Campus Buildings

The campus infrastructure at Saint Michael's College has a huge impact on the environment, we hope to make this a positive impact. Whether it's retrofitting existing buildings with energy efficient measures or making sure any new campus buildings are held to high environmental building standards, such as our new Pomerleau Alumni Center that is LEED Silver certified.

Pomerleau Alumni Center LEED Silver certification
The 6,500-square-foot Pomerleau Alumni Center, funded by The Tony B. and Rita M. Pomerleau Foundation and alumni contributions, contains a meeting room suitable for lectures, alumni gatherings, dinners and trustee meetings, and supporting areas, and the college's Offices for Alumni and Parent Relations. It provides a concrete way to recognize the college's strong connection to our graduates, said Saint Michael's President John J. Neuhauser.

To read a story on this certification, follow this link: Pomerleau Alumni Center LEED Silver

Did you know that in the United States alone, 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
    (US Green Building Council, 2008)
   


Did you know?

Insulation is your primary defense against heat escaping from your house, up to 15% of heat is lost through the 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 (roofs intentionally covered with vegetation) reduce the carbon footprint of a building by approximately 2,500 lbs of carbon dioxide a year (Varying on size of building).

Hardwood forests act like a vast reserve of carbon, storing billions of metric tons of carbon.  If you have the choice, it's best to avoid hardwood for your flooring or furniture needs as these forests take an extremely long time to grow.  If you do wish to use hardwood, look for Forest Stewardship Council-certified products (reducing your carbon footprint by 40 lbs of carbon per square yard).  The FSC is an international non-profit organization that promotes responsible forest management, to be FSC-certified, logging operations must meet 57 criteria, protect local wildlife, use minimal pesticides, etc.

 

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