By Eduardo Landa
Staff Writer
Cal State Dominguez Hills recently opened a new office aimed at making the campus more environmentally friendly.
The Office of Sustainability will “address the three major utility pillars: energy, recycling, and water,” according to a news release.
Ellie Perry, CSUDH’s first coordinator and assistant energy analyst, will run the office.
Perry has experience with environmental issues, as she previously worked on the Alliance to Save Energy’s Green Campus Program at Duke University. She’s planning on using her experiences to accomplish CSUDH’s still-emerging environmental goals.
“I have my own ideas, but I’m working with a lot of stakeholders on campus to get a sense of what the university needs to be considered a green campus,” Perry said.
Perry is not doing this alone. She is working alongside five interns who are helping her reach out to students, staff tables at events and conduct research.
One of Perry’s goals is for the university to have “a ranking in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).”
Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Ratings System, also known as the STARS program, ranks colleges and universities that “solve sustainability challenges.”
Perry is hopeful that every year CSUDH’s ranking will go up.
The campus has already begun setting up new environmental changes. One campus environmental renovation, redoing the lights in parking lots 4A and 4B, received $20,000 from Southern California Edison.
There are also more environmental changes coming up, one being “new smart valves in the delivery systems providing heating and cooling in campus buildings.” There will also be an installation of a new, 1 MW battery storage units.
These new changes will not only help make the campus more environmentally friendly, but they will “improve energy reliability” and help the school cut costs.
