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This page was last updated as of May 15th, 2023
District Solar PPA
District Solar PPA
In April, 2023, the District successfully submitted the PG&E Interconnection Application for all three campuses that guarantees the better NEM 2.0 solar rate, which is no longer an option for projects after April 14th, 2023. The application included solar panels that could provide up to 99% of each campus’s electricity use. This has been a great win for the District.
Currently, the District Board is evaluating two different financial scenarios for the potential solar on campus: cash v.s. PPA (Power Purchase Agreement). If the District chooses cash purchase, the solar panels would cost at least $30 million to commission, but there is currently no capital reserved for the project. On the other hand, a PPA requires no up-front cost and guarantees low rates of electricity generated from panels on our campuses locked in for the next 20 years. If you or your class are interested in learning more, please contact Jessica Ho @hojessica@smccd.edu for more information/presentations.
To help nudge the board for adoption, please sign the SMCCCD solar petition linked in the button to the left.
Earth Fest 2023
Earth Fest 2023
In honor of Earth Day (April 22nd), the team held our inaugural Earth Fest at two campuses across the District! What was originally supposed to be a small outreach activity, Earth Fest turned into a multi-day sustainability extravaganza.
We hosted exhibits from the Museum of Tomorrow (see museumoftomorrow.net for more), partnered with the Assistance League of San Mateo to conduct successful clothing swaps, and collected over 160 pounds of e-waste from our e-waste drive.
The District’s Sustainability Team’s Mission is not only to make the District and its campus’ more sustainable, but also to create innovative learning environments that can engage students with sustainability in an accessible way.
Outdoor Compost Bin Infrastructure
Outdoor Compost Bin Infrastructure
The District has reached its highest waste diversion rate yet of 74% in 2022. To benchmark our progress towards our goal of 95% waste diversion by 2025 and make a case for outdoor compost bins, we worked again with Professor Mahoney’s ENVS 101 Lab to conduct an audit of waste inside and outside the Grove.
The audit revealed that approximately 60% of waste by weight disposed outside the Grove is compostable. We are using this data to construct a proposal for outdoor compost bins that will hopefully increase our diversion rate significantly at all three campuses.
Strategic Energy Management
Strategic Energy Management
One of the main job functions of the sustainability team is to reduce energy load on our campus buildings. There are a variety of different ways to achieve the goals by upgrading to energy efficient HVAC equipment, installing low energy usage lights like LEDs, identifying unnecessary energy usage. The District has onboarded two energy coaching companies: CleaResults & EcoGreen Solutions to help with the endeavor. The teams have been walking the campuses, entering electrical rooms and looking at lights to identify to potential solutions, estimated savings come in around $300K for each campus for the next 10 years!
SMCEW x SMCCCD Internship
SMCEW x SMCCCD Internship
This spring, the SMCCCD Sustainability Team partnered with the San Mateo County Office of Sustainability’s Energy Watch Program to hire three SMCCCD students to survey methane gas-powered building equipment in municipalities throughout the county. Data from this internship will be used by stakeholders to prioritize decarbonization projects. This unique project will benefit not only SMCCCD students, but aid in efforts to decarbonize their built environment in their own communities. They have recently completed their first round of surveys in Brisbane, Atherton, & Half Moon Bay municipal buildings.
Cañada Campus Sustainability Tours
Cañada Campus Sustainability Tours
The Sustainability Team led multiple walking sustainability tours to different classes this spring semester, highlighting LEED certified building design and energy, waste, and water usage. We were able to host a tour for Susan Mahoney’s Introduction to Environmental Science (ENVS 115) class. Adrielle, our Energy Analyst Fellow, also gave campus tours to her decarbonization interns at the start of their program. We recently gave a tour to Silicon Valley Intensive English Program’s (SVIEP) highest level classes which was supplemented by a sustainability-focused vocabulary list put together by our team. We encourage professors at any campus to contact us if you are interested in having us visit or lead a sustainability tour.
DEI CAPPO Webinar
DEI CAPPO Webinar
The Sustainability Team presented at a California Association of Public Procurement Officials (CAPPO) webinar for their DEI series. We shared information on DEI and sustainability, and the importance of sustainable procurement and vendor diversity (patronizing local, minority and women-owned, and/or sustainability-certified vendors). The team also gave an overview of our draft Sustainable Procurement Policy as well as our efforts to baseline and improve sustainable procurement at the District through the PlanetBids software.
SMCCCD Announced as a Leader in Sustainable Electronics Procurement with a 2022 EPEAT Purchaser Award
SMCCCD Announced as a Leader in Sustainable Electronics Procurement with a 2022 EPEAT Purchaser Award
SMCCCD has been recognized as a 2022 EPEAT Purchaser Award winner, which celebrates leaders in sustainable electronics procurement. The award comes from the Global Electronics Council (GEC), the non-profit organization that manages the EPEAT ecolabel. EPEAT allows our District to efficiently address the lifecycle impacts of the electronics we purchase, including computers, displays, printers, copiers, network equipment, mobile phones, servers, photovoltaic modules, inverters, and televisions. EPEAT products are more energy-efficient, less toxic, longer-lasting, and easier to recycle than products that do not meet EPEAT criteria while addressing labor and human rights issues along the entire supply chain.
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