St. John’s U Receives $1.8M for Decarbonization Initiatives

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently awarded $1,792,750 to the university to help fund two specific decarbonization projects—chilled water generation and domestic hot water generation.

American U Removes Smokestacks

During winter break, two 100-foot smokestacks at American University that were part of the AU campus skyline for more than 60 years were removed. This is the final step in the university’s conversion to a low-temperature hot water heating system that is projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 40 percent.

U Albany Adopts Official Land Acknowledgement

The University at Albany, part of the State University of NY system, has adopted an official land acknowledgment that recognizes the homelands of the Kanien’keháka and Muh-he-con-neok people upon which the campus resides.

U Indonesia Publishes GreenMetric World University Rankings

Universitas Indonesia has published the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings 2021, which are based on 6 dimensions of sustainability: setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation and education. Wageningen University & Research was ranked first among the 956 universities from 80 countries that submitted data.

U Southern California Sets 2025 Carbon Neutral Date

The university is now aiming for a carbon neutral date of 2025 through efforts such as building upgrades, reducing energy waste and switching to electric vehicles.

AASHE Announces 2021 Sustainability Award Winners

AASHE recently celebrated 12 winners selected from over 360 applications submitted into the 2021 Sustainability Awards program. Catawba College won the inaugural Racial Equity and Sustainability Collaborations Award. David Shi was selected as the fourth Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Other categories of awards were Campus Sustainability Achievement (three winners), Student Sustainability Leadership (one winner), and Campus Sustainability Research (six winners). There were 50 finalists across all categories.

U Maine Presque Isle to Install 377KW Photovoltaic Array

Currently under construction is a 377-kilowatt, grid-connected solar array that once completed is estimated to save the university about $42,000 in electricity costs per year. A unique aspect of the modules being used is that they are bifacial panels, meaning the back sides of the panels capture reflected sunlight from the ground, which results in about an 8 percent increase in energy generated.