Purchase College Joins Renewable Energy Consortium

Purchase College is a member of the NY Higher Education Large Scale Renewable Energy (NY HE LSRE) consortium of 20 public and private higher education institutions for the purchase of large-scale aggregated renewable energy. The consortium represents one of the state’s largest aggregated purchases of renewable energy to date.

“By taking a cooperative approach to the purchase of renewable energy, these campuses will be better able to meet their sustainability goals and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels,” said SUNY Chancellor Johnson. “The consortium provides a cost-effective way of achieving campus carbon neutrality, with the power to transform the regional renewable energy market. It also creates important partnership among New York’s higher education institutions.”

“This innovative approach to reducing the cost of renewable energy will help us reach our sustainability goals and strengthen our school’s reputation as one of the greenest campuses in the nation,” said Interim President Dennis Craig. “By joining this partnership, Purchase College looks forward to further reducing our carbon footprint.”

The consortium, made up of 16 SUNY campuses and four private colleges, will use its collective purchasing power to develop new renewable projects by contracting for renewable energy at scale. The process will normalize the cost of electricity for the individual colleges and reduce volatility in each institution’s energy budget. The NY HE LSRE process will eventually expand to all 64 SUNY campuses, which will help advance Governor Cuomo’s statewide goal of having 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040.

SUNY has already reduced its carbon footprint from 1.02 million metric tons in 1990 to 770,000 metric tons in 2017, decreasing its greenhouse emissions by nearly 25 percent. The reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions come in spite of a 50 percent increase in the system’s total square footage.

Technologies such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, biogas, biofuel, and fuel cells, are expected to be viable sources. The RFP is expected to be issued later this year, with operations to begin as soon as December 2020.

The following colleges are participating in the NY HE LSRE consortium:

SUNY Campuses

University at Albany

Binghamton University

SUNY Cobleskill

SUNY Cortland

SUNY Delhi

SUNY Empire State College

SUNY ESF

SUNY Fredonia

SUNY Geneseo

Hudson Valley Community College

SUNY Maritime

SUNY New Paltz

SUNY Oneonta

Onondaga Community College

SUNY Oswego

Purchase College

Private Institutions

Bard College

Cornell University

Ithaca College

Skidmore College

About Purchase College, SUNY

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu.