Welcome to Central Community College. Our mission is to help students and communities succeed locally and globally. We are dedicated to advancing sustainability education and projects throughout central Nebraska.
Our projects include a 1.7-megawatt wind turbine in Hastings, energy-efficient and renewable upgrades in Kearney, a Bee Campus USA designation for Grand Island and pollinator gardens in Columbus, Grand Island and Hastings. We’ve expanded cooperative learning in Agriculture, Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts, and launched e-Badges across various disciplines.
At CCC, environmental sustainability means meeting today’s needs without limiting future generations (Brundtland report, 1987). This is vital for central Nebraska, which relies on clean water, air, and soil for food production. While we’ve made progress toward sustainable practices, we aim for climate-neutral impacts by 2034.
We invite you to explore this site further to learn about our commitment to environmental stewardship and discover how your actions today can contribute to the well-being of future generations.
Matt Gotschall, PhD
President of Central Community College
Central Community College’s Environmental Sustainability Action Plan (ESAP) spells out the commitment, goals and actions CCC is taking to be a great steward of our environment — for our students, our community and for the planet.
The bike share consists of 10 bikes owned by the college that any CCC student or employee can check out for free at CCC-Columbus or CCC-Grand Island. The bikes will be available for checkout any day in the spring, summer and fall.
In partnership with the Central District Health Department, CCC has added a do-it-yourself Fixit station to the Grand Island trail between Stuhr Museum and Highway 281, halfway between Hall County Park and CCC-Grand Island. The Fixit station includes all the tools necessary to perform basic bike repairs and maintenance, from changing a flat to adjusting brakes and derailleurs. There is also an air pump station with an air pressure gauge.
The sustainability dashboard shows electricity and natural gas consumption for all of CCC and for individual campuses and centers on an annual basis.
To reduce energy demand from computing devices at CCC, screens go into energy-saving mode after 10 minutes, then sleep after 30 minutes, and hibernate after 2 hours of inactivity.
CCC utilizes a temperature setback in buildings during unoccupied times, such as nights and weekends. This raises the temperature in the summer and lowers the temperature in the winter, so that less energy is used to heat and cool unoccupied buildings.
A partnership between CCC, Bluestem Energy and the City of Hastings led to the completion of a 1.7-megawatt wind turbine in December 2016 on the Hastings Campus. When operating, this turbine provides most of the electricity needed for the campus.
The Hastings Campus has a 17-kilowatt ground-mounted tracking solar system south of the Merrick Building.
CCC has geothermal systems on the Grand Island and Hastings campuses, as well as at the Kearney Center. Geothermal systems use the ground as a heat source in the winter and a heat sink in the summer, thereby reducing energy needs for heating and cooling buildings.
In May 2018, CCC purchased 350 shares totaling 52.5 MWh/month from the Kearney SunWise community solar program. This is the largest community solar array project in Nebraska at Tech One Crossing, located on 53 acres at 56th Street and Antelope Avenue on the Northeast side of Kearney.
These shares are enough to cover 100% of the projected annual electricity use at CCC’s Kearney center. By purchasing these shares, CCC locks in a utility rate with this agreement, with a Purchase Power Agreement (PPA) between NPPD and the solar developer SoCore Energy.
CCC’s Kearney Center received the first GreenPower certificate associated with the Kearney Community Solar Project and retains the environmental attributes associated with the purchased carbon-free energy shares.
CCC has made recycling easier than ever by adopting single-stream recycling at the Grand Island and Hastings campuses, as well as at the Kearney Center, Ord Learning Center and College Park.
Single-stream recycling means that all recyclable materials can be mixed together in CCC’s blue recycling bins. When in doubt, you can reference the recycling poster on the front of blue recycle bins or this website to find out what can be recycled at your location.
The Columbus Campus currently only recycles paper products.
In partnership with Trex, CCC has added a plastic film recycling bin to the Columbus, Grand Island and Hastings campuses as well as the Kearney Center. The plastic film collected is reused to produce Trex, an eco-friendly outdoor decking.
Items that can be recycled in these bins are grocery bags, bread bags, newspaper sleeves, food storage bags, produce bags, ice bags, cereal liners and more.
For a complete list, please see the poster on the front of the bin. CCC has recycled over 500 lbs. of plastic film and received a bench made of recycled plastic bags from Trex. The bench is located in the pollinator garden on the Columbus Campus.
CCC has 12 gasoline-electric hybrid fleet vehicles across all three campuses and the Kearney Center. These hybrid vehicles are more fuel-efficient than traditional gasoline vehicles.
The Hospitality Management/Restaurant Management (HMRM) program on the Hastings Campus runs its own dining service in the Platte Building. They have a vegetable and herb garden used for creating dishes, and two compost bins to turn food waste into compost for the vegetable garden.
They also incorporate sustainability practices into their courses and plan an annual sustainability event.
Each campus has water bottle fill-up stations installed with the drinking fountains. Students and employees can use these to refill their water bottles with filtered, chilled water rather than using disposable water bottles.
CCC contracts with Chartwells for dining services on all three campuses. Chartwells is committed to sustainable food practices through sourcing food locally and reducing food waste.
Thanks to a grant from the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, the Columbus Campus added a pollinator garden in August 2017. It is located south of the Facilities Management Office near the orchard trees. The garden is approximately 7,200 square feet and has about 1,460 flowers, grasses and shrubs.
The Grand Island Campus added a pollinator garden in September 2017 and received the same grant as the Columbus Campus. The pollinator garden is located on the east side of the Center for Industry and Technology building. With more than 25 different types of native plants, phase one of the Grand Island pollinator garden has been completed.
The Hastings HMRM program received a CCC mini-grant for a pollinator garden and planted it in summer 2017. The garden is on the east side of the Dawson Building. It is near the HMRM vegetable garden, which will, in turn, benefit from the pollinators.
The Grand Island Campus was named a Bee Campus in May 2017 by Bee Campus USA. CCC became the 29th school in the U.S. to get the certification and is the only school in Nebraska to be named a Bee Campus. Bee Campus USA rewards schools that educate students on the benefits of pollinators.
The eBadge program was started in Fall 2016. An eBadge is an award that learners can share with potential employers on their resume and with their social media networks. Earned eBadges also appear on CCC’s co-curricular transcripts. CCC students, employees and other persons associated with the college can choose among the options in courses, community education classes and volunteer and service-learning experiences offered by the environmental sustainability office and across the college.
There are currently three eBadges offered: Leadership in Environmental Stewardship, Problem Solving and Symbiosis.
The Energy Technology Program is an Associate of Applied Science offered on the CCC Hastings Campus. Students in the Energy Technology program will be highly trained in designing, maintaining and repairing the instruments used to harness wind and solar power and to store battery power.
Many community education courses at CCC incorporate environmental sustainability. In the community education brochures, these classes are indicated by 1 to 4 leaves next to the class name.
One leaf indicates that sustainability is incorporated into the class, and four leaves indicate that the class is solely focused on a sustainability topic.
The intern program for the environmental sustainability office began in 2014 and has continued to grow and develop. Interns take on a variety of duties and apply a variety of skills such as emailing, public speaking, following detailed directions and working independently and as a team. Learn about our past and current interns.
The Sustainability Leadership Presentation Series (SLPS) is a monthly live broadcast featuring highly qualified, credible speakers who present on regional sustainability topics and global and local environmental issues. The SLPS is currently in its seventh year at the college with partnerships across the state.
The Students 4 Sustainability (S4S) is a student organization open to all current CCC students interested in sustainability or the environment. S4S empowers students to make sustainable changes in their lives through campus projects, local community efforts and peer education.
Each spring, around Earth Day on April 22, CCC hosts Earth Month events at each campus to educate on sustainability and the importance of the environment. Events include student project expos, presentations and tours. Be on the lookout for more information on this year’s upcoming Earth Month events.
CCC hosts America Recycles Day each year on Nov. 15 on the Columbus Campus. America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States.
Benjamin Newton
Environmental Sustainability Director
308-398-7962
Email Benjamin
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