Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.43
Liaison Michael Chapman
Submission Date Dec. 11, 2013
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

Nova Scotia Community College
ER-4: Sustainability Outreach and Publications

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Michael Chapman
Environmental Engineer
Facilities & Engineering
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Does the institution have a central sustainability website that consolidates information about the institution's sustainability efforts?:
Yes

A brief description of the central sustainability website that consolidates information about the institution's sustainability efforts:

The NSCC Sustainability website was launched in December 2013. The website provides links to important documents such as our Annual Sustainability Report, Sustainability Policy, Annual OHS Report. Additionally the site provides details of sustainability in education, and links to NSCC's green buildings.


The website URL for the central sustainability website that consolidates information about the institution's sustainability efforts:
Does the institution have a sustainability newsletter?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability newsletter:

Newsletters: NSCC Facilities and Engineering produces quarterly newsletters. The focus of these newsletters is sustainability updates, such as:

• Green Building Updates
• Building certification updates (BOMABESt)
• Ongoing building performance (energy, water consumption, waste diversion, etc)


The website URL for the sustainability newsletter:
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Does the institution have a vehicle to publish and disseminate student research on sustainability?:
Yes

A brief description of the vehicle to publish and disseminate student research on sustainability:

Centre for the Built Environment: The Centre for the Built Environment was constructed as a leading edge ‘living building’, to educate the NSCC community as well as the general public on sustainable best practices in building construction. The building features several renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic, wind power, geothermal, and solar walls.

The Centre for the Built Environment is a place of learning, exploration, and discovery, - for students, faculty, industry partners, and the general public-, about the relationship between the built environment and the natural environment. The design and construction of the facility embodies and demonstrates ecological design principles and practices that are regenerative and restorative of natural ecosystems and that reflect the potential for buildings and nature to co-exist in a harmonious and mutually supportive relationship.

The CBE, in its practice and its pedagogy, promotes environmental healing and demonstrates emerging concepts and approaches that will help to inspire the future champions of sustainable development within our industries and our communities. The planning and design of the project is open-ended and adaptive to change so that, as a living building that has the capacity to learn and evolve over time, the CBE can continue down the path towards long-term goals such as net zero energy, zero footprint, and carbon neutral as new technologies and solutions mature and are incorporated. The building and its infrastructure perform as instruments of the curriculum, serving as interactive tools in an educational sandbox for exploration and demonstration of viable construction approaches and solutions, and of their operational implications.

Tours are held regularly.This building achieved LEED Gold certification.

Green Build Conference: Every year the NSCC Waterfront Campus hosts the Build Green conference. This conference aims to educate on sustainable building practices.
http://buildgreenatlantic.org/agenda-3/halifax-2013/


The website URL for the vehicle to publish and disseminate student research on sustainability:
Does the institution have building signage that highlights green building features?:
Yes

A brief description of building signage that highlights green building features :

All NSCC campuses have carpool parking signs for area designated for carpool vehicles only and No idoling signs to promote an idol free campus.

Our LEED buildings (The Waterfront Campus and Marconi Campus) have signs with information about energy performance, and the different sustainable features such as windmills and solar planels.

Our Marconi campus also has signs regarding the energy performance for water consumption and signs for electric car plug-ins.


The website URL for building signage that highlights green building features :
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Does the institution have food service area signage and/or brochures that include information about sustainable food systems?:
Yes

A brief description of food service area signage and/or brochures that include information about sustainable food systems:

As an example, NSCC cafeterias provide signage showing that the coffee we serve is organic and fair trade.


The website URL for food service area signage and/or brochures that include information about sustainable food systems:
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Does the institution have signage on the grounds about sustainable grounds-keeping strategies employed?:
No

A brief description of signage on the grounds about sustainable grounds-keeping strategies employed:
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The website URL for signage on the grounds about sustainable grounds-keeping strategies employed:
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Does the institution have a sustainability walking map or tour?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability walking map or tour:

NSCC provides regular tours of the Centre for the Built Environment. On this tour people are shown the various sustaintable strategies at the campus, aspects of the sustainable design (certified LEED Gold), and how this building is used as a learning tool to promote sustainability.


The website URL of the sustainability walking map or tour:
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Does the institution have a guide for commuters about how to use alternative methods of transportation?:
Yes

A brief description of the guide for commuters about how to use alternative methods of transportation:

U-Pass: In a student referendum held in April 2010, students at NSCC's Metro campuses voted to join with area universities to provide U-Pass (universal bus pass) to students at our Akerley/Aviation, IT and Waterfront campuses. The U-Pass initiative was approved and as of September 2010, NSCC began providing a Metro Transit U-Pass to all full time students.
This system encourages students to take public transportation.


The website URL for the guide for commuters about how to use alternative methods of transportation:
Does the institution have a guide for green living and incorporating sustainability into the residential experience?:
Yes

A brief description of the guide for green living and incorporating sustainability into the residential experience:

Pilikan House: This house is a "living lab" and demonstration site where the next generation of residential construction professionals can learn how to incorporate sustainability into their work. It is designed to be an affordable and practical home to show home-owners how sustainable design and energy-efficient options can be within their reach.
Pilikan is a hands-on learning tool for the students in NSCC's Energy Sustainability Engineering Technology (ESET) program, as well as a research tool with 30 monitoring and control points to track energy consumption.


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Does the institution have regular coverage of sustainability in the main student newspaper (either through a regular column or a reporter assigned to the sustainability beat)?:
No

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The website URL for regular coverage of sustainability in the main student newspaper, either through a regular column or a reporter assigned to the sustainability beat:
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Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (1st material):
Yes

A brief description of this material:

Annual Energy and Environmental Performance report: This annual report details the quantifiable parameters that the College utilizes to measure environmental performance, such as energy, water, CO2 emissions, and waste diversion. The document is available on the NSCC website.


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Does the institution produce another sustainability publication or outreach material not covered above? (2nd material):
Yes

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.