Day of Service – Suffolk University

By Celis Brisbin, Programs Manager

The Suffolk Environmental Law Society and the Asian Pacific American Law Society led a group of students on a tour of two buildings on the campus of Suffolk University in downtown Boston. The purpose of this project was to gain a better understanding of how various energy efficiency practices are implemented into both existing structures and new construction. Through this event, we discovered how our school has already taken steps to improve 

energy efficiency and continues to make energy efficiency an important part of every building on campus. The LEED building tour helped to educate our students on the energy efficiency efforts made on campus, and encourage more students to become involved in an energy solution. 

The first building, located at 73 Tremont Street, is home to the undergraduate library as well as various administrative offices and a cafeteria. This building was awarded LEED Gold certification in April 2015 and is the flagship building of Suffolk University’s campus. It was interesting to learn how the University turned an almost 100 year old building into a high-tech, energy efficient area for students. The next building, located at 20 Somerset Street was recently completed in the summer of 2015 and is currently awaiting LEED certification. Located adjacent to the John Adams Courthouse, this new state-of-the-art building is home to Suffolk’s business and communications programs. Being built with sustainability in mind, the university is anticipating a LEED Silver certification. Touring these two buildings was both informative and encouraging. Knowing our university is taking steps in its new buildings and existing structures 
is encouraging and instills a sense of pride in our school.This LEED Tour was a great opportunity for the SELS and APALSA to get our heads out of our books and look around at what our school is doing to reduce their carbon footprint. 

Thanks to the U.S. Green Building Council – Mass. Chapter and Eversource Energy for their generous sponsorship, we were able to take action in order to strengthen our awareness and education about LEED certified buildings on our University’s campus. We are determined to continue our efforts, both on and off campus, to reduce energy consumption and to educate those around us on how they can do the same!