University at Buffalo (SUNY)

Profile

The University at Buffalo was founded in 1846 as a private medical college and merged with the State University of New York system in 1962. Today UB is New York State's premier public center for graduate and professional education, as well as the state's largest and most comprehensive public university. Buffalo, dubbed "The City of Good Neighbors," is the second-largest city in New York State, yet it's a big city with a hometown feel. UB has 18,165 undergraduate and 9,055 graduate students attending classes on its two campuses covering over 2,000 acres. UB offers an undergraduate major and minor in Environmental Studies, a major in Environmental Engineering, and a Masters of Engineering in Environmental and Hydrosystems Engineering.

Past Initiatives

Even before embarking on a greenhouse gas inventory, UB reduced its greenhouse gas emissions. Nationally recognized for its campus energy conservation program, UB’s conservation initiatives have saved over $100 million.  UB is also a leader in wind energy purchasing.  To promote green building design, in 2004 UB completed its “UB High Performance Building Guidelines,” available on the UB Green website.  The UB Green Office has had a longstanding commitment to educating the campus and wider community about the threat of global climate change through conferences and workshops and by hosting speakers such as Ross Gelbspan and David Orr.

Current Initiatives

During the 2005 summer, the UB Green Office, in conjunction with other campus and community partners, began a UB Climate Action Initiative . As part of this initiative UB is conducting a greenhouse gas inventory, with plans to analyze the data to better understand UB's climate change impact, develop a set of recommendations to reduce that impact over the long term, formulate plans to implement those recommendations, and conduct a wide ranging climate change educational program.

Future Initiatives

UB is working on a new $10 million energy conservation project for its South Campus and in 2006 expects to install a 100 kilowatt photovoltaic array on the roof of one of its campus buildings in conjunction with a major energy technology and policy display in its science and engineering library.  Wind energy purchases will continue, perhaps including investment in the development of wind turbines on the Lake Erie shoreline just south of downtown Buffalo.

Contact

Walter Simpson, UB Green Office, wsimpson@facilities.buffalo.edu, (716)829-3535