Georgetown University Goes Green

The new LEED-certified Science Center is being built next to the Intercultural Center's solar panels.

Well, actually Georgetown has been green since 1984, when the Bunn Intercultural Center solar array was installed. It is the longest-running installation of its scale in the country. So to say that G'town is ahead of the clean energy curve is an understatement. The array currently supplies 6% of the energy for the ICC.

And Georgetown is strengthening science education and research by building a new Science Center on the main campus. The state-of-the-art structure is slated for completion in 2012 and will be green with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design  (LEED) Silver Certification. The Science Center is supported in part by a $6.9 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

And the Hoyas have an impressive recycling program as well. This fiscal year the school achieved an average recycling rate of 45%. And the main campus is working towards a zero-landfill policy. To this point only about 15% of all campus waste ends up in a landfill.