Dakota County Technical College is committed to advancing sustainable campus operations that protect the environment and conserve natural resources while creating a collegiate environment conducive to teaching, learning and community involvement. Sustainability has become a buzzword in many sectors of society, but the term still serves as a vast green umbrella for projects and initiatives that champion the biodiversity and geodiversity crucial to the health of our planet's ecosystems. Sustainability in practice is simply wise stewardship of systems vital to human prosperity, including such social mainstays as the environment, economics, health care, education, agriculture, international relations and technology. Sustainability in essence is the inescapably decisive means to support life in every nook and zone of the global ecosphere.
The DCTC Operations department is a driving force behind green practices that save money and reduce energy usage on the college's main campus in Rosemount, Minn. Operations personnel conduct a wide range of remodeling, renovation and construction projects in-house using green materials and energy-saving technology wherever and whenever possible.
The upcoming Transportation and Emerging Technologies Renovation Project is an ideal example of how the college is taking sustainability to the next level. Made possible by $7.23 million in state funding, the project—scheduled to begin fall 2012—will eliminate $3.5 million in deferred maintenance and slash the college’s Facilities Condition Index from .29 to .22 while cutting energy consumption by as much as 30 percent. For more green details on the project, read "Vital Renovation Project Gears Up" on DCTC News.
Campus-wide recycling program implemented following baseline study of monthly campus trash generation
