St. Lawrence College wins sustainability award ​

St Lawrence College (SLC) has recently won the Greatest Green House Gas (GHG) Reduction Award from Sustainable Kingston’s Green Economy Program for the second year in a row.

In the past year, SLC reduced its GHG emissions by 50.9 tonnes, according to Beth Sills, Director, Facility Management Services at SLC. “The savings are the equivalent of taking 165 cars off the road in one year or heating 12.4 homes per month. The emission reduction was largely due installing heat recovery and upgrading heating equipment in the Kingston Residence.” 

The new Student Life and Innovation Centre opened this year; the building is targeting LEEDTM Gold Certification through the Canada Green Building Council and will consume 57% less energy and will generate 65% less GHG emissions, compared to a conventional building construction. 20% of materials by cost are made of recycled content and 35% are regionally sourced. 100% of the wood selected was sustainably harvested and 90% of the construction waste was diverted from landfill.

As a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), SLC submitted its first application to their Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS®). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. SLC received a Bronze Rating in February 2019 and is now one of 12 Colleges and University in Ontario that has current a STAR® rating. 

-30-