Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives

The Environmental Center, made possible by the Class of 1966, opened in the summer of 2015. The building is designed to be net-zero energy and to harvest and treat its own water. The Environmental Center is open 24/7 to students, centrally located and rather versatile, housing faculty and staff, student study spaces, meeting rooms, a beautiful kitchen space as well as gardens.

The building is home to the Environmental Studies and Maritime Studies departments as well as the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives. The Environmental Studies department was founded in 1967, making it one of the oldest environmental programs at a liberal arts college.

The Zilkha Center is committed to protecting and enhancing the natural and built environment in which the Williams community learns, works and lives. The center researches, investigates, supports, promotes and implements sustainability programs and educational initiatives.

The college invests approximately $1 million/year on energy efficiency and conservation on campus. All new construction on campus must meet LEED Gold standards and high energy conservation standards. In 2015, former President Adam Falk and the Board of Trustees committed to reducing the college’s net greenhouse gas emissions to 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and to achieving carbon neutrality by the end of 2020. The college is on-track to meet that goal.

The Environmental Center is designed to be a Living Building Challenge (LBC) building, but before it gets certified as such, it must complete a performance year in which it operates as a net-zero energy and net-zero water building. So far only a handful of buildings in the world have completed their performance year and are LBC certified. Williams is currently working towards its certification and has achieved 6 of the 7 “petals" in the challenge.

Fun Fact: The new building has two composting toilets, which from a user perspective look like and work just like regular toilets, except they use only three ounces of water per flush and incorporate biodegradable foam with each flush.