Campus Infrastructure

The campus infrastructure at Saint Michael's has a large impact on the environment. According to the US Green Building Council, buildings account for:

70% of electricity consumption
39% of energy use
39% of all carbon dioxide emissions
40% of raw materials use
30% of waste output (136 million tons annually)
12% of potable water consumption

It's our goal to minimize these impacts. We do this by retrofitting existing buildings with energy efficient upgrades, and by making sure new campus buildings are held to high environmental building standards, such as our LEED Silver certified Pomerleau Alumni Center (see story), a 6,500-square-foot multi-use building that provides meeting and conference spaces as well as offices for Alumni and Parent Relations.

Did You Know?

Insulation is your primary defense against heat loss; up to 15% of heat is lost through walls and 30% through the roof. Insulating your walls and roofs can reduce a household's carbon footprint by 2,000 lbs of carbon dioixide a year!

Green roofs (intentionally covered with vegetation) reduce the carbon footprint of a building by approximately 2,500 lbs of carbon dioxide a year, depending on the size of the structure.

Hardwood forests store billions of metric tons of carbon, but are slow-growing. If you have the choice, avoid hardwood flooring or furniture. If you wish to use hardwood, look for Forest Stewardship Council-certified products, which reduce your carbon footprint by 40 lbs of carbon per square yard of material used.

Taken from "The Environmental Equation," by Alex Shimo-Barry, 2008

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Campus Infrastructure

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The Edmundite Catholic Liberal Arts College