Aware of today’s ecological problems, ITAM encourages environmental responsibility among its students through a variety of campaigns and through the renovation of its infrastructure. In addition, the institute plays an important role in external campaigns such as the recycling of cooking oil, which is used to make biodiesel, and in student-led internal campaigns that are aimed at creating green areas and properly handling recycled products.

Click Here to Download the Sustainability Report.

Electricity savings program

ITAM has the following electrical installations:

• An overhead incoming electrical connection of 23,000 volts.
• Three transformers of 750 KVA, 500 KVA and 150 KVA.
• Two electric generators, one of 400 KVA and one of 150 KVA.
• Power regulating switches.

In order to save consumption of electricity and reduce heat generation, the following steps have been taken:

With support from the Electrical Energy Savings Trust (Fideicomiso para el Ahorro de Energía Eléctrica), incandescent street lights on both ITAM campuses were replaced with energy-saving lights that use fluorine gas.

Currently, in a joint project with Sinergias BAL, LED technology is being implemented in computer classrooms, resulting in better lighting, low heat emission and lower use of electricity.

Since July of 2014, 0.65 megawatts of power at a better cost have been allocated to ITAM by Fuerza Eólica del Istmo, a wind-power park located in Oaxaca, resulting in a savings of 7.3 percent on the electric bill.

Three turbines that use natural gas to supply power at times of high demand were installed on the Santa Teresa campus.

To keep technology services running in cases of power outages, ITAM has emergency generators on both campuses. Output is 225 KVA at Río Hondo and 150 KVA at Santa Teresa.

All monitors used at ITAM have LED technology, which results in low-power consumption and low heat emission and thus provides a better work environment for our students and staff.

Obsolete equipment is always disposed of through an outside company that issues a certificate of proper environmental disposal.

ITAM uses virtualization for its servers, using only five physical servers to handle 70 services. Among the benefits of this practice are the reduction of physical equipment, less heat emission, low power usage, ease of administration, and less time for the delivery of new services. In addition, there is a high availability of services by attaining a continuous operation.

Since 2013 the change in the site’s air conditioning equipment represents a savings in electricity and greater efficiency. Air conditioning is automated in six computer classrooms, the computer room and the Raúl Baillères Jr. Library.

Presently, there are various infrastructure projects in design stages, all of which will continue to promote the use of clean energy, such as solar power within the Río Hondo campus.

 

Water savings program

The Río Hondo campus has a 38-mm water connection and two cisterns with hydropneumatic systems, one of 120 cubic meters and the other of 90 cubic meters.

The 38-mm connection supplies the 120 cubic meter cistern; a hydropneumatic system supplies the bathrooms, janitorial rooms, kitchen, showers and heaters.

The 110 cubic meter cistern stores water for the fire hydrant network serving all campus buildings. 

To save water, the following measures have been taken:

• Toilets with electronic flushing that saves 6 liters per flush.
• Urinals with electronic flushing that saves 1 liter per flush.
• Faucets in all sinks with electronic sensors [M2] that are activated only with the presence of a user’s hands.
• The cafeteria kitchen has water-saving faucets in the sinks.
• The gymnasium has water-saving shower heads with a metallic rings.

The number of fixtures in the bathrooms is as follows:

• Toilets: 135
• Sinks: 118
• Urinals: 56
• Showers: 16

For grounds maintenance, there is a sprinkler system using treated water that is supplied by trucks to seven water tanks; each tank can hold 2,500 liters.

 

Recycling program

The institution’s recycling program was established in 2000; it involves the entire community through the separation of waste into trash containers for different types of waste. In addition, a recycling campaign is carried out once a year for material disposed of by students.

Materials such as cardboard, newspaper, copy paper, colored and combined paper, cans, shavings, books and magazines are taken to sites where an average of about 27,568 kilograms are recycled yearly.

Other measures:

To bolster the savings in paper in printers used by students, the cost of printing on both sides of a sheet of paper is the same as printing on only one side.

Obsolete equipment is send to a company that is authorized to dispose of it in an environmentally suitable manner.

 

Transportation for the ITAM community

ITAM offers free transportation service for the community, with the capability to transport up to 1,020 students per day. Two units travel from the Río Hondo campus to the subway stations at Barranca del Muerto and Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, each one making 16 round trips daily. Also, one unit completes 12 round trips between the Río Hondo and Santa Teresa campuses. These services promote a reduction in the use of cars and in the traffic at the parking lots at both campuses.

 

Single Environmental License

ITAM has a one-stop Single Environmental License (Licencia Ambiental Única) from the Mexico City government. It is designated as SEDEMA/DGRA/DRA/002135/2014, dated March 21, 2014, and issued by the Environmental Secretariat.

The license spells out the requirements that the campuses follow regarding:

• Atmospheric emissions. Compliance with regulations NOM-085-SEMARNAT-2011, NOM-043-SEMARNAT-1993 and BADF-010-AMBT-2006.
• Discharge of sewage. Compliance with regulations NADF-015-AGUA-2009 and NADF-022-AGUA-2011.
• Regarding generation and disposal of solid waste. Compliance with Article 6, section IX and 23 section 1 of the Federal District’s Solid Waste Law, 20 to 24 and 32 of the Regulations of the Federal District’s Solid Waste Law.

 

Program to Reuse Binders

In 2012, the administrators of University Extension and Executive Development, aware of ITAM’s concern for the environment, created the Binder Reuse Program to reduce waste and to support recycling of the plastic binders and the support materials that are distributed to participants in courses and certificate programs.

All students in the Executive Development program were sent e-mail messages asking them to place unwanted binders in specially designated cardboard containers.

At the Santa Teresa campus, the containers were placed in the classroom building (Edificio de Aulas) close to the Micros 1 and Micros 2 rooms, as well as in the library building at the entrance to the Executive Classrooms. ITAM staff inspected, cleaned and left the binders in good condition so that other students could reuse them.

 

Printing of brochures

Since 2009, administrators of University Extension and Executive Development print the brochures for their certificate courses using 100-percent recycled paper and vegetable-based inks. In addition, partially recycled paper provided from responsible sources is used for brochures that are printed in large quantities. ITAM’s supplier is certified by the FSC, an international organization that certifies responsible use of forests to obtain social and environmental benefits.

 

Social Responsibility

ITAM intends to contribute to the integral formation of each person and to the development of a freer, fairer and more prosperous society. As one of the best institutions of higher education in Mexico, we know that we have the responsibility of using our resources to help improve the quality of life of those of us who live in this society.

For this reason, every day somewhere in Mexico, our professors and students work to help solve the problems of the disadvantaged in our society. Our community continually contributes to the social development of the country through organizations such as:

Name	Description
Alcance	Promotes a culture of social commitment through work with disadvantaged social sectors, contributing and designing viable solutions that bolster empowerment.
Center for Access to Justice	Provides legal assistance and access to justice to low-income people regardless of ethnicity, age or gender, giving priority to the protection of their rights under the law and assuring them of due process. This service is also provided to the ITAM community.
Manuel Gómez Morín Cultural Center	From its beginnings, the Cultural Center has been involved in the academic life of the nation, carrying out a variety of activities such as round tables, conferences, colloquiums, publications and the Manuel Gómez Morin award.
Philantrophy Consultant	Brings together the efforts by ITAM and all of those non-profit organizations that dedicate their time and effort toward solving problems that affect our society.
Philanthropy and Civil Society Project	This is an effort to promote an environment that seeks to support philanthropy in Mexico, transform civil society into a sustainable sector and greater professionalism, and generate a knowledge base about the issue.
High School for Adults System	ITAM’s goal through this project is to organize students who can evaluate at no cost any person who wants to continue and complete his or her high school studies, thus contributing to raising the community’s educational level.
AIESEC	AIESEC is the world’s largest student organization. It is active in more than 106 countries and more than 1,100 universities in the world. It is a non-political, non-profit organization directed by students and recent graduates from the most prestigious institutions worldwide. Its principal goal is to develop leaders that have a positive impact on their surroundings.
Atalaya Program	The Atalaya Program’s goal is to contribute to the improvement of the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) and through that to a greater respect for human rights in Mexico, using analysis and public scrutiny that the ombudsman is subject to as an autonomous body dedicated to the defense, protection and promotion of rights.
Publications	ITAM publishes a series of magazines on a variety of subjects and interests that are edited by institutional staff and students.