Sustainable Energy

Clean, Renewable & Resilient

Saint Mary's is proud to of its numerous sustainable energy programs to both shift behaviors as well as make changes within our building infrastructure to maximize energy and cost savings. 

Energy Efficiency

Saint Mary’s College is committed to encouraging a shift towards more energy efficiency practices throughout its campus facilities and operations.  These practices include signage reminding campus users to turn off lights and computer monitors when not in use, messaging and outreach requesting campus users to turn down their thermostat at the end of the day and during holidays and working with key personnel (e.g., food service providers, building managers) to ensure energy efficiency measures are being implemented at every level.

In addition, Saint Mary's in partnership with Marin Clean Energy and CLEAResult launched a new Strategic Energy Management (SEM) program in Fall 2019 that provides the College with the tools, structure and resources necessary to achieve energy savings through operations and maintenance changes and through employee and student engagement. This program includes trainings, site walk-throughs, building energy monitoring, and project prioritization to help Saint Mary's achieve the highest energy and cost savings possible. 

Renewable Energy Credits

Beginning in 2015, Saint Mary's committed to offsetting 100% of expected annual electricity usage by purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs).  These RECs are nationally-sourced Green-e certified and show our commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  

Carbon Footprint

For over a decade Saint Mary's has partnered with Sightlines to collect and analyze our annual greenhouse gas emissions.  You can find the most recent Greenhouse Gas Inventory on our Climate Action Plan webpage.