Marietta College Receives Grant to Add Sustainable Living Option
(U.S.): The $25,000 Higher Education Grant from the Dominion Foundation will be used to convert an existing dormitory into a more sustainable living environment. Initial plans call for solar panels and energy produced by a wind turbine. Students participating in the energy systems minor will be likely candidates to live in the dorm.
Michigan State U Launches Sustainability Project Funding
(U.S.): The Office of Sustainability has launched Be Spartan Green Student Project Fund, a program that will provide financial support for students to explore solutions to sustainability challenges at the university. Up to $5,000 will be awarded to each selected project.
Monash U Student Housing Achieves Green Rating
(Australia): A student residential development has achieved a Green Star rating for sustainable construction. The residences offer students low-cost housing funded through the National Rental and Affordability Scheme. Sustainable features include a gray water treatment facility, a 155-kilowatt photovoltaic system and garden beds and orchards that enable the students to harvest their own food.
RIT Creates Center for Sustainable Packaging
(U.S.): Gifts totaling $2.2 million will help to create the Center for Sustainable Packaging, an education and research center dedicated to the development and use of sustainable packaging. The center will be a testing ground for ideas and solutions for students, researchers, faculty and corporate partners that are interested in sustainable packaging.
St. Agnes College to Launch Recycling
(India): The college has announced plans to create a paper recycling unit on campus to create solid waste management awareness. The college also plans to sell notebooks made from the recycled paper and the money will be used for conducting awareness programs on solid waste management in rural areas of the state.
U British Columbia Opens Renewable Energy Facility
(Canada): The university has unveiled a $34 million clean energy center that produces heat and electricity for the campus entirely from renewable bioenergy. The Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility will supply up to 12 percent of the university’s heat requirements as well as reduce its natural gas consumption by 12 percent. The facility runs on tree trimmings and wood chips from local landfills.
U Massachusetts Amherst Initiates Single Stream Recycling
(U.S.): In an effort to increase the recycling rate on campus, the university has launched a no-sort system. The system will also result in long-term economic efficiency by allowing the Office of Waste Management to make one pass with its trucks around the campus per week instead of two.
U Michigan Acquires 3 New Hybrid Buses
(U.S.): The university has purchased three new hybrid buses to join its fleet, fulfilling a September 2011 commitment that the university would introduce seven hybrid buses in a year in an effort to be more sustainable. The buses use a roof-mounted battery system to supplement their diesel engines, allowing for reduced emissions.
U Michigan Installs Water Refill Stations
(U.S.): Through a collaboration among the Office of Campus Sustainability, Central Student Government, Construction Services and other campus units, more than 100 drinking fountains have been equipped with a bottle refill device. Students helped guide the university’s decision on where to install the refill stations through a survey. This fall, the university also implemented the Planet Blue Water Bottle Initiative. The three-year program will supply all first-year undergraduates with a reusable water bottle when they arrive on campus.
U Michigan Launches Bike Rental Program
(U.S.): A fleet of 30 bicycles will be available to students, faculty and staff as part of a recently launched Blue Bikes checkout program. In addition to the rental program, several supporting bicycle amenities will be installed this fall including additional bike racks in high-demand areas, two public air pump stations, and a fix-it station where cyclists can access tools for quick fixes.
U Milan, Politecnico of Milan to Create Sustainable Campus
(Italy): The university and institute have partnered to convert their sites into a single sustainable campus. The “Smart Campus” project will focus on four themes including residents, energy, environment and accessibility. The project intends to develop services aimed at transforming the behavior of campus users. As part of the project, dumpsters that measure the weight and volume of the material that is discarded have been installed to manage waste collection.
U Minnesota Receives $13 M to Focus on Sustainable Research
(U.S.): The Department of Chemistry has received $13.1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund two centers that could potentially reduce carbon emissions and make solar energy more efficient. Both centers will focus on theoretical chemistry to sequester carbon dioxide and develop programs to find better ways to capture solar energy.
U Pennsylvania Dedicates Sustainable Green Commons
(U.S.): Shoemaker Green, a new green commons area, will serve as a pilot site for the Sustainable Sites initiative, which will measure the performance of the landscape and serve as a test case for other campus landscape projects. The site incorporates 100 percent native plants, reused building materials and has decreased the amount of impervious surface by 50 percent.
U Vermont Installs Solar Panels on Campus Farm
(U.S.): Funded by its Clean Energy Fund, the university’s 134 solar panels will produce an average of 100 kilowatt hours of electricity per day, enough to supply 8.5 percent of the research farm’s electricity needs. An important aspect of the demonstration project is that farmers will have the opportunity to visit, see how the system was installed, understand its economics and the incentives that are available, and determine if the technology is feasible at their own farms.
Wellesley College Introduces Bike Share Program
(U.S.): The college will provide 15 bikes for checkout over a 24-hour period to the campus community as part of a new bike share program. A grant from the Class of 1957 Green Fund kick-started the program and will also provide resources to students who already own bikes.
Benedictine College to Conduct Energy Audit
The college has announced plans for a three-month in-depth analysis of all campus facilities to identify opportunities for energy savings and infrastructure improvements. The evaluations will cover 24 buildings and more than 660,000 square feet of space
Champlain College Summer Program Focuses on Underserved Students
The college has hosted 25 high school students for Imagine College, a pilot outreach program created to fulfill the college’s 2020 Diversity and Inclusion goals. The six-day summer immersion program was designed to help students make college a part of their reality and give them tools to navigate the college process. Students will explore various areas of study, career options and the college admissions process.
Chatham U Students Win Design Competition for City’s Green Hub
Two teams of five interior architecture students have won a competition to turn a City-County building lobby into Green Central, a hub of information about the City of Pittsburgh’s sustainability action-plan projects and resources to help residents develop their own. The winning designs include custom-made recycling bins that evoke the roots of a tree. The mayor’s Green Trust Fund will pay for the project.
DOE Announces University-led Solar Power Projects
As part of its SunShot Initiative, which aims to drive solar energy to be cost-competitive with other energy sources by 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced new investments totaling $10 million over five years for two university-led projects to advance solar power system technologies. The University of California, Los Angeles will lead a team of researchers from Yale University and the University of California, Berkley to investigate liquid metals as potential heat transfer fluids. The University of Arizona will partner with researchers from Arizona State University and Georgia Tech to develop and demonstrate new, molten salt-based fluids as possible alternatives to traditional heat transfer fluids.
Humboldt State U Conducts Electric Vehicle Study
The university’s Schatz Energy Research Center will conduct a plug-in electric vehicle planning study as part of the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program. The multi-year study is funded through the California Energy Commission and will prepare Humboldt County for the broad scale adoption of electric vehicles.
Lincoln Memorial U Introduces Bike Share Program
A fleet of 20 bicycles, 10 mountain bikes and 10 cruisers are available to the campus community as part of a recently launched bike checkout program. The university will also further its bicycle-friendly efforts by designating cycling-specific lanes on campus roadways, installing improved bicycle parking at all residence halls and posting bicycle safety signs.
Loyola U Chicago Signs 4 Commitments to Sustainability
The university has recently become a signatory of the Illinois Campus Sustainability Compact, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change’s St. Francis Pledge, American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and the Talloires Declaration. These agreements outline the university’s pledge to work toward expanding its sustainability program, engaging the campus community, greening its operations and monitoring its performance.
Queen’s U Bans Bottled Water
Bottled water will no longer be available in vending machines, retail outlets or at catered events in an effort to reduce 98,000 plastic bottles that go through the university’s waste and recycling system each year. The university has installed nearly 60 water bottle refilling stations to encourage the campus community to use refillable bottles.
Rutgers U Installs 32-Acre Solar Canopy
Consisting of more than 40,000 solar panels, the $40.8 million project will generate 8 megawatts of power to satisfy 63 percent of the electrical demand on campus.
Salt Lake CC Debuts Solar Training Yard
Funded by $2.1 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, the college’s new solar photovoltaic training yard will provide a space for hands-on training to industry professionals and prospective technicians.
U Calgary Names First Chief Sustainability Officer
As the university’s first chief sustainability officer, Joanne Perdue will work with the senior leadership team and academic coordinator for sustainability to integrate the values and aims of the university’s Academic Plan and Institutional Sustainability Plan into teaching, co-curricular student activities, research, service learning and operations across campus.
U California System Achieves 100 LEED Certifications
With the recent LEED Gold certification of the University of California, Los Angeles’ Clinical and Translational Research Center, the University of California system has hit a milestone of 100 LEED-certified facilities. The UC system policy requires that all new buildings and major retrofits meet LEED standards, See also: AASHE Resources on Campus Green Buildings
U Maryland to Launch Rain Barrel Program
Interns at the university’s Extension program have partnered with Prince George’s County to place rain barrels across the County in an effort to reduce erosion and bring the County closer to refining its stormwater management program. Once the university is able to secure more funds, organizers hope to include rebates for rain gardens, green roofs and impermeable pavers.
U Southern California Launches Green Tailgating Programs
The Office of Sustainability, Facilities Management Services and USC Athletics have partnered to minimize the waste created by tailgaters at football games. About 75 student volunteers from campus organizations will spread out at each home game to educate tailgaters about recycling and strategies for minimizing waste. Volunteers will also be stationed at new recycling and compost bins.
West Virginia U to Research Global Green Energy Development
The university has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to research clean energy development in West Virginia and the Shanxi Province of China. A team of four experts and faculty will conduct research for approximately three years and will focus on links among energy consumption, the economy, the environment and technology.
Arizona State U to Receives $3 M for Alternative Energy Program
The National Science Foundation grant will go toward the development of a doctoral program in energy and establishing the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Solar Utilization Network (SUN) program. Focusing on biological conversion, photovoltaics, solar thermal and sustainable policy, the program will provide the groundwork for the Global Institute of Sustainability's planned doctoral program by 2016.
Bellevue College Awarded $815K for Campus Energy Makeover
The Washington State Department of Commerce grant will go toward campus-wide lighting retrofits, low-flow water fixtures and HVAC improvements. The project will also include a solar array and an energy-monitoring dashboard, both funded in partnership with the student environmental sustainability fund.
Elon U Community Garden Certified as a Wildlife Habitat
Five years after its inception, the Elon Community Garden has been designated by the National Wildlife Federation as a certified wildlife habitat. The small vegetable garden is a space where local wildlife can find food, water, shelter and a place to raise their young. A camera that can be moved around the quarter-acre property has spotted raccoons, coyotes, foxes, woodchucks, squirrels and rabbits.
Florida International U Opens Campus Bike Shop
The FIU Bike Shop, now open at the Modesto Maidique Campus, provides tune-ups, tire installations, safety checks, part replacements and other adjustments. The shop is open to both students and the public, with students receiving discounted prices for all services. In 2013, the Bike Shop plans to hold bike repair workshops for students.
Gonzaga U Partners with Socially Responsible Apparel Company
The university has announced that its bookstore will sell a brand of clothing that has committed to higher standards of social responsibility. Alta Gracia manufactures collegiate apparel in overseas factories that provide all employees with benefits and a living wage sufficient to cover monthly costs for a family of four.
Harvard U Student Victory Helps Renewable Energy Contractors
Harvard Law students have prevailed in a two-year battle to lift restrictions on the installation of solar power in Massachusetts. For more than two years, the university’s Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic has represented a group of general contractors who specialize in renewable energy projects but were being blocked from installing solar power by a state licensing board.
Linfield College Receives LEED Gold for Green Restoration
The historic classroom building features 85 solar panels, recycled construction materials and an educational LCD screen that monitors energy consumption, water use, heating use, solar energy production and weather data. Additional features include a "cool roof" that deflects heat and a digital control system that heats or cools the building based on classroom schedules and current temperatures.
Lone Star College Installs Solar, Wind Energy Systems
The college has installed two solar panels, two solar tracking arrays and three wind generators to provide energy to the electrical system. The systems will also be used as teaching tools in advanced technology courses. Funding for the installations was provided by a $400,000 grant from the State Energy Conservation Office.
Mid-South CC Dedicates Renewable Energy Center
Designed to meet LEED certifications, the building features a geothermal system that will generate as much energy as is consumed on-site. In partnership with Arkansas State University, Montana State University-Northern and the University of Memphis, the center will support entrepreneurs, workforce training and applied research in the use of renewable agricultural outputs.
Montgomery County CC Opens Parking Lot for Energy-Efficient Cars
The college has opened a new parking lot designated for students, faculty and staff who carpool or drive energy-efficient vehicles. The lot also includes charging stations for electric vehicles, LED lighting, subsurface infiltration system, rain gardens and vegetated swales with check dams to slow the rate of run-off conveyance.
New School Design Students Help Build University Center
Four students and alumni have teamed with a construction company to help build the new University Center. Each intern has a focus project including work on the interior LED lighting design, implementation of an eco-friendly wastewater system, and work in the field office. The building will feature an ice storage cooling system that complements the air conditioning system and internal electricity generator to relieve pressure on the public grid.
Northland College Works to Increase Local Foods on Campus
Working with several area farms and food/producer co-ops, the college aims to increase consumption of local foods on campus to 20 percent during the 2012-2013 school year. The move will represent an investment of about $100,000 to grow the presence of local foods on campus while supporting a local foods economy, farmers and their families.
