sustainability, an organization that periodically partners with the College on public education events and initiatives including the recent Sustainability Fair focused on growing community-based volunteerism as a strategy to enhance the sustainability of non-profit organizations, and build community networks. Another, while serving as a community relations office for a major utility, aggressively supports the Cape-based National Marine Life Center and the local affiliate of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Others actively support related causes including groundwater protection and environmental stewardship, and bring that commitment to the table, helping the College to "walk the walk" of sustainability.

Campus Management: The CCCC Sustainability Team includes representatives from Administration, Facilities Management, Environmental Technology, and the Natural Science Department. Last year, the team focused on: toxics reduction and safety; technology building construction oversight; composting and recycling; waste water management; and the proposed MTC utility grade wind turbine project. CCCC's campus-wide environmental management system (EMS) document has been adopted by the EPA as a template for other public higher education institutions.

Renewable Energy Advisory Committee: The College's NSF-funded Renewable Energy Education and Training Project is guided by an advisory board of 35 members from industry, government, higher education, and K-12, and includes representatives from Woods Hole Research Center, Barnstable County Economic Development Council, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, N-Star, Interstate Renewable Energy Council and Partnership for Environmental Technology Education.

Special Legislative Appropriation Targets College Initiative: For the past 12 years, CCCC has received a special MA Legislative appropriation in excess of $100,000 to sustain the environmental technology certificate consortium with Massachusetts Maritime Academy and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, funds critical to the sustainability mission and to the Cape environment itself.

2006 Bellwether Award: The College was awarded the prestigious national Bellwether award in January 2006 for a more than decade-long record of excellence in promoting sustainable education and practices.

Operations

New Green Building: Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) has shown leadership and innovation in developing sustainable campus operations. In Spring of 2006, the new $7M, 19,000 SF Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Building opened as a "Green Building," made possible in part through a $20,000 grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The purpose of the grant was to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification from the U.S. Building Council for the new building. Through this initiative, CCCC is positioned to have the first LEED-certified state facility in Massachusetts. The building conserves energy through alternative energy sources including passive solar systems, "smart" lighting, cooling and air-quality sensors, a 27KW photovoltaic system, a grey water recovery/reuse system, waterless urinals, permeable paving, recycled construction materials, and day-lighting and light shelves. The new Lorusso building serves as both a model green building and as an exemplary environmental education teaching and learning tool for future technology-related facilities on college campuses across the country. Campus planning teams from around the country have visited, seeking ideas for their own building projects. The building's visibility is heightened by the College's status as a role model for other public higher education facilities, its reputation as a provider of environmental education and training, and its public environmental education services to the Cape and Islands and Southeastern Massachusetts.

College Leadership Brings Statewide Change: Following on this "green building" success at CCCC, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management has made very public commitments - giving credit the College for its "persistence" on the issue - to use LEED certification specifications in all future projects, seeking full certification where appropriate.

Recycling: CCCC recycles fluorescent tubes, batteries, glass, metal, and plastic containers, cardboard and paper, waste oil and filters, and recoverable dental hygiene laboratory wastes, and conducts source separation in the cafeteria, composting organic material and recycling other products. This effort was supported by a $19,000 start-up grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. CCCC now conserves in excess of 1.8 million gallons of water annually, which is over 50% of its former usage. Through a comprehensive retrofit, CCCC replaced 3 water-cooled condensers, and installed low-flow faucets and 1.6 gallon low flow toilets throughout the campus.

Innovative Contracting: Some of the "green initiatives" described in this application were accomplished through a "performance contract" through which an energy management company underwrote the up-front expenses for the hardware change over and installation, and is being paid back annually out of the resulting guaranteed cost savings. The College incurred no up front costs for numerous retrofits of new, much more efficient, technologies which totaled over $1.3M

Green Transport: As part of its "green" commitment, the College President's car is a 2005 Toyota Prius, a gas/electric hybrid passenger vehicle. For the past seven years, the College has operated a fleet of electric vehicles for its maintenance staff and health services office. Photo-voltaic cells re-charge a bank of storage batteries which, in turn, re-charge the batteries in the vehicles.

Curriculum & Research

As documented elsewhere in this application, Cape Cod Community College practices environmental sustainability as an institution and as part of the Cape community. The College also teaches what it practices.

Sustainability Education and Training: The College's Environmental Technology (ET) education and training capacity includes: a two-year Associate in Science ET degree; a two-year Associate in Arts Environmental Studies transfer degree; a certificate and internship collaboration with two other institutions funded through a special state legislative appropriation to CCCC; and exemplary lab and field equipment for teaching and learning.

Public Higher Education Consortium: Through the Environmental Technology Certificate Consortium with the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth (UMD) and Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA), over 90 students have earned certificates in coastal zone management, environmental site assessment, geographical information systems, wastewater management, or water supply. Since 1994, the CCCC-led consortium has placed over 300 students from the three institutions in over 70 internship sites in business, industry, and government agencies. Through these outcomes and activities, CCCC's sustainability impact extends well beyond its ET Consortium with UMD and MMA.

Sponsored Programs: This commitment has positioned the College to gain major teaching resources through highly successful and aggressive grant seeking. To date it has received four National Science Foundation grants including two Advanced Technology Education awards for more than $600,000. The current grant is funding the development of a renewable energy education and training program in collaboration with technical high schools and other education and non-profit organizations. Students will choose from eight credit courses offered within an AS degree or certificate program in Energy Efficiency, Solar Energy and Wind Energy. Internships are available and recommended for students. Through the grant and matching funds, renewable energy technology was purchased and installed at CCCC and the technical high schools. These teaching and learning resources provide hands-on experiences for high school and college students, as well as building industry tradespeople and the general public, in the siting, installation, maintenance and marketing of renewable energy technology to the building industry and the general public.

Grant-Funded Teaching and Learning Tools: CCCC's environmental education field installations and equipment for student use and learning include:

• a 100' wind speed monitoring tower
• three ground water monitoring wells
• a 400 gallon aquaculture tank
• geographic positioning system units
• graphing calculators and dataloggers
• a Smart Classroom with digital projector, DVD player and Internet connectivity
• PV, solar thermal installations on campus and at our high school partner sites
• wind turbines at our high school partner sites - and planned for our campus

Sustainability Education for Campus Community: CCCC also offers a wide range of opportunities for staff education related to sustainability and environmental matters including:

1. Presentations offered by guest speakers
2. E-mail communication on related topics
3. Newspaper articles in the College paper related to environmental topics
4. Opportunities to attend workshop and training opportunities away from the College

Community Service and Outreach

Sustainability Education: Each year CCCC hosts numerous public informational presentations by environmental organizations such as Northeast PETE (Partnership for Environmental Technology Education). CCCC's first NSF-funded Advanced Technological Education (ATE) project brought new environmental technology (ET) instructional methods and content to 18 high school science teachers from the Cape & Islands. Numerous K-12 workshops are offered at CCCC. Its current NSF/ATE grant is funding the development of a renewable energy education and training program in collaboration with the region's technical high schools and other education and non-profit organizations. The Workforce Education Resource Center (WERC) at CCCC provides ET-related job and renewable energy technology training workshops for individual practitioners, Southeastern Massachusetts companies, non-profits, and municipalities.

Farmers' Market: CCCC's Zammer Hospitality Institute embraces the sustainability philosophy and infuses it throughout its curriculum and outreach. An example is the Mid-Cape Farmers' Market which will enter its second year this summer. The Market emerged out of an effort by "The Zammer" to link local growers with local restaurants as an economic development initiative as well as a way to help the public eat healthful, locally-grown organic produce. The Market has contributed to the vitality of the downtown area of Hyannis, MA, five miles from the CCCC campus. The College and the Institute are seen as key partners in this effort that benefits the region's economy on multiple levels.

EPA Merit Award: Once listed as one of the ten worst polluters in the state because of its wastewater volume, CCCC's achievements have earned high praise from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection that now sees it as a partner/collaborator rather than a polluter. As a result of these and other sustainability achievements, in 2002 the College received an Environmental Merit Award from the New England Region of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "outstanding leadership in academic program development and community service; helping the College reach its goals of: environmental protection and improvements, increased energy efficiency, conservation and the demonstration of new alternative energy technologies." The Merit Award is believed to be the first time the EPA has so honored a community college.

CIREC (Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative): CCCC is an active member of the steering committee of CIREC. Membership is open to any individual or organization interested in transforming the energy basis of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket from fossil fuels to efficient, clean, and renewable energy sources. The Steering Committee is committed to sharing expertise, pooling resources, and advancing renewable energy through collaborative endeavors. Members work together to plan and implement programs, projects, and activities designed to increase public awareness of energy-related issues, challenges, and opportunities and to accelerate the local transition to a sustainable energy future. www.cirenew.org

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