Joliet Junior College has made sustainability a priority. They work to make their campus as “environmentally healthy, economically sufficient, and socially inclusive” as possible. They were one of the first community colleges to establish a campus-wide sustainability committee back in 2008, and sustainability efforts have saved the college over $1 million. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) awarded Joliet Junior College a strong bronze rating in 2015.

According to Patrick Van Duyne, director of Facilities at Joliet Junior College, “Facilities and Services tends to carry the torch of environmental and economic sustainability.  We’ve doubled the size of the campus, but we have not doubled the energy budget. When we build, we build with efficiency in mind. When we renovate, we renovate with energy efficiency in mind.”

A long-term partnership with SEDAC has helped the college achieve significant energy savings. All of the buildings on the main campus and several of the satellite locations have received SEDAC energy assessments. In addition, SEDAC completed retro-commissioning for several of the buildings and new construction design assistance and incentive support for a building that was recently constructed. With SEDAC’s support, Joliet Junior College main campus has reduced annual electricity usage per square foot by 15% since 2012, and natural gas usage per square foot has dropped by 20%. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without SEDAC,” Mr. Van Duyne says.

Read the entire Joliet case study.