A total of 31 area college campuses have agreed to cut down on greenhouse emissions by 30% in accordance with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2030 Challenge. The schools—Barnard, Columbia, Cooper Union, Fordham, New York University, Pratt Institute, St. John's, the New School and all 23 CUNY campuses—intend to one-up the Mayor and achieve their goal in 10 years, rather than 23. The challenge was issued by the Mayor as part of his PlaNYC initiative, first announced in December. As 2030 Challenge "partners," each school will create an inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions along with a plan for how to achieve reductions.

According to the city's first-ever carbon emissions inventory study, 79% of emissions produced here come from buildings and, of those, 18% are produced by government and institutional facilities. To address this problem, the mayor's office has earmarked $80 million for the 2008 fiscal year for a program to assist building owners and occupiers in reducing their carbon output. The program, currently still in the planning stages, will include retro commissioning of buildings, energy audits, and an assessment of operations and maintenance practices.

Cooper Union, meanwhile, is going a step further in its commitment to the environment. The progressive engineering school recently broke ground on a new $150-million academic facility at 41 Cooper Sq. which has been designed to LEED Gold standards and includes the city's first green academic laboratory facilities. The nine-story, 175,000-sf East Village building will house Cooper Union's Albert Nerken School of Engineering and provide institutional space for faculty of other Cooper Union schools. Designed by Pritzer Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis, the 41 Cooper Sq. project team also includes associate architect Gruzen Samton LLP. Horne Rose is acting as owner's representative and F. J. Sciame Construction Co. is construction manager.