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April 10, 2018

SUNY Chancellor visits Ecosystem project at Rockland Community College

Ecosystem’s energy efficiency project at Rockland Community College (RCC) took center stage when the State University of New York (SUNY) chancellor Dr. Kristina M. Johnson made her first visit to the campus since her appointment last September.

Johnson has a keen interest in energy efficiency and sustainability. A former Under Secretary of Energy at the US Department of Energy, Johnson was cofounder and CEO of a clean-energy infrastructure company before taking the helm of the SUNY system.

“I think the chancellor was particularly impressed at our bringing energy efficiency to the campus and trying to structure that in a way that allows us to leverage cost savings,” said Michael Baston, president of RCC.

Chancellor Johnson said that she hopes to learn from RCC’s partnership with Ecosystem so she can scale the model out to some of the other 64 SUNY campuses. The benefits of campus energy efficiency initiatives have a “ripple effect,” noted Johnson, inspiring a commitment to sustainable energy among both students and local communities.

Ecosystem’s project on the RCC campus, currently underway, will generate $558,000 annually in guaranteed savings and will reduce greenhouse gas emission by 1,000 tons each year. In addition to boiler and chiller plant upgrades, the project includes the implementation of a combined heat and power plant that will bolster campus resiliency during power outages. Lighting upgrades across campus will save electricity and improve the quality of spaces used by students, faculty, staff, and community groups.

For more on the Ecosystem-RCC partnership, see https://ecosystem-energy.com/case-studies/rockland-community-college/

The chancellor’s visit was covered in the Rockland County Times and by News 12 Westchester

Photo from Rockland Community College Facebook account. From left to right: SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson, Rockland Community College President Dr. Michael Baston, Ecosystem’s Director of Business Ahmed I. Ibrahim and Ecosystem engineers Trevor Smith and Tracie Brown.

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