Skip to main content.
Bard
  • Bard College Logo
  • Academics sub-menuAcademics
    • Programs and Divisions
    • Structure of the Curriculum
    • Courses
    • Requirements
    • Academic Calendar
    • College Catalogue
    • Faculty
    • Bard Abroad
    • Libraries
    • Dual-Degree Programs
    • Bard Conservatory of Music
    • Other Study Opportunities
    • Graduate Programs
    • Early Colleges
  • Admission sub-menuAdmission
    • Applying
    • Financial Aid
    • Tuition + Payment
    • Campus Tours
    • Meet Our Students + Alumni/ae
    • For Families / Familias
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Contact Us
  • Campus Life sub-menuCampus Life
    Living on Campus:
    • Housing + Dining
    • Campus Services + Resources
    • Campus Activities
    • New Students
    • Visiting + Transportation
    • Athletics + Recreation
    • Montgomery Place Campus
  • Civic Engagement sub-menuCivic Engagement
    Bard CCE
    • Engaged Learning
    • Student Leadership
    • Grow Your Network
    • About CCE
    • Our Partners
    • Get Involved
  • Newsroom sub-menuNews + Events
    • Newsroom
    • Events Calendar
    • Press Releases
    • Office of Communications
    • Commencement Weekend
    • Alumni/ae Reunion
    • Family and Alumni/ae Weekend
    • Fisher Center + SummerScape
    • Athletic Events
  • About Bard sub-menuAbout
      About Bard:
    • Bard History
    • Campus Tours
    • Mission Statement
    • Love of Learning
    • Visiting Bard
    • Employment
    • Support Bard
    • Global Higher Education Alliance
      for the 21st Century
    • Bard Abroad
    • The Bard Network
    • Inclusive Excellence
    • Sustainability
    • Title IX and Nondiscrimination
    • Inside Bard
    • Dean of the College
  • Giving
  • Search
Bard Office of Sustainability

News and Events

BOS Menu
  • About Us
  • Academics + Research
  • Inits sub-menuSustainability Initiatives
    • Energy + Climate
    • Transportation
    • Responsible Consumption
    • Food, Water + Land Use
    • Planning + Administration
    • Engagement
    • Global Goals
  • Involve sub-menuGet Involved
    • Sustainability Council
    • BardE3's
    • BardEATS
    • Bard Farm
    • Socially Responsible Investment Committee
  • News + Events
  • Home

Upcoming Events

  • 11/15
    Saturday
    1:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5
    Barringer House; Global Classroom
    Citizens' Climate Lobby Fall Conference Virtual Watch Party and Potluck

    Citizens' Climate Lobby Fall Conference Virtual Watch Party and Potluck

    Sharper Than Ever: CCL's Next Chapter 

    Saturday, November 15, 2025
    1:00 pm – 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5
    Barringer House; Global Classroom
    Grounded in our values and guided by a new strategy, CCL is pushing climate action forward.
    What to expect:
    Equip yourself to be an effective climate advocate in the current political landscape.
    Learn the policy details of permitting reform, a critical component of America’s clean energy future.
    Reconnect with CCL’s values and unique culture, so you’re ready to carry our new strategy forward.

    Contact: Laurie B Husted
    Phone: 845-464-8025
    E-mail: [email protected]

Sustainability News

A group of students sitting at tables on a wooden patio.

Bard Earns Two Awards in Sustainability

The College earned a STARS Gold rating and the MBA in sustainability was ranked the best green MBA by the Princeton Review.

Bard Earns Two Awards in Sustainability

A group of students sitting at tables on a wooden patio.
Bard College has recently been recognized for its commitment to sustainability by two organizations. This July, the College earned a Gold rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). This nationwide group ranks colleges based on all aspects of sustainability on their campuses, from academic buildings to dining and events planning. Bard’s report included its participation in the Race 2 Zero Waste food scrap conservation program, where it placed first in the food organics Small College category.

Bard’s MBA in sustainability was also ranked the best green MBA by the Princeton Review for the fifth year in a row. The list is based on student ratings of how well their MBA “prepares them to address environmental, sustainability, and responsibility issues in their careers.” Bard’s MBA is based in New York City and utilizes a hybrid curriculum to prepare students for critical social and environmental challenges. “At a time when clean energy and climate change action, organizational justice, reducing plastics and toxic pollution, and enhancing the planet’s biodiversity are all under political attack, Bard remains the leading MBA focused on embedding sustainability as simply good business,” said MBA Director Dr. Eban Goodstein.
Bard Ranked Best Green MBA for 2025

Post Date: 08-13-2025
A woman speaks in front of a tree surrounded by lush greenery

Burpee Trial Garden Project at Montgomery Place Featured in the Daily Catch

The summer garden students will continue their work through August tending the plots, recording observations on iPads, and sharing their findings in real time with Burpee’s plant breeders. 

Burpee Trial Garden Project at Montgomery Place Featured in the Daily Catch

A woman speaks in front of a tree surrounded by lush greenery
Bard student Violet DiBiasio ’27. Photo by Emily Sachar, Courtesy of the Daily Catch
The Burpee Trial Garden, a seed test garden and horticultural research site at Bard’s Montgomery Place campus, has been featured in the Daily Catch. The garden, in its first season, is currently being tended to by three Bard students, Violet DiBiasio ’27, Max Frackman ’27, and Mikhal Terentiev ’26, who are undertaking horticultural research and hands-on scientific investigations with real-world applications in the Hudson Valley and beyond. “This project is helping Bard restore and revive the historic formal gardens at Montgomery Place, and help gardeners in the process,” Amy Parrella, Bard Arboretum director, told the Daily Catch. “Gardening has been proven to alleviate stress and have therapeutic and healing results. And this opportunity will help students to cultivate their passion for plants and inspire their commitment to nurture their environment.” Trial gardens measure how well a specific cultivar or variety will perform in a specific area or growing condition, and the garden at Bard is supported by a $1 million grant that is being paid over four years from the Burpee Foundation. The summer garden students will continue their work through August tending the plots, recording observations on iPads, and sharing their findings in real time with Burpee’s plant breeders. 

Further Reading:

https://www.bard.edu/news/bard-college-receives-1-million-grant-from-burpee-foundation-to-support-creation-of-trial-garden-at-montgomery-place-campus-2024-06-18
 
Read the Full Article in the Daily Catch

Post Date: 08-05-2025
Students stand in the lush green surroundings outside a gray modern building

Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies Receives 2025 Frankenthaler Climate Initiative Grant

The grant, in the amount of $75,680, will support CCS Bard’s Envelope & Air-sealing Upgrades Project, a series of energy efficient upgrades at Bard’s Hessel Museum of Art.

Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies Receives 2025 Frankenthaler Climate Initiative Grant

Students stand in the lush green surroundings outside a gray modern building
The Hessel Museum of Art. 
Bard College is pleased to announce that the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS Bard) has been announced as a recipient of a 2025 Frankenthaler Climate Initiative (FCI) grant. The initiative is a program of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, established and managed in partnership with RMI, the leading global expert in clean energy, and Environment and Culture Partners, a nonprofit driving the US cultural sector’s sustainability efforts. The grant, in the amount of $75,680, will support CCS Bard’s Envelope & Air-sealing Upgrades Project, a series of energy efficient upgrades at Bard’s Hessel Museum of Art.  

These upgrades to building infrastructure will both increase overall energy-efficiency and reduce fuel oil consumption. Building upon the success of the Museum’s former 2022-23 Frankenthaler-supported Technical Assistance project—which included a suite of air infiltration and envelope diagnostic testing across the facility—Bard operations and museum staff have utilized that information to identify a new scope of air-sealing measures. The new project aims to reduce air-infiltration rates by 15% through a host of measures, thereby reducing the energy required for space heating and cooling, humidification and dehumidification, and fresh air ventilation for occupants.

“The FCI grant will enable CCS Bard and the Hessel Museum of Art to take climate action by allowing us to make our building more energy efficient, lowering our carbon footprint," said Tom Eccles, executive director of CCS Bard. “Not only will this contribute to Bard College’s campus-wide sustainability initiatives and goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2035, but it will also be deeply meaningful to our students and the broader community of artists, curators, scholars, and educators who care passionately about these issues and address them in their work.”

The Frankenthaler Climate Initiative is the first nationwide program to support energy efficiency and clean energy use for the visual arts and the largest private national grantmaking program of its kind for cultural institutions. Launched in 2021, the initiative funds energy efficiency programs and clean energy projects at visual art organizations, including art museums, art schools, non-collecting arts institutions, and nonprofit art events.  

“The Foundation is proud to continue supporting visionary projects that are reshaping the way arts institutions operate,” said Elizabeth Smith, executive director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. “FCI’s fifth cycle highlights a new level of strategic thinking among applicants—one that seamlessly integrates creative practice with environmental responsibility. By extending this initiative, we reaffirm our belief that the arts can play a meaningful role in shaping our shared future.”

Further Reading

Post Date: 07-08-2025

Sustainability News by Date

View Current
 
View by Year/Month
  Search:
Results 1-4 of 4

November 2013

11-27-2013
Class of 2003 alumni and freshman dorm-mates Bjorn Quenemoen and Jamie O'Shea have combined their skills in farming and solar energy to create a unique snack.

Read More

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Career Development,Environmental/Sustainability,Wellness | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-22-2013
<p>Solar-Powering Cambodia: Daniel Pacheco ’07</p>
In the Bardian

When Daniel Pacheco ’07 accepted a job through Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to work in Cambodia, he had no idea that he would end up launching his own sustainable energy company there. “I was interested in solar energy, so started out working on projects with local companies, but they were all very commercial,” he says. “My motivation is not just about making money, but bringing solar energy to villages. Cambodia is a beautiful country. Coming from New York City, it was shocking in a good way. Life can be relaxed without stress. People are generous and friendly. I felt safe, and realized there are lots of opportunities.”

The Venezuelan-born Pacheco, a Distinguished Scientist Scholar and graduate of Bard’s 4+2 engineering program, received a B.A. in economics with a focus on global economic development. He went on to Columbia University to earn his B.S. in mechanical engineering, specializing in renewable energies. Upon graduation, EWB—an international nonprofit organization that partners with developing communities to improve quality of life—offered him a job in Cambodia designing a green building for a school. After leaving that project, he stayed on in the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, for the next four years.

Pacheco’s vision was to distribute solar power systems and bring energy independence to communities throughout Cambodia. He began his venture as a sustainable energy initiative under an established nongovernmental organization (NGO). But once he saw the potential for solar energy, he launched his own company, NRG Solutions, which he started with a Cambodian colleague. “A lot of commercial businesses or NGOs sell or donate solar products to communities, then walk away,” he says. “After a few weeks or months, the products stop functioning, which is how solar gained a reputation for not working.”

Pacheco and his team decided to build trust in the technology and their services through fact-finding, education, and training. They visited every house that had a previously installed solar system, made sure everything worked, collected feedback, then followed up with phone calls. NRG Solutions rolled this procedure into its unique business plan: By focusing on building a network and distributing solar energy and related products to the village, Pacheco was able to help other entrepreneurs with business decisions and microfinancing (small loans and other services to low-income individuals who do not have access to banks), and to create a feedback loop. “We give them access to the technology and business vision, or we do it on consignment, so if the business doesn’t work, they don’t lose money,” he says.

Pacheco says that after getting some great feedback, NRG Solutions started installing systems for larger businesses—schools, hospitals, and community centers—with 10 percent of profits channeled back into microfinance. But Pacheco wants to stay small: “It’s tempting to expand in this field because it’s easier money; we saw other corporations going in this direction. But we were chosen by a business incubator sponsored by the World Bank to select promising small businesses and help them grow.” Pacheco’s aim for 2013 is to reach 2,000 residential solar systems. To assist him in this, he partnered with an Australian social enterprise company, Barefoot Power, which supplies solar products in developing countries, and the nonprofit organization Kiva, whose mission is to alleviate poverty by managing loans.

While Cambodia is a booming economy, the market for solar energy is tricky, says Pacheco, because 80 percent of the country, which doesn’t have access to the grid, depends on kerosene or car batteries for power. Gaining access to these customers presents a challenge. And while product satisfaction has been excellent, he’s taking the next steps slowly. He doesn’t advertise; his company’s buzz travels entirely by word of mouth. “They contact us, we don’t push. We are invited to come into a village and analyze whether it is worth installing solar or not.” On the second visit, Pacheco and his team bring products, offer training and workshops, talk about technology, products, and business opportunities, and leave samples. Two months later, they call for feedback. On the third visit they train entrepreneurs, set them up with a business vision, and teach them about accounting, customer follow-up, marketing, and how to create inventories.

Today, NRG Solutions consists of two project managers in charge of distribution; a French engineer dealing with solar systems; a business development and technical supervisor; and a volunteer from EWB–Australia, who helps with fund-raising. The World Bank assists with strategy and administration. Demand is burgeoning: NRG’s latest projects involve installing solar power in orphanages and clinics and in a school inside the Angkor Wat temple complex, the largest Hindu religious monument in the world. The group is also starting its own line of solar systems that can power TVs and fans.

Politically, Cambodia is still a complex place with much corruption. Pacheco says, “It’s very poor; a lot of money is concentrated with just a few people. We’re also dealing with the first generation to graduate from university since the days of the Khmer Rouge [the ruling Communist Party from 1975 to 1979 that orchestrated country-wide genocide], so the skill levels are low. But it’s actually one of the easiest countries to start a small business in—considering I’m someone with no money, no experience, and no contacts.”

Pacheco took Khmer language classes when he first arrived, but no longer has the time. “Many people speak English, especially in cities,” he says. “Once we get into the villages, not so much English is spoken, but I can get by.” He is out in the field two to three times a month, but is trying to remove himself from the process by hiring and training local technicians. “I see myself here for a few more years and then ideally transferring everything over to Cambodians,” he says. “But it’s hard to make plans. Things happen very quickly here in some ways, and very slowly in others. When you get here you think it’s so messed up, but after four years you realize how quickly everything is changing.”


Read the fall 2013 issue of the Bardian:

Photo: Daniel Pacheco ’07 installs a temporary solar frame for a family whose house
sank in heavy rain. Credit: Photo Courtesy of NRG Solutions
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Career Development,Environmental/Sustainability,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-22-2013
Solar-Powering Cambodia: Daniel Pacheco ’07
When Daniel Pacheco ’07 accepted a job through Engineers Without Borders to work in Cambodia, he had no idea that he would end up launching his own sustainable energy company there. Four years later, he's helping to bring energy independence to communities throughout the country. Working with Cambodian colleagues, Pacheco installs solar in homes, orphanages, and clinics, and makes sure these systems are sustainable for local people in the long term.
Read More

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Career Development,Environmental/Sustainability,Inclusive Excellence,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-05-2013
By making use of a vast collection of weather data, the San Francisco–based Climate Corporation aims to help farmers manage extreme weather brought on by climate change.
Read More

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Results 1-4 of 4
Bard College
30 Campus Road, PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 12504-5000
Phone: 845-758-6822
Admission Email: [email protected]
Information For
Prospective Students
Current Employees
Alumni/ae 
Families

©2025 Bard College
Quick Links
Employment
Travel to Bard
Search
Support Bard
Bard IT Policies + Security
Bard Privacy Notice
Bard has a long history of creating inclusive environments for all races, creeds, ethnicities, and genders. We will continue to monitor and adhere to all Federal and New York State laws and guidance.
Like us on Facebook
Follow Us on Instagram
Threads
Bluesky
YouTube