Green Initiatives

An Eco-Friendly Campus

As we prepare for our future at LCU we have recognized the importance of being ecologically responsible and promoting measures for sustainability.  We have been recognized in the community as being a trendsetter in the areas of conserving energy, reducing waste, recycling, and voluntarily seeking LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council on each of our new constructions on campus. In our expansion, we believe that by using a number of eco-conscious sustainability measures we can reduce the amount of waste and carbon emissions produced by our institution.  Below are a few ways we are making a difference through stewardship and conservation.

Greywater:

Greywater is non-industrial wastewater generated from domestic processes such as laundry, showering, and in lavatories.  The essence of a greywater treatment system is to capture shower and lavatory water, treat it, and reuse it in the flushing of toilets and urinals, which significantly reduces fresh water consumed for these functions.  In an area that is limited in water supply, we believe that this common practice of recycling water will be beneficial to our community and the environment at large.

Groundsource Heating and Cooling

In 2003 both residence halls along with the music and education building were converted to a ground source heating and cooling system by using an existing water well and installing water pumps.  The system heats and cools the buildings by water and steam that exist near the earth's surface.  Currently the campus has 10 buildings using a ground source heating and cooling system and as new construction takes places, they are built with this system.  A small playa lake on campus is currently being enlarged to be able to support all campus buildings with a ground source heating and cooling system.

Field House

The need for constructed new residential spaces presented a unique opportunity and challenge to the university.  After comparing the cost and environmental waste of building an entirely new building and refurbishing recycled shipping transports, we found the latter to be a promising solution both economically and ecologically.  Because shipping transports are in high supply, we were able to acquire large numbers of them at a very reasonable cost.  Recycling these transports for construction allows us to build a large number of new residence facilities for students with the total amount of waste per residence hall being small enough to fit in a standard trash can.

Placing these residential living units around one of our staple campus buildings, the Rhodes Perrin Field house, we will be able add several hundred beds for students, residence assistants, and dorm directors, while using a method that meets the highest codes of green building certification.

Welcome Center 

After much discussion about building a welcome center for the university, construction is well underway on the new building which will be located in front of our Administration building on 19^th Street between Eileen and Dover avenues.  Through the use of efficient, green techniques such as recycled brick and concrete, this building will qualify for LEED certification at the highest level of green ratings.