At the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) in the Dominican Republic, sustainability and environmentally responsible decision-making are cross-cutting to all institutional work. Through the current Campus Sostenible program, they reformed all procurement processes to ensure that their suppliers share their values. Additionally, they have developed an ongoing educational campaign aimed at the members of their community and visitors. They also maintain a recycling program and weigh their waste to monitor results.
INTEC has been an NCSE Member for one year. The university has designed cross-curricular coursework for all careers and programs oriented to conservation and sustainability issues. Additionally, researchers at INTEC are involved in various projects in the energy area. They have three research groups focused on Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Energy Planning. As an additional contribution to the Dominican Republic on these issues, they have developed the country’s first doctoral programs in Environmental Sciences and Energy Management for Sustainable Development.
The university also leads by example at the country-level. The campus models conservation practices and pioneers in renewable energy. For example, there are more than 1,400 solar panels on campus. These panels cover 90 percent of the campus building rooftops and yield impressive energy efficiency results.
Did You Know? Every year, INTEC prevents the emission of more than 420 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere and generates up to 20 percent of its total energy consumption in clean energy. This is the highest figure available of impact for the education sector in the Dominican Republic.