U Louisville to Operate Kentucky Renewable Energy Research Ctr
The University of Louisville has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Kentucky State Government to operate the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship. The Center has been funded by a $20 million donation from an alumnus. The Kentucky General Assembly created the Center in 2006 to provide leadership, research, support, and policy development in renewable energy. A governor-appointed board will set priorities for renewable energy research. The Center’s mission will include promoting partnerships among the state’s colleges and universities, private industry, and nonprofit organizations to actively pursue federal research and development resources that are dedicated to renewable energy.
U Nevada Reno Receives Grant to Help Businesses Reduce Energy Use
The Small Business Development Center at the University of Nevada, Reno has received a $125,000 federal grant for projects offering energy-efficiency help to small businesses. The UNR center will help small businesses evaluate their energy efficiency and implement energy-efficiency measures. The efforts might include support with renewable energy technology; green building and construction; and development and commercialization of clean-technology products, goods and services.
U New Hampshire Completes Methane Pipeline
The University of New Hampshire has completed the EcoLine pipeline, which will pipe methane 12.7 miles from Waste Management's Rochester landfill to UNH's cogeneration plant. Once the Rochester processing plant finishes in testing, which is expected to happen in February, landfill gas will replace commercial natural gas in the cogeneration plant and will be used to heat the buildings on campus.
U Oregon Extends Composting Program
The University of Oregon has approved an increase in the campus recycling budget that will fund the continuation of its composting program, which began in the spring of 2008 and collects up to one ton of recycling each month. When the program began, it was given funding for one year and would not have continued without additional funding.
U Tennessee Lowers Building Temperatures to Save Energy
The University of Tennessee has lowered building temperatures to 68 degrees and plans to raise building temperatures to 76 degrees in the summer. The new temperature policies do not apply to residence halls, but students are being issued coupons for coffee at Starbucks to reduce their energy use.
U Western Ontario Purchases Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
The University of Western Ontario has purchased a hybrid sedan to move employees, consultants, and clients around campus. In addition, the campus has announced plans to purchase a two-seat electric utility vehicle. The vehicle's features include six 12-volt flooded electrolyte batteries, which can be charged by plugging into a standard household electrical receptacle, a top speed of 40kmh, and an average range of about 30 miles on a single charge.
Williams College Shuts Down to Conserve Energy
Williams College (MA) decreased building temperatures and turned off equipment over its winter break in an effort reduce utility costs and greenhouse emissions. As a result of the initiative, the College saved nearly $90,000 compared to last year and reduced its annual emissions by one percent. Fifty-five percent of the energy savings came from heating. On average, building electricity use was down 40 percent, and electricity use in dorms was down 47 percent.
Wilson College Purchases 2 Electric Vehicles
Wilson College (PA) has replaced two of its gas-powered vehicles with electric vehicles. One is used for campus security patrols and the other is used to collect recycling. Both vehicles can travel approximately 50 miles on one charge, and charging the vehicles takes about 4 to 6 hours.
Yale U Sets Sustainability Goals for Athletics
Yale University (CT) has announced a set of sustainability goals for its athletic program. Goals include developing a strategic sustainability plan for athletics; establishing a set of green standards for Yale athletic events; implementing collaborative efforts with student athletes, including creating sustainability partnerships with each varsity team in the coming term; using the lessons learned through the development of the strategic plan for Yale athletics to create a model that is measurable, transferable, and adaptable; and creating a database of best practices so that institutions interested in improving the sustainability of their athletic departments will have an accessible source of the best knowledge and experience.
8 New Institutions Sign Presidents' Climate Commitment
8 new institutions have signed the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment since the last update in the AASHE Bulletin. In doing so, these campuses have committed to develop comprehensive plans for achieving climate neutrality. The new signatories are: John Quistgaard of Bemidji State University (MN), Wellington Reiter of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (IL), John Erwin of Illinois Central College, Henry D. Shannon of Chaffey Community College (CA), Dr. Shirley Mullen of Houghton College (NY), Gwendolyn W. Stephenson of Hillsborough Community College (FL), Bryan D. Albrecht of Gateway Technical College (WI), and Dr. Constance Mierendorf of Sussex County Community College (NJ). 607 college and university presidents and chancellors have now signed the Commitment.
AP, Chronicle of Higher Ed Cover Prevalence Biofuels on Campus
The Associated Press and the Chronicle of Higher Education have both published articles on the increasing number of schools that are converting used vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel for use on campus. Institutions mentioned include Stetson University (FL), Keene State University (NH), Dickinson College (PA), Sinclair Community College (OH), and the University of Kansas
Business Week Article Features Green MBA Programs
Business Week has published an article on the increasing amount of sustainability-focused courses in business school curricula. The article mentions green MBA curricula at the University of California, Berkeley, Babson College (MA), the University of North Carolina, Presidio School of Management (CA), Harvard University (MA), Dartmouth College (NH), Stanford University (CA), Yale University (CT), and the University of Pennsylvania.
Colorado State U, Pueblo Dedicates 1.2 MW Solar Array
Colorado State University, Pueblo has dedicated a 1.2 MW solar power system that will provide more than 10 percent of the campus' future power needs. The solar array covers 4.3 acres with more than 6,800 photovoltaic panels, and is capable of generating approximately 1,800 megawatt hours of electricity per year. BP Solar installed and will operate and maintain the system, selling the zero-carbon electricity to the University.
Dalhousie U Launches New Sustainability Program
Dalhousie University (NS) has launched a new academic program, Environment, Sustainability, and Society (ESS). Students can take ESS, a four-year undergraduate program, as half of a double major or as combined honors—combining their ESS studies with a more traditional discipline. Depending on their specialty, students will work towards a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Management, Bachelor of Community Design, Bachelor of Computer Science or Bachelor of Informatics. Classes in ESS will emphasize teamwork and problem-based learning. The program will begin in September of 2009.
Drew U Switches to 100% Recycled Paper
Drew University (NJ) has switched from 30 percent post-consumer content paper to 100 percent post-consumer content and 100 percent processed chlorine-free recycled paper. The new paper will be used campus-wide in all copiers and office printers. Efforts to switch Drew’s copy paper to a greener source come from the Drew University Purchasing Department.
Maharishi of Management Announces Sustainable Ag Track
The Maharishi University of Management (IA) has announced a new Sustainable Agriculture track in its undergraduate Sustainability Living program. The new track is slated to start this spring and will offer students the opportunity to spend April through September running all aspects of the Abundance Ecovillage Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. Tasks will include growing crops, collecting payments, planning, harvesting, distribution, and composting. The new track is designed students interested in sustainable small-scale food production systems, and will provide them four of six elective courses required for their major.
MIT Switches to Co-mingled Recycling
The Department of Facilities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has adopted a co-mingled recycling system. After a successful pilot program in one building in August, MIT decided to expand it to the entire campus, including student dormitories.
Monmouth U Signs Agreement with EPA
Monmouth University (NJ) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that outlines goals to improve the school’s energy, water and fuel use, waste disposal, and landscaping. Monmouth will join several of EPA’s voluntary programs, which provide trainings, online tools and technical support from EPA experts to program partners. Monmouth will report the progress of its goals to EPA every six months. Based on the reports, EPA will quantify the benefits of the school’s environmental efforts.
OIT Announces Emphasis Area in Sustainable Technologies
The Oregon Institute of Technology has begun offering a new interdisciplinary emphasis area in Sustainable Technologies under the Environmental Sciences bachelor's degree program. Environmental Sciences/Sustainable Technologies students will take courses from the Renewable Energy Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Civil Engineering, and Business Management departments for exposure to a wide range of technological and engineering solutions to environmental problems.
Oregon Institute of Technology to Be 100% Geothermal Campus
The Oregon Institute of Technology has installed a 150-foot-tall drilling tower in an effort to power its campus entirely with its own renewable geothermal source. If OIT succeeds, officials believe it will be the first campus in the world powered entirely on geothermal energy. The drilling rig will punch into a geological fracture almost a mile below ground, tapping 300-degree water to feed a 1.5-megawatt electrical plant. The $4.5 million high-heat plant will produce more than enough energy to power the entire Klamath Falls campus.
Stanford U Announces $100 Million Energy Research Initiative
Stanford University (CA) has established a $100 million research institute to focus on energy issues. The new Precourt Institute for Energy will draw on scientific expertise from across the campus and around the world to help develop more sustainable forms of energy and to search for ways to reduce atmospheric levels of carbon. The $100 million in new funds will enable the hiring of additional faculty and support new graduate students.
U Arkansas Wins 3 Awards for Sustainable Neighborhood Design
The University of Arkansas Community Design Center, an outreach program of the School of Architecture, has won three national awards for a sustainable neighborhood that they designed for the Washington County chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Named Porchscapes , the design won a 2009 American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design; a Progressive Architecture Award in the 56th Annual Progressive Architecture Awards program, sponsored by Architect magazine; and a 2008-09 ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award sponsored by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects. These latest awards bring recognition for the project to a total of seven regional and national awards.
U Toledo Expands Free Tuition Program
The University of Toledo has expanded its UT Guarantee scholarship program to include 15 additional areas of Ohio. The program was originally created to offer high-achieving, financially-challenged students a no-out-of-pocket-tuition-and-fees option to students in the state's 6 largest cities.
Warren Wilson College Res Hall Receives LEED Gold
Warren Wilson College's (NC) Village North residence hall has received LEED Gold certification. The new building features radiant floor heating, dual flush toilets, green cleaning products, Energy Star appliances, and a passive solar design. In addition, 20 percent of the building materials were from a 500-mile radius.
Carnegie Names Campuses for Community Engagement Classification
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected 119 U.S. colleges and universities for its 2008 Community Engagement Classification. Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification, previously developed and offered in 2006 as part of an extensive restructuring of The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Institutions were classified in one of three categories: Curricular Engagement, Outreach and Partnerships, and Curricular Engagement and Outreach and Partnerships. In order to be selected into any of the three categories, institutions had to provide descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices
Catholic U Opens Green Residence Hall
Catholic University (DC) has opened Opus Hall, a seven-story green residence hall. The 127,000-square-foot, 402-bed structure features low VOC emitting materials, renewable interior finishes, enhanced daylight views, and energy-efficient and locally obtained insulated precast. In addition, a portion of the construction waste was recycled.
Central College Adds Sustainability to Core Curriculum
Central College (IA) has added a global sustainability component to its newly restructured core curriculum, to begin in the fall of 2010. The initiative began when one of Central's professors of Political Science brought the idea to the faculty and received 70 percent of the group's support. The Central faculty plan to either develop new courses or infuse existing courses with sustainability components.
Clatsop CC Offers Free Bus Pass to Campus Members
Clatsop Community College (OR) has begun offering a free bus pass to all students, faculty, and staff. The new pass, which saves students $60 each term and saves faculty and staff $45 each month, allows campus members to ride anywhere in the county that the bus services.
DePaul U Opens Green Science Building
DePaul University (IL) has opened the Monsignor Andrew J. McGowan Science Building, a $40 million green science education building. The 130,000-square-foot structure features high-reflective materials used in roofing and pavement fabrication, a green roof with two greenhouses and a planted garden, heat recovery systems, regional materials, and a water-efficient landscape. DePaul hopes to achieve LEED Silver or Gold certification for the new building.
Duke U Signs Agreement with Zipcar
Duke University (NC) has signed an agreement with Zipcar to provide students, faculty, and staff who are age 18 and older with an alternative to keeping a car on campus. The agreement provides the campus with four new cars, two of which are hybrids. Zipcar members age 18 – 20 can only reserve cars assigned to the Duke campus; members 21 and older have access to Zipcar’s network of more than 5,500 vehicles throughout North America and the United Kingdom.
Grand Rapids CC Installs Green Roof
Grand Rapids Community College (MI) has installed a two level green roof on its Advanced Technology Center. The first level features a dining area and an herb garden for the school's culinary institute and the second level includes an outdoor observation deck. Both levels feature signage that lists how the roof works, plant names, bloom times, and benefits of green roofs.
Kent State U Trumball Announces Scholarships for Laid Off Workers
Kent State University’s (OH) Trumbull campus has announced plans to provide a one-time scholarship to new students who have recently been laid off from a full-time position, effective for the spring 2009 semester. The offer is available on a pilot basis and can be applied to the tuition cost of up to 12 credit hours.
Milwaukee Area Technical College Installs 90 kW Wind Turbine
The Milwaukee Area Technical College in Mequon (WI) has installed a refurbished, 90-kilowatt wind turbine on campus. The new turbine is expected to generate approximately 8 percent of the campus' electricity and will be used for teaching students who are seeking energy engineer and operations sustainability certifications.
New School U to Establish Socially Responsible Investing Ctte
The New School University (NY) will establish a committee on socially responsible investing. The move comes in response to student protests, including a two-day sit in. As part of the resolution to the protest, New School President Bob Kerrey also promised to give students voting representation on the search committee for a new provost.
Northwest Missouri State U Replaces Traditional Textbooks with E-Texts
Northwest Missouri State University has implemented a pilot program to replace traditional text books with e-texts. Twelve academic departments participated in the program last semester, and this semester, the program has been expanded to include approximately 500 students. An additional 3,000 students have the option to use either version if they are enrolled in a course using an e-text. Most pilot participants are accessing e-texts via laptop computers that are provided to all full-time Northwest students. A smaller group will be using an upgraded version of the Sony eReader, an earlier model of which was part of the fall 2008 e-text trial.
Oberlin College Receives Best Appliance Award
Oberlin College (OH) has received the Best Appliance Award in the Energy Efficiency Markets Competition for its energy orb, a device that glows red when energy use in a particular building is high and glows green when consumption is low. The energy orb hangs in the lobbies of six Oberlin dorms and helped the College to realize a 56 percent reduction in energy use during a recent energy conservation competition.
Rice U Expands No-Loan Policy
Rice University (TX) has expanded its no-loan policy for the 2009-2010 freshman class from a $60,000 income limit to an $80,000 limit. Under the new policy, incoming freshmen who qualify for need-based aid with family incomes below $80,000 will not be required to take out loans to pay for college. Almost 18 percent of this year's freshmen were from families with incomes under $80,000. For a family whose income is above $80,000 and who demonstrates need eligibility, Rice will meet 100 percent of the student's need, and the student's loans will not exceed a total of $10,000 over four years at Rice.
U Buffalo Implements Trayless Policy
The State University of New York at Buffalo has implemented a trayless policy at three dining centers on campus. The University anticipates saving 48,000 pounds of food waste as a result of the new measure.
U Buffalo Installs High Efficiency Servers
The State University of New York at Buffalo has begun installing new high efficiency servers in its Center for Computational Research, an academic supercomputer center. Installation is expected to be complete by the end of the spring 2009 semester. The University at Buffalo estimates that it will realize $150,000 in energy savings per year as a result of the upgrades.
U Delaware Opens Fuel Cell Research Center
The University of Delaware has established the Center for Fuel Cell Research to improve the understanding of fuel cells and address issues and barriers to commercialization. The Center will also provide undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to participate in fuel cell research and demonstration projects. The overall goal of the work is to improve performance and durability with novel materials, architectures, and operating strategies.
U Florida Dining Offers Reusable To-Go Containers
The University of Florida Gator Dining Services has begun offering reusable to-go containers at three locations on campus. The containers are dishwasher-safe and made to be reused over and over again, helping cut down on the waste produced from their traditional disposable counterparts. The process allows customers take their food to go as usual, bring the reusable container back at their earliest convenience at which time it gets washed by Gator Dining, and the cycle continues. Up to two reusable containers can be checked out per Gator 1 card.
U Idaho Purchases Electric Truck
The University of Idaho's Housing department has purchased an electric work truck. The truck can get 50-60 miles per charge and has a battery life of up to 25,000 miles. Its top speed is 25 miles an hour and can charge in about six hours.
U Michigan Flint Implements Student Carpool Initiative
The University of Michigan, Flint has launched GreenRide, an online map-based carpool program that connects people who want to share rides. The campus, which currently has over 6,900 commuters, offers the program to anyone affiliated with the University.
U Michigan Partners to Fund Alternative Transportation
The University of Michigan has partnered with Fraunhofer to offer seed money grants of up to $200,000 for two years to projects that explore alternative energy innovations for transportation. Each project must have researchers from both U-M and Fraunhofer, have a strong potential to eventually attract external funding, and ultimately be good candidates for commercialization. The Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute will work with U-M’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Fraunhofer to select and evaluate projects. Projects will be awarded in 2009 and must be finished within two years.
U North Carolina Wilmington Hires Sustainability Coordinator
The University of North Carolina, Wilmington has hired Alyssa Halle as sustainability coordinator for the Campus Life Facilities. Halle is now responsible for documenting sustainable progress made thus far and creating new ways of making the campus more sustainable.
U Washington Pilots Compostable Cup for Soft Drinks
The University of Washington is the pilot site for the first compostable paper cup designed specifically for soft drinks. The University expects to reduce the number of disposable cups that go to the landfill by 150,000 per year as a result of the new initiative. UW requested the cup in early 2007 to meet the City of Seattle's requirements that all packaging be compostable by July 2010, and it was created by International Paper in cooperation with the University of Washington and Cedar Grove Composting. The new compostable cup was the last big piece in UW Housing and Food Services' compostable products line, which already includes compostable plates, utensils and hot drink cups.
U Western Ontario to Add Green Process Engineering Prgm
The University of Western Ontario has announced plans to add a new undergraduate program, Green Process Engineering, to its curriculum in September of 2009. The new program will combine and integrate the fundamental principles of chemical engineering to design commercial products and processes that are safe, economical, and environmentally friendly.
Worldwatch Publishes Letter to Nominated U.S. Education Secretary
The Worldwatch Institute has published a letter from prominent education and environmental leaders urging the newly nominated U.S. Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, to consider the importance of education in carrying out President-elect Barak Obama's environmental agenda. The letter includes a proposed Presidential agenda that focuses on setting a green buildings standard for renovations and new construction at education institutions, directing 1% of cap-and-trade revenues to green economy curriculum, and funding sustainability and environmental education programs.
Arizona State U Graduates First Master's in Sustainability Candidate
Arizona State University awarded its first ever master’s degree in sustainability at its fall commencement ceremonies. The new graduate, Brigitte Bavousett, received her degree from the university’s School of Sustainability, the first degree-granting institution of its kind in the nation.
Bristol CC Partners on Renewable Energy Workforce Development
Bristol Community College (MA) has partnered with a local business to begin teaching potential workers about renewable energy and the processes used to produce it. A total of 15 students will be taught operational functions for turbine prototypes and tidal turbine technology in a course that looks at how tidal power can be harnessed to create energy. Overseen by BCC's Center for Business and Industry, the green jobs program is supported through a $5,000 training grant from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts and the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance. The six-week training is being marketed to women, minorities, and blue collar workers who live nearby.
