U Arizona Creates Campus Sustainability Units
The University of Arizona has created the President’s Advisory Council on Environmental Sustainability, the Office of Sustainability and the student-led Green Fund Committee. The campus sustainability trio will ensure the coordinated participation of students, faculty, staff and administrators in maintaining the university’s commitment to sustainability. The units will also ensure that the Board of Regents’ approved tuition resources are dedicated to campus design, student engagement, operations, research and outreach.
U Arizona Expands Bike Program
The University of Arizona has extended the free trial period for its bicycle valet program and expanded its bike share fleet. The valet will be free to students and faculty until Jan. 30, 2011, to allow more people to test the system. Due to the success of the bike sharing program, the university will add 15 additional bikes to its existing fleet of 10.
U Calgary Prohibits Idling
The University of Calgary (AB) has announced a new policy that prohibits vehicles on campus to be left idling unattended for more than three minutes when the temperature is warmer than 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Violators will be subject to fines that will be reinvested in sustainable transportation initiatives including the construction of secure bike parking facilities. Students, staff, faculty and visitors make more than 40,000 vehicle trips to and from campus, according to the university. The school hopes that the new policy will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions on campus and improve regional air quality.
U Guelph Begins Organic Power Plant
Production is expected to begin in February on an organic power plant at the University of Guelph's (ON) Ridgetown campus. The university received a $2.6 million grant through the Federal Development Agency for Southern Ontario to assist in the construction of an anaerobic digester that will turn manure and other waste into electricity. The plant will also feature a dry-feeder system, pasteurization unit and biogas engine. Biogas will be produced from several organic waste streams including dairy manure, swine manure, beef manure, corn silage and other off-farm waste that would otherwise go to a landfill.
U Mass Amherst Launches Online Sustainability Studies Program
The University Without Walls adult degree completion program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has launched an online sustainability studies undergraduate degree program. Courses include green building, renewable energy, sustainable food and farming, sustainable entrepreneurship and permaculture design.
Unity College Students Help Design Passive House Residence Hall
Unity College (ME) students and faculty recently gathered to provide design ideas and concerns for the college's upcoming project to build a residence hall to the Passive House standard. The Passive House standard in the U.S. is an extension of the PassivHaus Institute of Germany, utilizing insulation and tight air sealing to minimize heat loss. The college received a $389,000 grant from the Kendeda Fund to construct the cottage-style residence hall, which will use sunlight to generate energy with little or no active mechanical systems. The sunlight will be converted to usable heat. Students, who will also be involved in the construction and monitoring of the facility, participated in discussions about the potential size of the building, the orientation and interior set-up, and how the building will relate to the whole of the college.
U North Texas Life Sciences Complex Seeks LEED Gold
The University of North Texas’ new Life Sciences Complex will seek LEED Gold certification. The 87,000-square-foot building includes four climate-controlled rooftop research greenhouses designed for plant science research. The complex also features water-efficient landscaping and the inclusion of an underground stormwater retention cistern for landscape irrigation. Additional sustainable features include passive solar design and cost-effective lighting and vent hoods that operate on occupancy sensors.
U Oklahoma Geography Dept to Offer Enviro Sustainability Degrees
The department of geography at the University of Oklahoma has announced that it will offer B.A. and B.S. degrees in environmental sustainability. Involving instructors from 14 departments across the university, the curriculum will explore how human societies can meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations. Coursework will examine short- and long-term needs related to jobs and economic growth, societal well-being and environmental health. Beginning spring 2011, students will have the option to specialize in sustainability science and natural resources; sustainability planning and management; and sustainability, culture and society.
U Pennsylvania Expands Recycling Program
The University of Pennsylvania has expanded its recycling program. The university will recycle all plastic containers and plastic types numbered one through seven. Blue Mountain Recycling has installed new equipment on campus capable of sorting and recycling beyond number one and two plastics. The university hopes that the expanded plastic recycling will boost its goal for a 40 percent campus recycling rate by 2014.
Westminster College Science Center Earns LEED Platinum
Westminster College (UT) has earned LEED Platinum certification for its new science center. Environmentally friendly features of the four-story, 60,000-square-foot Meldrum Science Center include daylight sensors that control the use of artificial lighting, locally sourced and reclaimed building materials and ventilation and filtration systems. Eighty-five percent of the construction waste was recycled.
Alfred U Residence Hall Receives LEED Gold
Alfred University’s (NY) new 48-bed residence hall has been awarded LEED Gold certification. Sixty-five percent of the wood used during the construction of Ann's House was from forests certified for using sustainable forestry practices and 30 percent of the materials were from local or regional suppliers. Other sustainable features include 15 kilowatts of solar panels on the roof, high-efficiency boilers, individual-room thermostat controls and a passive solar design.
Brown U Students Work Toward Campus, Community Carbon Reductions
Students involved in the Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown Initiative at Brown University (RI) are working to reduce carbon emissions on campus and in the community. Projects include pumping under-inflated tires at a local gas station to improve fuel efficiency, installing programmable thermostats in local homes and various community weatherization projects. Funded mainly through the initiative’s original $300,000 grant, the initiative also provides loans of about $3,000 for professional contractors to do larger or more serious projects.
Cooper Union Academic Building Awarded LEED Platinum
The newest academic building at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (NY) has been awarded LEED Platinum certification. The $150 million, 175,000-square-foot building features a green roof, radiant heating and cooling ceiling panels, and an atrium to improve air flow and provide increased interior day lighting. Also incorporated into the design is an operable building skin made of perforated stainless steel panels offset from a glass and aluminum window wall to reduce the impact of heat radiation during the summer and insulate interior spaces during the winter.
Cuyamaca College Receives $400K Grant for Green Job Training
Cuyamaca College (CA) has received a $400,000 grant to offer free courses to unemployed and underemployed people who are looking for careers in landscaping and water conservation. The courses lead to certificates and prepare students to pursue credentials for jobs in landscape irrigation and water use efficiency. The program grew out of a grant from the San Diego Workforce Partnership, a job development initiative.
Drexel U Commits to Wind Energy
Drexel University (PA) has partnered with Community Energy, Inc. to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates equal to 100 percent of its energy use. The purchase will ensure that electricity consumed will be matched annually with wind energy entering the electricity grid. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, the environmental benefit from this purchase is equal to offsetting approximately 60,518 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, the annual impact of which is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 12,904 acres of trees or removing 11,571 passenger vehicles from the road.
Eastern Illinois U Constructs Renewable Energy Center
Eastern Illinois University has announced the construction of its Renewable Energy Center. The $80 million center will burn 27,000 tons of wood chips a year to heat the campus, replacing an older heating plant that burns coal. The university will consider adding grasses or corn stalks to the fuel mix after a year of operation.
Eastern Mennonite Installs Solar Photovoltaic Array
Eastern Mennonite University (VA) has partnered with Secure Futures, LLC to install a solar photovoltaic array on the library roof. The system will have the capacity to generate 104.3 kilowatts of electricity with enough power to supply the total average annual electricity cost for nine homes. The university has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement to buy the solar-generated electricity at a “grid-parity” price equivalent to the rate the university pays for power from its current provider.
Enviro Defense Fund Promotes Diversity in Enviro Leadership
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has announced an expansion of its efforts to develop campus sustainability projects and promote greater diversity in environmental leadership within minority-serving institutions. EDF has been working with minority-serving colleges in North Carolina since 2009 with programs that focus on energy efficiency, curriculum development and student engagement including Climate Corps and Alpha Goes Green. EDF will expand its partnerships with minority-serving institutions to those in Texas and New York in 2011, with plans for further expansion to other states in 2012.
Frostburg State U Offers Minor in Sustainability Studies
Frostburg State University (MD) has debuted a new minor in sustainability studies. The interdisciplinary minor is designed to encourage students to explore environmental, economic and social equity issues relating to sustainability in modern societies. The curriculum will focus on real-world answers and solutions with an emphasis on interaction among individuals, government agencies and businesses that are impacted by or depend on sustainability trends.
Humboldt State U Awarded $15K to Further Hydrogen Energy Ed
Humboldt State University's (CA) Schatz Energy Research Center has been awarded an additional $15,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy for its Hydrogen Energy in Engineering Education program. The center received $395,000 to develop the program, which, in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, provides hands-on hydrogen energy education to engineering students in the California State University and University of California systems. The initial funding paid for the development of curricula and equipment including bench-top electrolyzer/fuel cell experiment kits. The extra $15,000 will go toward the development of 30 more experiment kits.
Loyola U Chicago Sells Biodiesel Fuel, Funds Biofuel Outreach
The Loyola University Chicago Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy’s Biodiesel Program has been licensed by Illinois state and federal authorities to produce and sell its biodiesel fuel. The program has received the approval of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Internal Revenue Service, Illinois Department of Revenue and the National Biodiesel Board. The university’s first customer is The Free Enterprise System, Inc., a company that runs the university’s shuttle service between campuses. The company will eliminate the use of nearly 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel every year. The university will also sell the lab’s BioSoap, made from the byproduct of the biodiesel fuel production, at its campus stores and select retailers across Chicago. Editor's Note: Zach Waickman, lab manager for the biodiesel program, tells AASHE that the money from the sales is used for the continued operation of the lab and for a high school outreach project that implements biodiesel and sustainability education into the existing curricula. The university offers the labs, lab tours, guest speaking, classroom help and loan equipment free of charge from its biodiesel sales.
Maharishi U Mgmt Installs Renewable Energy in Alaskan Village
Current and former students at Maharishi University of Management (IA) recently installed sustainable energy technology in a remote Alaskan village as part of a project to help indigenous Alaskans deal with rising energy costs. The group installed solar energy panels, solar hot water, a wind turbine, monitoring equipment and energy-efficient fixtures on two demonstration buildings: a home and a school. The success of this initial demonstration project, funded by a combination of sponsorships, tribal organizations and nonprofits including the Southeast Alaska Conservation Consortium in Angoon, may lead to a multi-phase conversion from fossil fuel dependency to a renewable energy infrastructure in rural southeast Alaska. Village and regional tribal authorities, with Maharishi University as a partner, are now applying for several million dollars in funding to implement the next phase.
Ramapo College Announces Sustainability Studies Graduate Program
Ramapo College of New Jersey has announced a new Master of Arts in Sustainability Studies degree. Students will learn how to apply sustainability in a variety of institutional, organizational, cultural, commercial, professional and geographical contexts. The interdisciplinary, two-year program is based exclusively on evening classes and prospective students include those from fields of social science, business, science, engineering and liberal and fine arts.
Saint Joseph's U Receives $1 Mil for Alternate Fuel, Green Roofs
Saint Joseph's University (PA) has been awarded $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to study switchgrass as a potential biofuel crop and to conduct a comparison of green roof systems. The multi-year switchgrass study will look at the effects of changes in precipitation, temperature, nitrogen disposition and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on the potential yield of switchgrass varieties. The university will also install a system to permit a direct, side-by-side comparison of a variety of commercial green roof systems. Educational events including public tours of the green roof facility will be held throughout the research process.
Seattle U Bans Bottled Water
As a result of a three-year, student-led initiative, Seattle University (WA) has banned the sale of bottled water on campus including vending machines, athletics concession stands, the college bookstore, on-campus restaurants and catering. Fostering students’ concern for justice and the competence to promote it; keeping water as a human right and not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit; and moving further toward its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal are the reasons listed by the university to ban the sale of bottled water.
Stanford U Unveils Green Building
Stanford University (CA) has unveiled an eco-friendly building in accordance with its own sustainability guidelines. The university will not seek LEED certification for the $118 million, 166,000-square-foot Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building, which will house the university’s environmental science and energy researchers. Sustainable features include windows and shades that shift according to the weather and the angle of the sunlight in order to maximize the efficiency of natural ventilation and lighting. In addition, four large atria provide the center of the complex with ventilation and natural light.
SUNY Empire State College Launches Faculty Bike Share
SUNY Empire State College (NY) has launched a bike share program that allows faculty to take bikes out to commute between the main campus and distance learning facility. The bikes will be split between the two locations and also available for lunch or recreational rides.
Trinity Lutheran College Builds Rooftop Community Garden
Trinity Lutheran College (WA) has renovated the rooftop of a campus parking garage to feature a vegetable garden, small trees and native species plants that will be used in salmon habitat restoration. Students are working in the garden for class credit, helping to provide fresh produce for local food banks and plants for salmon. The college also plans to install solar panels to generate most of the electricity for the parking garage.
U California Los Angeles Receives $6 Mil for Nanotechnology Inst.
The University of California, Los Angeles has received a $6 million grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology to construct the Western Institute of Nanotechnology on Green Engineering and Metrology. Engineering students and researchers will study advanced energy conservation technologies for microelectronics and nanotechnology in the building, which will incorporate sustainable design elements and feature 35,000-square-feet of laboratory space.
U California San Diego Partners for Energy Optimization Project
The University of California, San Diego and smart grid company Viridity Energy have received a $1,660,000 grant to improve solar deployment using the university's microgrid. The project, funded by the California Public Utilities Commission, will employ an autonomous, real-time dispatch of distributed energy resources to integrate large volumes of photovoltaic-produced energy into the university’s microgrid. The project will aim to overcome technology and regulatory barriers to enable wide-scale deployment of distributed solar generation.
U Montana to Build $16 Mil Biomass Boiler
The University of Montana has received a $180,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the U.S. Forest Service toward a $16 million wood-fired biomass boiler. Most of the work will be financed using bonds for energy and conservation projects. The industrial-sized biomass gasification operation will reduce the campus’ natural gas consumption by 70 percent. The university intends to use forest waste and will contract with logging companies to collect branches, bark and leaves left behind after timber harvesting. The boiler is expected to pay for itself within 15 to 17 years.
U New Mexico Partners with Local Farmers to Educate Youth
The University of New Mexico has teamed up with local farmers to feed and educate the community. University students are collaborating with an area charter high school to create a program aimed at teaching students the importance of local organic food. The high school students help prep beds and harvest and market the produce at a local farmers market. Some of the produce is served in the high school's lunch program.
U North Carolina Wilmington Plans to Increase Use of Local Food
In an effort to draw more attention to natural and local produce in its dining options and help students make connections with local farmers, the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Dining Services recently teamed up with local farmers for a campus farmers market. The event resulted in a goal between Dining Services and the Department of Agriculture in Marketing and Food Services to increase the use of locally grown products on campus by 10 percent.
U Pennsylvania Starts Sustainable Transportation Initiative
The University of Pennsylvania has debuted green buses as part of its Sustainable Transportation Initiative. The university purchased eight new low-emission vehicles: four buses capable of running on both ultra-low sulfur diesel, and four propane-powered shuttle vans. The new vehicles transport faculty, students and staff around campus. The initiative also includes expanded car-sharing options through a contract with Zipcar, parking benefits for low emission vehicles and a redesigned transportation website.
U South Sewanee to Seek LEED Gold for Renovated Forestry Building
Sewanee: The University of the South (TN) has revealed its newly renovated forestry and geology building designed to meet LEED Gold standards. The building’s green features include solar panels, the re-use of the building’s existing woods and stone, energy-efficient windows, recycled materials and the university’s first stormwater management practices. The building now has new labs, classrooms, resource rooms, research space and faculty offices.
U Wisconsin River Falls Receives Funding to Study Wind Turbines
The University of Wisconsin, River Falls has received funding from the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities to investigate the feasibility of wind turbines that could potentially produce nearly 50 percent of the energy used by the campus. The study will take a look at wind resource availability, site civil engineering requirements, electrical interconnection requirements and approval requirements for a potential turbine site.
Vermont Law School Opens Center for Agriculture and Food Systems
Vermont Law School has announced plans to open a Center for Agriculture and Food Systems to support advocates, agencies, food hubs, incubators and farmers engaged in the creation of community-based agriculture systems. The new center will focus on legal and policy issues related to community-based agriculture, the regulation of food, the Farm Bill and agricultural subsidies, energy-efficient food production and energy independence for farmers. The center will be modeled after the school’s Institute for Energy and the Environment.
Washington U St. Louis Center Earns 'Living Building' Status
Washington University in St. Louis' (MO) Living Learning Center has received the Living Building certification from the International Living Building Institute. A Living Building status is achieved when a project generates all of its own energy through renewable resources; captures and treats its own water through ecologically sound techniques; and incorporates only nontoxic, appropriately sourced materials. The asphalt parking lot where the university's Living Learning Center was built was replaced with pervious concrete walkways, native landscaping and a rain garden. Other environmentally friendly features include salvaged doors and hardware, a bat house with "bat cams" built into the eaves; photovoltaic panels and a 3,000-gallon underground tank that filters and irradiates rainwater collected from the roof with ultraviolet light so that it is clean enough to be potable.
Western Kentucky U, Habitat for Humanity Form Green Partnership
Western Kentucky University has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to create a new 16-acre, 50-unit green housing community using environmentally friendly development techniques. Funded by a $655,000 grant to the university from the Kentucky Division of Water, the community will feature pervious pavement, cisterns, rain barrels, irrigation piping to collect and recycle rainwater, drought-tolerant landscaping and organic alternatives to the use of chemicals. Western Kentucky University students will be involved in the design, data recording and analysis of the costs and benefits of the sustainable building project.
Arkansas Schools Receive Renewable Energy Research Grants
The Arkansas Science and Technology Authority has received a $20 million grant to study renewable energy. The five-year grant from the National Science Foundation will be bolstered by $4 million in matching funds from the state of Arkansas. Researchers at Arkansas institutions will study wind, solar and bio-based energy sources. Participating in the research is Arkansas State University, University of Central Arkansas, Philander Smith College, and University of Arkansas, who will receive $8.7 million over the next five years to establish two new energy research centers that will focus on different aspects of solar cell technology.
Brigham Young U Idaho Opens New Recycling Center
Brigham Young University–Idaho has opened a new recycling center in an effort to recycle at least 30 percent of its garbage, which would equate to 261 tons a year. The center will sort the materials into seven different areas from aluminum and white paper to cardboard and plastic. Recycling efforts began when students and faculty weighed and sorted one week’s worth of garbage and found that 54 percent of garbage thrown away was recyclable. Recycling revenue and money saved from reduced garbage disposal will cover the extra costs of sorting and delivering recyclables, making the new process cost neutral for the university.
California Lutheran U Debuts Building Designed to be LEED Silver
California Lutheran University has opened its first environmentally friendly building, designed to meet LEED Silver certification. The $8.5 million, 33,000-square-foot social and behavioral sciences center features passive solar design, motorized windows, sensors to turn the air conditioning or heating off in offices and classrooms, light sensors and water-efficient plumbing fixtures. Bioswales were incorporated into the landscaping for stormwater treatment and native, drought-tolerant plants were planted with high-efficiency irrigation. Eighteen percent of the materials used during construction featured recycled content and 22 percent came from within 500 miles of campus.
Chatham U Names Dean for School of Sustainability and Environment
Chatham University (PA) has named David Hassenzahl, Ph.D. as the founding dean of its School of Sustainability and the Environment. Hassenzahl will help shape the mission and curriculum for the new school, and the development of Chatham's 388-acre Eden Hall Farm Campus, where the school will eventually be headquartered. Hassenzahl is a senior fellow for the National Council for Science and the Environment, through which his climate change education efforts are supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He comes to Chatham from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he served as chair and associate professor in the environmental studies department.
Clinton CC Reveals Wind Turbine Trainer
Clinton Community College (NY) has revealed a wind simulator training unit. The Turbine Nacelle Troubleshooting Learning System is designed to train wind turbine technicians working with utility scale wind, replicating the functions of full-size utility scale wind turbines. Students can manipulate a wide variety of turbine features including gear assembly, yaw brakes, parking brakes, rotor lock, wind simulator, fault insertion and cable twist box. The college has also installed training system units for students studying electrical, environmental, clean room and industrial technology programs.
College of Wooster to Install Solar Roof
The College of Wooster (OH) is set to install a 20,000-square-foot solar roof on top of a new student recreation and athletic facility. The 271,000-kilowatt solar rooftop installation will be leased to the college, which has signed a power-purchase agreement for a period of 12.5 years. At the end of that term, the college will get the title to the solar installation. The center’s solar installation is expected to provide enough electricity year-round to power one of the student residence halls.
Columbia College Chicago Creates Sustainability Task Force
Columbia College Chicago (IL) has created a Sustainability Task Force. The group, made up of 30 faculty, staff and student members, is working with a consulting team to create a sustainability management plan. Students can also play an active role by joining the Environmental Protection Initiative at Columbia, a student-run environmental club.
DePaul U Installs Water Bottle Refill Stations
DePaul University (IL) has installed water bottle refill stations to help reduce its plastic water bottle waste. Sponsored by the Student Government Association, the university has placed refill stations that are controlled by an electric sensor at high traffic areas throughout campus. Each station tallies the number of times the unit has refilled a water bottle, providing an idea of how many plastic bottles were prevented from ending up in a landfill.
Drury U Expands Recycling, Composting Programs
Drury University (MO) has expanded its recycling and composting efforts. The university has purchased single-stream receptacles to place throughout campus and launched a composting program to eliminate food waste. All disposable food service items will be compostable including plates, forks and cups. The university hopes to establish an in-vessel composting operation on campus in the near future.
Franklin and Marshall College Installs Energy Dashboard
Franklin and Marshall College (PA) has installed energy meters in seven residence halls to observe energy consumption rates and encourage campus-wide awareness of energy consumption and sustainability practices. Live data from the meters will be available through Lucid Design Group's Building Dashboard website, providing instant comparison among buildings and between live and historical data.
Guilford College Expands Sustainability Efforts with Bike Shop
Recycles, a new bicycle shop, has opened on the Guilford College (NC) campus. The shop hopes to promote sustainability on campus with work study opportunities for students to work in the shop and educate the community about bike safety and maintenance. An idea that originated from the college's environmental sustainability coordinator, the bike shop opening is part of the “Green and Beyond” theme year that is expanding efforts toward carbon neutrality for the college.
