RIT Sustainability Initiatives Manager Harshita Sood (far right, front) gave a phenomenal tour of the campus through the lens of sustainability. Here, the tour group just passed through the heart of the quad, underlain with geothermal tech. The campus has very popular low-tech programs, too, like “Goodbye, Good Buy,” in which incoming students can inexpensively purchase furniture and other items left behind by the previous spring’s graduating students. All photos by Michelle Sutton

Welcome to RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability, home to biofuels, fuel cells, and smart building test beds; NanoPower and sustainable manufacturing labs; the Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery; and much, much more. rit.edu/gis

Onondaga Earth Corps’ Jahlaya Johnson and So’Unique Harrison provide perspective for the three-story green wall in the atrium of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability.

ReLeafers touring the Golisano Institute for Sustainability’s green roof, which also houses solar panels and a mushroom growing operation and provides a fabulous view of the Detzler/Johnson Quad.

A visual introduction in the lobby of the Sustainability Institute.

The 84,000 square foot Golisano Institute for Sustainability

Drought-tolerant, low-input garden on the south side of the GSI.

One of many bioswales and rain gardens on the RIT campus.

Three wind turbines are located on the north side of the Golisano Institute. Each turbine can produce 1kW of electricity under optimal conditions.

This white oak (Quercus alba) at the RIT main entrance shows proper mulching technique: a wide ring of mulch at no more than a few inches depth. Happy tree!