Vassar College Installs Solar Powered Compactors
The college aims to reduce litter and increase recycling with five new solar powered trash and recycling compactors on campus. The $28,000 initiative was funded with money from the college's Asset Preservation Fund, which is designated for campus renewal and non-recurring capital.
Vatterott College Adds Wind Training Program
Through lecture and hands-on training, the college's new wind technician diploma program is designed to prepare students with the electricity and mechanics skills needed to become service technicians.
West Michigan U Students Win National Green Vehicle Competition
A group of West Michigan University engineering technology students recently won the Human Assisted Green Energy Vehicle design competition. The competition calls on teams of up to five undergraduate and graduate students to design a vehicle that transfers the rider's manual power to the driving wheel through the use of a hydraulic fluid rather than a chain or other direct-drive mechanism. The four-member team's BroncoBike entry captured five first places in reliability and safety; workmanship; cost analysis; design report; and endurance race on its way to winning the overall event.
William Paterson U Wins Planet Forward Video Competition
The university's video, featuring climate innovations like a 12,000 solar panel-array, was selected by the public as the favorite of the 2012 Second Nature Climate Leadership Award finalists. The video is being featured in continued publicity with Planet Forward, which spotlighted the effort at its national Moving the Planet Forward conference in April. Twenty finalists are under consideration for this year's Climate Leadership Awards, which will be presented at the Climate Leadership Summit in June.
York U to Phase Out Sale of Plastic Water Bottles
The university's president, vice-chancellor and York Federation of Students president recently signed a pledge to phase out the sale of bottled water on both of its Keele and Glendon campuses by September 2015. In the meantime, York Sustainability Engagement Coordinator Pavel Graymason tells AASHE Bulletin that the university will work to double the number of hydration stations on campus to at least 50 stations.
American U Cairo Reduces Energy Use by 20%
(Egypt): With its Energy and Resource Conservation and Efficiency Project, American University in Cairo has used 20.4 percent less energy in kilowatt hours campus-wide in the past six months compared to the same six-month period a year earlier. With the goal of reducing overall campus energy use by one third in three years, the initiative includes retro-commissioning all major building systems on campus; ending the use of cooling and heating after hours and on weekends, breaks and holidays; and eventually consolidating classroom operations during winter and summer sessions to stop heating and cooling empty classrooms.
Cornell U Helps 'Green' Low-Income Housing
(U.S.): Funded by a $3 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant and led by nonprofit Community Environmental Center of Long Island City, Cornell University (New York) will help test new, energy-saving approaches in older multifamily housing developments in the New York City region. The initiative will implement building retrofits, provide education and training and conduct a study as part of an effort to demonstrate cost savings and environmental benefits of energy retrofits and an education intervention. The university will coordinate intervention and control groups to examine changes in tenant and superintendents' knowledge and motivation.
Franklin College Approves Garden-to-Dining Project
(Switzerland): The Franklin Campus Garden Project will provide a local and organic food source for campus dining services and a tangible classroom for environmental science and food-related courses. The multiphase organic garden project aims to expand on a yearly basis.
Harvard U Lab Renovation Earns LEED Platinum
(U.S.): A two-year demolition and reconstruction project to accommodate the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department has earned the Sherman Fairchild Building a LEED Commercial Interiors Platinum certification. New energy efficiency measures include an internal heat shift chiller that captures heat from high-load zones and redistributes it to other parts of the building; occupancy sensors that close fume hoods automatically when not in use; and windows to provide natural ventilation in non-lab spaces.
Harvard U Law School Weatherizes Dorm Windows
(U.S.): After dorm residents in Harvard Law School's North Hall noticed cold spots near their windows on cold days, the university weatherproofed all 117 windows. Calculated using the Harvard Green Building Resource Life Cycle Costing Tool, an open resource that helps project managers analyze life cycle costs for energy conservation measures, the law school expects to save $1,006 annually.
HKUST Students Host Green Events Month
(China): Members of the university's Green Ambassador Program organized a reusable mug campaign, an item swap, and a donation drive for a local kindergarten in need of computers and projectors in March. The month was designated for events to raise awareness in support of a "green" lifestyle.
IIT Bombay Implements Energy Conservation Measures
(India): As part of its Green Campus Initiative, the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay has installed occupancy sensors in bathrooms and toilet blocks in its 14 hostels and academic departments, a measure that is expected to reduce energy consumption by 70 percent per day. The institute has also installed six solar water heaters and is planning to make use of heat generated from air-conditioning systems for cooking and heating water.
Jacksonville U Approves Sustainability Degree
(U.S.): Beginning this fall, students will have the opportunity to obtain a B.S., B.A. and Bachelor of Business Administration in sustainability. Interdisciplinary courses will include sustainability concepts within sociology, math, statistics, business, philosophy, economics, management, law and ethics. The program will also have a community component focused on experiential learning.
James Madison U Installs Wind Turbine for Teaching
(U.S.): A 7.5-kilowatt wind turbine will provide energy to the campus and educational opportunities for students, outside entrepreneurs and local K-12 schools. Faculty will develop hands-on curriculum for students interested in wind power.
Kansas U Invests in Campus Trees
(U.S.): A new fund through the university's Endowment Association will allow a tree advisory board made up of faculty, staff and students to work toward replacing trees, providing maintenance, applying for the Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Campus USA designation, and eventually hiring a full-time staff person to maintain an ongoing tree maintenance program. Students in the environmental studies program will create an inventory of the current trees on campus.
Macquarie U Hosts Swap Party
(Australia): The university's Sustainability group recently invited the campus community to swap items they no longer needed for new items. The event was designed to prevent items from going to the landfill and to raise awareness about the environmental impact of throwing away unwanted items.
Ohio State U Increases Financial Aid by $50 Million
(U.S.): The Ohio State University has announced a $50 million increase in financial aid over the next four years. The initiatives include new scholarships and grants that will help additional students attend the university each year. Funding will be provided through cost savings and new funding streams that allow the university to invest in student scholarships.
Portland State U Names New Sustainable Solutions Director
(U.S.): Jennifer H. Allen has been named as the new director of the Institute for Sustainable Solutions. Allen, who has served as the institute's interim director since October 2011, will lead sustainability research, education and community engagement efforts.
Portland State U Professor Leads Clean Water Effort in Rwanda
(U.S.): Owned and funded by water quality testing company DelAgua, and contracted to Manna Energy Limited, the project will distribute water filters and efficient cook stoves to 750,000 households, nearly all of the Western Province of Rwanda, reducing the demand for wood fuel. Portland State University (Oregon) Assistant Professor of Engineering Evan Thomas, who co-founded Manna, is heading up the effort.
Skidmore College Students Host Nuclear Awareness Forum
(U.S.): As part of a "Community Engagement" course at the college, students recently held an information session to raise public awareness of the health and environmental implications associated with a local nuclear site. The students have been working with concerned citizens and former site employees this semester to disseminate information to those who live near the site about the lack of safety features including emergency cooling systems, containment systems to keep radiation from reaching the public, and a 10-mile evacuation plan.
U California Berkeley Students Work with Communities During Break
(U.S.): More than 136 students participated in the university’s Alternative Breaks program, lending their skills to public service projects. This year’s participants spent the last week of March working on projects involving animal welfare, health care, immigration and homelessness across the country. As part of the program, the students also learned about social justice issues at play in the surrounding community.
Udall Foundation Announces 2012 Scholars
(U.S.): Eighty students from 70 colleges and universities will receive up to $5,000 each and assemble in August to meet policymakers and community leaders in environmental fields, tribal health care and governance. Sixty-eight of this year's scholars intend to pursue careers related to the environment and 12 Native American/Alaska Native scholars intend to pursue careers in tribal public policy and health care.
U Edinburgh, Kwame Nkrumah U Research Safe Drinking Water Options
(Ghana and U.K.): Researchers from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Edinburgh are partnering to develop technologies for safe drinking water. Funded by the Leverhulme Royal Society Africa Award, the researchers will focus on the use of laterite, a soil-type rich in iron and aluminum, as a sorbent and ultra-filtration for physical disinfection.
U Illinois Chicago Named Tree Campus USA
(U.S.): The university earned the Arbor Day Foundation recognition by meeting required standards for sustainable campus forestry and sponsoring student service-learning projects. The 250-acre urban campus has 5,376 trees of 101 different species.
UK Institutions Launch Student Food Co-ops
(U.K.): Oxford Brookes University is the latest of eight institutions in the U.K. to launch a student-run food co-op. Organized by People & Planet student chapters at Kent, Strathclyde, Durham, Manchester, Birmingham, East Anglia and Newcastle universities, these co-ops are designed to provide students and staff access to ethical food at low prices.
U Mass Med School New Air Systems Save Water and Energy
(U.S.): In an effort to reduce energy and water consumption, the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s facilities team has completed the replacement of two medical vacuum systems and one medical compressed air system. The new systems are expected to save 483,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and four million gallons of water per year.
U Queensland Awarded $10 M for Sustainability Research Center
(Australia): Funded through a Dow Chemical Company contribution worth $10 million over the next six years, the university will establish the Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation. The center will pursue research and collaborations aimed at confronting large-scale sustainability challenges.
U Queensland Facility Awarded Green Star Certification
(Australia): The university’s new Advanced Engineering Building has received a 5 Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. Sustainable features include a passive cooling system, natural ventilation, the use of recycled materials and building-wide monitoring systems that track the building’s environmental performance.
U Queensland Installs Water Bottle Refill Stations
(Australia): Three new water bottle refill stations have been installed on campus as part of the university’s campaign to raise awareness of the environmental and financial costs of purchasing bottled water. The installation follows the success of a trial water station installed in spring last year. The university plans to install more stations over the coming months.
U Worcester Completes Solar Array Installation
(U.K.): Students and faculty will have the opportunity to monitor the amount of energy produced from the 50-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array and, by contributing power to the electrical grid, the university will benefit from the feed-in tariff payments.
York U Students Rally for Full-time Sustainability Officer
(U.K.): The York University student chapter of People & Planet, a student network in Britain that organizes campaigns to end world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment, recently protested outside of a university Sustainability Strategy meeting for a full-time sustainability officer.
Champlain College Restoration Awarded LEED Platinum
The $12 million renovation and expansion of the college's Welcome and Admission Center features a geothermal heat pump to provide space heating and cooling, ecological landscaping for wildlife habitat and stormwater reduction, energy-efficient lighting and the use of local and recycled building materials.
Clark U Debuts Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
The university joined fellow Worcester, Ma.-based institutions Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Quinsigamond Community College to debut new charging stations for the campus community and city. The Institute for Energy & Sustainability, a nonprofit housed at the university, received a Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources grant to install 10 charging stations in central Massachusetts.
Eastern Kentucky U Installs Water Bottle Filling Stations
A $5,000 grant from the Bluegrass PRIDE community grant program will fund the installation of five water bottle filling stations in an effort to steer the campus community away from plastic water bottle use. With another $8,835 grant, biology and wildlife faculty and students will assist in the construction of an outdoor classroom and wetlands area to be shared by two local schools.
Eastern Michigan U Installs Green Roof
The 3,000-square-foot rooftop garden, installed atop the university's new Science Complex, contains 16 plant species and is expected to save the university $3,600 in energy costs per year.
Emory U Establishes Diversity Website
In an effort to bring students and faculty to a single location where they can learn more about ongoing diversity initiatives, the university has launched a new website in collaboration with the Office of Community and Diversity. The diversity web portal includes a section for news and announcements regarding diversity, lists upcoming diversity events and enables users to search for diversity-related organizations and groups on campus.
Gay Mormon Students Have New Visibility at Brigham Young U
A recent panel discussion of what it’s like to be gay and Mormon signaled a new attitude toward being gay at the university, which is owned and run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church teachings condemn sexual relationships between members of the same sex, but in recent years the university has adjusted its Honor Code to allow students to identify as gay without facing sanctions, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Genesee CC Debuts Solar Powered Weather Station
The wireless weather monitoring station is powered through solar energy stored in rechargeable batteries. Current temperature and weather conditions are available via the college's Facebook page. The station was funded through the college’s Foundation President’s Innovation Award Program.
Local Food Co-op Comes to U Mass Med School
(U.S.): The Massachusetts Local Food Cooperative has begun offering monthly distribution at the Worcester campus due to the efforts of a group of volunteers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. On the first Friday of every month, student and faculty volunteers travel to the distribution center in Westminster to pick up orders from the university. The goods are then brought back and unloaded to a waiting pick-up area set up in the old Medical School lobby.
Luther College Completes Community Wind Power Project
A 1.6-megawatt wind turbine owned and operated by Luther College Wind Energy Project is providing the college and community with wind-generated electrical power. The power generated by the turbine is being sold to Alliant Energy under a long-term power purchase agreement and the project's Renewable Energy Certificates are being sold to the college.
Maharishi U Mgmt Debuts Net-Zero Sustainable Living Center
Together, the building's 58 solar panels and 100-foot wind turbine are capable of producing 25 kilowatts, contributing to the building's ability to produce more energy than it consumes annually. Other energy-saving features include a heat pump and geothermal tubing, extensive use of daylighting, and strategic placement of windows and verandas. As more funds are raised, the university plans to take the center completely off the grid with respect to electricity, heating, cooling, water and waste.
Public Institutions Caught in Maintenance Funding Conundrum
In what Inside Higher Ed is calling "the other debt crisis," public colleges and universities are issuing their own debt to finance facility renovations, reports the online news source. Facing aging campuses, several years of backlogged maintenance projects, increased competition for students and little hope that states are going to fund the construction they need, institutions are "now catching up for several years of not being funded appropriately." Institutions that can't issue cheap debt are faced with choosing whether to hold off on projects (leading to an aging and potentially unsafe campus and more expensive renovations in the future), or funding projects from their operating budgets, potentially siphoning off resources for other priorities like faculty salaries and student services.
San Francisco State U Earns Diverse Campus Designation
More than 35 percent of students enrolled at San Francisco State University (California) in fall 2011 identified as Asian American, Native American or Pacific Islander, earning recognition by the U.S. Department of Education as one of the nation's most diverse campuses. The designation allows the university to apply for federal funding aimed at increasing the recruitment, retention and graduation of students from all underrepresented backgrounds.
Temple U Hosts Sustainability Week
Focused on a call to action to "learn by doing," the week’s events included workshops and demonstrations that offer staff, students and faculty an opportunity to develop useful pursuits that can lead to a more sustainable lifestyle.
