El Centro College

School details:
Full-time enrollment: 3,313
Part-time enrollment: 7,014
Location: Dallas, Texas

Administration

• El Centro College has signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.
• The Sustainability Committee works to make the campus more sustainable. Its efforts include improving recycling, reducing paper usage, and enabling power-saving settings on school computers.
• The Sustainable Development Officer manages the Sustainability Committee and purchases infrastructure to help the school save energy and reduce waste.
• The college is creating a formal sustainability plan that will focus on education, environment, community engagement, and economy.

Green Building

• The campus features waterless urinals.
• To reduce energy use, lighting sensors have been installed in campus buildings.

Climate Change & Energy

• The college is working on a greenhouse gas inventory.
• El Centro is planning to install windmills on campus, which will generate 15 percent of the school’s energy. Test turbines have already been installed.
• A grant for the college to install solar water heating systems is pending.
• School computers have been set on a sleep schedule, which will save the college $34,000 a year.

Recycling

• The campuswide recycling program accepts all traditional materials: aluminum, cardboard, glass, paper, and some plastics.
• Batteries generated by the school are also recycled.

Student Involvement

• El Centro offers courses on environmental biology, environmental geology, and environmental sciences.
• The school is in the process developing an associate’s degree program with a focus on environmental science.
• Student interns help work on field sampling, data collection, and analysis for environmental projects.
• The Environmental Club and the Phi Theta Kappa chapter both work on environmental projects. Last year, Phi Theta Kappa held a sustainability fair on the ECC campus.
• The Office of Sustainability’s monthly e-mail includes green living tips and sustainability updates.

Transportation

• El Centro College offers free public transportation passes for buses and light rail around Dallas to all students who are enrolled for six or more credit hours.
• The school coordinates with other local colleges to promote carpooling to and from campus.