Syracuse U Allocates Inaugural $50K Campus as Lab Funding
Six faculty and student projects will receive grants totaling $50,000 through the new Campus as a Laboratory for Sustainability (CALS) funding program. The call for proposals sought projects that address climate disruption and offer opportunities for communication and outreach to the campus and wider community. Some of the projects include a lab to research and test ways to connect electric vehicles to the Smart Grid and a climate disruption virtual reality simulator.
AASHE Publishes 2016 Annual Report
The new report details AASHE’s accomplishments and progress throughout 2016, spotlighting STARS, education and professional development, AASHE Sustainability Awards, the annual conference & expo, resources and publications, and membership. New to the report this year is a Member Spotlight section, an initiative that celebrates AASHE-member successes.
SUNY New Paltz Awards $1.4M Toward Energy Projects
The university's energy management coordinator organized awards totaling more than $1.4 million for four energy projects: a solar energy storage system, thermal blankets to wrap heating piping in the mechanical rooms of buildings across campus to conserve energy and reduce heat loss, LED lighting upgrades and implement a summer demand response program.
Wilfrid Laurier U Gets Fair Trade Designation
University staff spent the past year developing a fair trade steering committee, making changes to product availability and working with retail managers and vendors. Under the designation, all food outlets operated by university and its Students’ Union in Brantford and Waterloo will serve fair trade certified coffee, and fair trade certified options for tea and chocolate bars.
Carlow U to Research Gun Violence & Offer Scholarship to Victims
Educating for Justice is a new three-year university focus on gun violence. The initiative will examine several issues related to gun violence, including access to guns, and other contributing factors, such as lack of education, poverty and mental health. As part of the initiative, Carlow is using donor funds to create need-based scholarships for students who have been victims of gun violence.
U Illinois Farm to Install Biomass Boiler
The greenhouse at the university will soon have a new biomass boiler from Germany that will replace the greenhouse's current propane gas fuel, resulting in fewer carbon-dioxide emissions. The boiler will use perennial grasses grown on the farm.
Two U Rhode Island Buildings Achieve LEED Gold
Hillside Hall includes photovoltaic panels for electricity, green roofing, radiant heat, recycled building materials and no-touch water fountains. The renovation to the Fitness and Wellness Center includes the use of bamboo flooring and hydration stations.
U California Riverside Launches Bike-Share Program
The bike-share program, hosted by Zagster, allows university community members to access its bikes through the download of its mobile application. Rental of a bike is free for the first two hours, with the remainder of rental time costing $1 per hour, with a $6 per day maximum.
Oregon State U Board Votes to Divest from Fossil Fuels
Responding to calls from students and faculty concerned about global warming, the university's board of trustees voted recently to dump the university’s investments in the fossil fuel industry. The decision means the state treasurer will begin selling off about $6.7 million in securities issued by fossil fuel companies, which represent less than 2 percent of the $516 million currently held in the fund.
Royal Roads U Allocates $21.5M Toward Environmental & Cultural Center
With $21.5 million from private and public funding, the new Center for Environmental Science and International Partnership will be founded. As part of the project, a now century-old building will receive energy efficiency upgrades while a new building featuring an environmental science teaching lab and teaching spaces for on-campus undergraduate programs will be constructed. The new center will include a student commons to promote international and intercultural understanding.
U South Carolina Business School Building Achieves LEED Platinum
The new building includes an outdoor terrace and roof garden space, storm water capture for reuse and irrigation, drinking fountains with bottle filling ability, and a hybrid HVAC system that uses under-floor air, active chilled beams and variable air volume systems, all designed to reduce the amount of power needed to move air for heating and cooling.
Montana State Residential Building Scores LEED Gold
The new freshmen dormitory features solar pre-heated water for domestic uses, low-flow faucets and shower heads, covered bicycle storage facilities and the use of beetle-kill pine wood boards throughout the building.
Johns Hopkins U Building Gets LEED Platinum
The Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories was designed to use 40 percent less energy than similar lab buildings. Its designs include highly efficient heating and cooling systems, occupancy sensors that control lights and HVAC, low-flow water fixtures and lab technologies designed to conserve energy and water.
Central CC Partners With Utility on 1.7 MW Wind Turbine
The college partnered with Bluestem Energy Solutions and the City of Hastings, Nebraska, to complete a 1.7 megawatt wind turbine on the college's Hastings campus. The wind turbine is owned and operated by Bluestem, although the college will claim a portion of the environmental attributes generated by the project. The turbine is slated to be part of the college's alternative energy program in fall 2017.
Students Nationwide March for Fossil Fuel Divestment
Hundreds of students across the country staged a walk-out in an effort to show that President Donald J. Trump's climate denial does not have their consent. The demonstration was a call to academic administrators to divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy.
GreenMetric Releases 2016 Ranking
The GreenMetric World University Ranking from the University of Indonesia released its sustainability ranking for 516 universities participating from 74 countries. The results are computed from information provided by universities online. The information is organized under six main categories: Green Statistics, Energy and Climate Change, Waste Management, Water Usage, Transportation and Education.
Higher Education Institutions of Scotland Join Electronics Watch
(Scotland) All 44 universities and colleges in Scotland have become full affiliate members of Electronics Watch, an independent monitoring organization working to improve labor standards in the global electronics industry through socially responsible public purchasing.
U Pittsburgh Bookstore Implements BYO Bag Initiative
Over the past two years, several different student groups at the university have taken steps to make plastic bags disappear, encouraging campus buildings and vendors to use reusable bags instead. Now customers at the university bookstore can buy a reusable bag for 99 cents, pay 25 cents for a plastic bag or forego a bag all together and carry their purchases.
U Florida Launches Public Water Quality Website
The UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences launched a new website to teach Florida residents how to preserve and protect the state’s quality of water. The site is targeted at different roles of people regarding how to be more efficient with their water usage. Topics include water use in agriculture involving irrigation and fertilizers, water use in nature, like aquifers and wetlands, and how homeowners and builders use water in urban settings.
Green Mountain College Offers Sustainability Scholarship to High Schoolers
High school seniors who want to pursue an interest and eventually a career in sustainability can apply for the college's new First in Sustainability Scholarship, a $200,000 award that seeks to bring attention to the college's sustainable mission and encourage a wider array of students to apply to the college. The scholarship will fully cover the winner's four-year tuition, room, board and fees.
CFP Championship Game Makes Strides to Reduce Impact
Playoff Green Project was an initiative to make the January 2017 College Football Playoff Championship game, held in Tampa, Florida, more sustainable by seeking to reduce food waste through donations, reduce solid waste by recycling and purchase renewable energy certificates.
Northland College Aims to be Regional Food Hub
Working toward providing 80 percent locally grown food by 2020, the college is currently constructing a Food Systems Center, which will include a food-processing lab, composting system, demonstration gardens, a high tunnel greenhouse, an orchard and academic programming.
Brandeis U to Purchase Electricity from 1.3MW Solar System
In a 20-year power purchase agreement, the university will purchase all electricity that comes from a 1.27-megawatt photovoltaic array, set to come online in spring 2017. Through the utility billing mechanism known as virtual net metering, Brandeis will receive credits on its utility bill for every kilowatt-hour produced by the system. The system is expected to reduce the university's energy bill by $2 million over 20 years.
Arizona State U Enters PPA on 40 MW Photovoltaic Plant
The university, along with PayPal, recently entered into a power purchase agreement with Arizona Public Service Company to purchase electricity from a grid-tied, 40-acre, 40-megawatt solar-electric system. Trackers were installed on the system that allow the panels to follow the sun in order to maximize output.
Three Georgia Universities Address State Water Crisis
Open to students at Emory, University of Georgia and Georgia State University, the recently concluded Sustainability Case Competition asked participants to create a five-year plan to mitigate Georgia's water crisis, taking water conservation, distribution, resilience and impact on community stakeholders into account. The winning team has chance to work with the Department of Watershed Management on implementing their five-year plan, and all participants have the opportunity to intern.
U Kentucky Allocates $200K Toward Six Sustainability Projects
As part of the Sustainability Challenge Grant Program, six projects that further campus sustainability are sustainability education in the first year experience, introduction of an interdisciplinary research program for undergraduate students, development of a sustainable, community food system that includes training students how to cook, and creating a tree ambassador program that raises awareness for the benefits of urban trees.
U Albany Renovation Receives LEED Gold
Mohawk Tower, a 24-story residential high rise originally built in 1972, was recently renovated to include upgraded windows and awnings, energy-efficient lighting, dual-flush toilets and metered faucets, and the use of Forest Stewardship Council certified wood and low-volatile organic compound construction materials, such as adhesives and paints.
Emory U Installs 1MW Cogeneration System
In October 2016, the university installed a one-megawatt combined heat-and-power (CHP) generator that will retrieve otherwise wasted heat, allowing the system to use the same amount of natural gas fuel input but produce more electricity. Emory's goal is to produce 10 percent of energy on campus by 2025.
U Arkansas Little Rock Increases Higher Ed Accessibility Via Partnership
The university partnered with Little Rock School District on a new partnership, Trojan Pathway, that aims to make higher education more affordable and accessible. Through the partnership, students in the classes of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and their parents can sign a non-binding agreement that guarantees the student a spot at the university as long as the student satisfies admissions criteria, submits a complete application and makes acceptable financial arrangements.
AASHE Welcomes Board and Advisory Council Members
In the fall of 2016, AASHE held governance elections that resulted in the appointment of two new board members, Ann Erhardt, director of energy programs and director of sustainability at Michigan State University, and Cynthia Klein-Banai, associate chancellor for sustainability at University of Illinois at Chicago. Forty-five new Advisory Council members were selected.
U Georgia Moves to Clean Polluted Campus Lake
The university has announced a plan to clean a polluted campus lake, whose waters have been off limits to the public since a 2002 algae bloom vividly showed off the lake’s high pollution load. The university has contracted with design firms to restore the lake, with final design plans ready around March. Construction is set to begin fall 2017.
Maryland Gov. Announces $7.5M for U Maryland 'Green Energy Institute'
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced his environmental agenda for the coming legislative session that included allocation of $7.5 million to the University of Maryland to create a green energy research center. The mission of the Green Energy Institute will be to develop and attract private investment and commercialize clean energy innovations and deployment solutions in Maryland.
Husson U Students Receive Grant to Study Stormwater Runoff
The three students were awarded $1,500 from Maine Campus Compact to study stormwater runoff. Working on the project with the faculty member and chair of the campus sustainability committee, the students will be using the award to design a rain garden on Husson’s Bangor, Maine campus.
Black Hills State U to Install Four Solar Energy Arrays
In an effort to normalize what it pays for electricity and to further its environmental efforts, the university is moving forward with four photovoltaic arrays that are projected to provide approximately 17 percent of its annual electricity consumption. The university currently pays 3 cents per kilowatt-hour to Western Area Power Administration. Six months out of the year, BHSU exceeds its allocation from WAPA and then buys power from Black Hills Energy at a rate of 12 cents per kilowatt-hour. The solar power will replace the power bought from Black Hills Energy.
National Institute Solar Energy Launches Realtime Monitoring
(India) The National Institute of Solar Energy recently completed the installation of a monitoring system that will help keep track of energy consumption as well as efficiency of power generating units. The school meets all its energy requirements through solar power and produces surplus that it can send back to the grid.
Fairfield U Releases Inaugural Sustainability Plan
The university's first Campus Sustainability Plan includes actions to enhance education and student engagement, manage energy use and other university resources, and build new facilities to increase sustainability all over campus.
Michigan State U Receives $2M for Community Partnerships
The university's Office of K-12 Outreach will use a $2.1 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to work with the city of Flint, Michigan. The funding will be used in Flint Community Schools on four strategies that include training the district's managers on the effective use of data and strengthening community relations.
The Chronicle Features the 'Sustainable Campus Index'
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently covered AASHE's 2016 Sustainable Campus Index, an impact report that spotlights top-performing colleges and universities in 17 distinct aspects of sustainability and overall by institution type. The report used data from AASHE's Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).
NY Governor Proposes Free Tuition at State Colleges
New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo proposed a new plan aimed at making college tuition-free for eligible students. The plan covers college students who have been accepted at a four-year or city university system school, provided they or their family earn $125,000 or less a year. The plan was unveiled at LaGuardia Community College alongside U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
NASFAA Releases Report on Free College
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) recently published a report that, after evaluating current and proposed promise programs, offers considerations for promise program developers to keep in mind in creating future federal, state or local plans. The report comes after NASFAA’s board of directors charged a task force to identify ways to scale promise programs to the national level.
NY Times Covers Influence of Corporate Funding on Higher Ed Research
Recently published in The New York Times, the article highlights the experience of three professors at different universities–University of Exeter in England, West Virginia University and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich–to examine the ways agrochemical companies influenced scientific inquiry.
Niagara College Launches Commercial Beekeeing Program
The college has introduced a one-year hands-on Commercial Beekeeping graduate certificate program with its first cohort convening in spring 2017. The college maintains an on-campus apiary of 30 actively managed hives that will be used in the curriculum.
Kansas U Students Build Certified Green Home
Students from the university's Studio 804, a graduate level architecture studio, recently completed a solar-powered home that achieved both LEED Platinum and Passive House certification. The 1,941-square-foot house contains three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths within an airtight and highly insulated envelope, wrapped in low-maintenance siding salvaged from dismantled railroad bridge trestles. Interior recycled materials include countertops made from reclaimed marble slabs sourced from a demolished office building.
Tufts U Introduces Mixed Recycling System
Beginning in spring 2017, the university will be rolling out glass/metal/plastic and paper/cardboard bins in an effort to make recycling easier and increase its recycling rate.
U Iowa Students Create Platform for Public Engagement
A group of students created 30,000 Hands, a website capable of linking the more than 30,000 university students with local service opportunities, as an outcome to a class project that challenged the students make a difference in the community. The website attempts to respond to the needs of Iowa City’s nonprofit, charity and social-good organizations while providing real-life learning opportunities for students.
U Notre Dame to Generate Hydroelectric Energy
The university and the city have reached an agreement on a 50-year lease that gives the university rights to construct and operate a hydroelectric generation facility on the dam in the St. Joseph River. The university will run transmission lines from the dam to campus to generate about seven percent of its electrical needs.
Northern Arizona U Building Earns LEED Gold
The university's Aquatic and Tennis Complex features recycled material use, such as steel, carpet and acoustical tiles, the use of native and climate-adapted plants, high-efficiency lamp sources and daylighting, and water-efficient fixtures and water bottle/drinking fountain stations.
