Environmentally sustainable campus to earn LEED Platinum certification
The Ohlone College Newark Center, celebrating its grand opening on Thursday, January 31, will join a prestigious group of buildings worldwide that have achieved this status.
Sustainable practices include solar energy cogeneration from an array of PV solar panels that will supply up to 42 percent of the building’s energy needs. Geothermal ground coils and enthalpy wheels also contribute to the building’s operational efficiency and additional energy savings. Water conservation measures include storm water filtering, wetlands restoration, Bay Friendly Landscaping and indoor water-saving fixtures.
The Newark Center campus, a 135,000-sq.-ft. structure, has an initial capacity of 3,500 students. Additional phases are planned to allow for increased enrollment. The center will focus on high-growth, high-pay workforce training as well as general education courses.
Ohlone College is part of the California Community College system. Under President Douglas Treadway, Ph.D., the college previously had established an environmental sustainability operations policy and had created a sustainability coordinator position.
Treadway also has been instrumental in forming a joint-venture partnership with the governments of China and Singapore to enhance environmental efforts and develop an exchange and training center through the Science and (Ecological) Technology Industries Park in Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province of China. Ohlone is the only institution from the U.S. invited to participate in the developmental stages of this project.
