Buildings
Buildings are generally the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions on campus. Purchase College aims to increase sustainability efforts in all our facilities.
Purchase College is set on over 500 acres of land in Purchase, NY. The campus consists of 48 buildings, totaling over 2.5 million square feet. There are over 3,200 students and 400 faculty and staff. The first building completed was the Neuberger Museum in 1971 but most of the academic buildings were completed by 1978. There are six residential buildings and apartments housing over 2,500 students. The most recent residence hall, Wayback, was finished in 2019 and earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold accreditation.
As the college continues to expand and renovate, Purchase strives to operate and construct buildings to provide a safe and healthy indoor environment for inhabitants while simultaneously mitigating the building’s impact on the outdoor environment. This is accomplished by considering sustainability as a major component from the start of the design phase through construction and completion. A combination of factors such as energy efficiency projects, green cleaning policies, waste diversion and water conservation technologies are important to Purchase in maintaining building sustainability beyond the physical construction.