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  • Campus Sustainability

    In an effort to reach our goal of carbon neutrality, the Office of Sustainability at Lewis and Clark Community College continually strives to raise awareness and inspire others by leading the way in research and implementation of environmentally conscious practices. Some of the most recent efforts and awards are listed below.

    Recent Campus Sustainability Efforts

    • Chiller Replacement in Main Complex - the college received $3,000 in incentive money from Ameren for replacing an old chiller with a newer more efficient model.
    • The College purchased a 2017 an all electric Nissan Leaf for Security at a discounted state rate and negotiated the donation of an electric vehicle charge station from Nissan.
    • The College partnered with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center to conduct a Waste Audit in May, 2017. One project coming out of that study was a receptacle audit. Director of Sustainability Nate Keener went building by building, room by room to assess the recycling infrastructure on campus. The outcome will be a system whereby bins are allocated appropriately across campus. All trash and recycling bins will be collocated, meaning that wherever a trash can is, there should be a recycle bin next to it. As part of this effort the college also created a system whereby recycling only happens in blue bins. Gray and white bins are for trash. This update will help students, staff, and faculty better recycle.
    • The results of a 2017 Greenhouse Gas Inventory showed the college's net emissions fell by 14.7% and their electricity consumption fell by 23% since 2015
    • After successful completion of Solarize Godfrey, which resulted in 150kw of new solar in the Village of Godfrey, the Sustainability Office was asked to lead the public outreach portion of Solarize Madison County/Glen Carbon. Director Keener conducted 22 Solar Power Hours, one hour educational sessions about the benefits and incentives for going solar, across the county. That program increased solar in Madison County by 293 kw through 35 installs.
    • The college applied for and was awarded the Ameren Strategic Energy Management Grant. This is a phased program. In year one, college personnel meet with Ameren staff to strategize energy savings projects to be carried on in year two. For meeting 12 times in year one, we will receive $15,000. If our energy saving projects achieve 1.5 million kwh saved, we will receive another $15,000 in year two.
    • In 2017 the college spent $42,600 on 2,243 new LED lights. Those lights will save 369,996 kwh/year and $24,461 on electricity bills. They will pay for themselves in 1.74 years.
    • The college received a $12,000 grant from the US Forest Service to conduct an inventory of the trees on campus. This inventory will individually map all the trees in the developed part of campus, and will provide a general overview of the campus woodlands. The inventory will allow the monetary and environmental value of each tree on campus to be show on our dashboard system.
    • Reid Memorial Library started a Digital Commons on the college's website, www.lc.edu/library, to host faculty and staff publications as well as publications like the Peppermint Rooster Review.
    • The college started the Student Textbook Exchange Program (STEP) to help students give and receive used textbooks at a reduced cost.
    • The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center's 2017 Internship Program, in its 15th year, comprised 23 undergraduates from 17 colleges and universities across 12 states. In total, the program has engaged 362 interns from three continents, working on projects from 80 different facilities.
    • NGRREC's 15th Annual Water Festival brought 500 fifth graders to campus to participate in a number of sponsor-run hands-on activity stations that teach them about freshwater topics like recreation, pollution water issues in developing nations and more. This year, participating teachers were trained in the Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) curriculum, a nationwide program for which NGRREC is the state host. For the fourth year, Water Fest student participants took part in a shoe drive for the Shoeman Water Projects during the event. This year's drive brought in more than 800 pairs of shoes for the cause.
    • The Illinois Green Economy Network named L&C Director of Sustainability Nate Keener a "Sustainability Champion." Keener has been instrumental to the effort since joining the college in 2011.
    • The Captain Planet Foundation, an organization dedicated to funding educational programs that give students hands-on, project-driven learning experiences with real environmental outcomes, awarded an educational grant of $2,500 to Lewis and Clark Community College, which planned to use these funds toward the Illinois RiverWatch Mussel Project launch.
    • L&C held sustainability programming during Earth Week 2017, including a campus sustainability tour.

    Recent Awards

    • RideFinders Regional Sustainability Awards (2017)
    • IGEN Sustainability Champion Award (2017)
    • AACC SEED Center's Green Genome Overall Award (2016)
    • EPA Green Power Award (2016)
    • USGBC Missouri Gateway Chapter Growing Green Award (2016)
    • USGBC Missouri Gateway Chapter Zero Hero Award (2016)