Quebec’s New Premier Revokes Tuition Increase
Through a cabinet decree, Quebec’s premier, Pauline Marois, revoked a tuition increase at the province’s universities, lowering tuition to the previous level of $2,168. A summit meeting will also be held before January to discuss how to finance public higher education.
U Alaska Fairbanks Community Garden Completes First Harvest
The 42-plot community-operated garden has completed its first successful harvest since its creation in the spring. The garden received a $5,000 grant from the university’s People’s Endowment as well as a $6,000 grant from the Student Sustainability Fund.
U Colorado Boulder Renovations to Reduce Carbon Footprint
The university has begun constructing a new campus utility system that will provide heating, cooling and electricity to campus through energy-efficient means. Alongside the new 72,000-square-foot power plant designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, the university will renovate the original campus plant that will use natural gas to generate electricity. It is anticipated that the renovations will reduce carbon emissions by 30,000 metric tons per year.
U Missouri St. Louis Debuts Solar Installation
The university, in partnership with Express Scripts, has completed its first solar panel installation. The 25-kilowatt photovoltaic system installed atop of the Mark Twain Athletic & Fitness Center will also feature an information kiosk and online monitoring system.
Unity College Installs Solar Array
The college, in partnership with ReVision Energy, has constructed a 37-kilowatt, 144-panel solar photovoltaic array atop the Quimby Library and Thomashow Labs. The grid-tied system will send electricity not immediately used by the library onto the public utility grid, generating a credit for the college to be applied at other times of the year when the solar system is less productive. After six years, the college will have the option to purchase the system from ReVision.
U Washington Approves Environmental Stewardship Executive Order
The Executive Order No. 13, Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability, was approved by President Michael Young and has been reviewed by the Faculty Senate, Board of Deans, the Environmental Stewardship Committee and the policy sub-teams. The order, an umbrella statement confirming the university’s commitment to sustainability, will serve as a guiding principle for future sustainability policy development and pursuit of the university’s Climate Action Plan goals and objectives.
U Winnipeg to Go Pesticide Free
By spring 2013, the university will eliminate the use of pesticides on campus. The university also recently introduced phosphate-free detergents and environmentally friendly cleaning products for use on campus.
U Wisconsin Green Bay Reuses Plastic Bottles In Place of Soil
A recently announced educational project involves a student services plaza, currently under construction, and enormous decorative planters. The plants will not require a lot of soil to thrive and rather than paying for unneeded soil, sustainability and facilities management teams will reuse capped plastic bottles collected from recycling bins on campus. The bottles will add the necessary volume and serve as a reminder of what happens when bottles end up in the landfill.
Aligarh Muslim U to Harvest Wind Energy
(India): The university, with the support of local government, has announced plans to launch a wind energy project. Several windmills will be installed on campus to provide power and allow scientists to study climate change in the area and its impact on wind energy.
Bucknell U Switches to Single Stream Recycling
(U.S.): The new system is expected to increase recycling rates from 20 percent to 60 percent. The university also plans to add two solar-powered compactors outside the student center.
Calhoun CC Debuts Green Energy Technology Center
(U.S.): The new Alabama Center for Excellence in Green Technology will be home to the college’s renewable energy associate degree program. Funded by a $3.47 million U.S. Department of Labor grant, the goal of the facility is to meet regional needs for certified practitioners in the areas of energy assessment and energy-efficient installation. The LEED-certified building features rainwater recycling that provides all gray water usage, a 20-kilowatt solar array, off the grid parking lights and a geothermal array.
Cal Poly Pomona Establishes Composting Program
(U.S.): The campus’ Dining Services has begun composting, diverting about 10 yards of waste a week from the landfill. Food scraps are collected and taken to a facility that produces nutrient-rich soil that is sold to local farmers and residents.
City U London Receives EcoCampus Award and Certification
(U.K.): In recognition for the university’s commitment to reducing its impact on the environment and in integrating sustainability into its daily services and activities, the university’s Environmental Management System has been awarded an EcoCampus Platinum Award and ISO 14001 certification.
Green Mountain College Receives Grant for Renewable Energy Lab
(U.S.): The college has received a grant of $15,000 from the Duke Energy Foundation for the college’s renewable energy and ecological design (REED) program to develop a digital fabrication laboratory called FabLab. The lab will provide students, local high school students and adults with the infrastructure to acquire skills using digital fabrication technologies.
Indiana Institute of Technology Debuts Wind Turbine
(U.S.): The institute has installed a 120-feet-tall wind turbine to help engineering students learn about alternative energy sources. The turbine, a gift from the Steel Dynamics Foundation, will provide energy to the electrical grid.
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.
