Syracuse U Student Creates Sustainability Group
After being turned away from the faculty-only Sustainability Division of Syracuse University’s (NY) Energy Systems and Sustainability Management department, a freshman policy studies major recently started her own sustainability student group. Fourteen students from different majors including geography, international relations and civil engineering have signed up to get involved in campus issues like food waste, recycling, consumption and plastic water bottle waste. The group will kick off its efforts with the proposal of one pilot water refill station to test student reaction.
U Michigan Students Place Third in Int'l Solar Car Challenge
A team of engineering students at the University of Michigan took third place in the World Solar Challenge competition with their solar car, Quantum, which was the first American car to the finish line. The 20-member team, which raced across the Australian continent, included a meteorologist whose forecasts, made possible by a satellite link, predicted cloud cover and helped develop strategies for power supply management.
San Diego Students Pursue LEED Gold for Aquatics Center
The new San Diego State University U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) student chapter is collaborating with University of California, San Diego students to pursue LEED Gold certification for an aquatics center that is jointly owned by the two universities. The center has undergone upgrades including the installation of enough solar photovoltaic panels to support 100 percent of its energy needs. Students are working on an audit of the center's conditions, which they will present to USGBC.
Temple U Students Create Sustainability 'Ad Campaign'
A class of advertising majors at Temple University (PA) were recently tasked with creating a university-wide campaign to promote Campus Sustainability Week, held October 24-28. The winning campaign promoted simple ways for students to make small differences.
U Findlay Students Plan Energy Retrofits for Student Housing
Students living in two University of Findlay (OH) houses are developing and implementing ways to save energy and create less waste. Instruments were installed to measure water, electricity and natural gas use. Grant funds will be used to install either solar or wind power, which will be planned and scheduled by students in the university's environmental, safety, and occupational health program.
Yale U Management Students Form Sustainability Team
Students at Yale University's (CT) School of Management (SOM) have formed a new Student Sustainability Team to assist the SOM community with environmentally friendly practices. Ranging from reducing electricity use in buildings to running "zero-landfill" events, SOM's first student-run effort aims to implement green initiatives to act as a model for the rest of the university to adopt.
Clemson U Students Debut Bike Trailer for Tailgating
With the goal of reducing the carbon footprint of tailgating by removing the classic car aspect, a group of Clemson University (SC) students has debuted a bike trailer for tailgating. The trailer folds out to include a table and chairs, a grill and a cooler. The group also has created a larger unit that can accommodate up to six families. In related news, the President's Commission on Sustainability and Clemson Recycling have partnered to provide more recycling bins and trailers at football games.
Georgia Tech Students Design Electric Vehicle System for Atlanta
A team of undergraduate students at the Georgia Institute of Technology are helping the City of Atlanta toward its goal of becoming the first region in the country to have 50,000 electric vehicles on its roads. The city will use funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to implement the students’ proposal, which outlined electric vehicle adoption and marketing strategies and emphasized ways of reducing the cost to the city government.
CA Institutions to Launch Student Clean Technology Competition
The California Institute of Technology, University of Southern California, OnGreen and University of California, Los Angeles have received a $360,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to accelerate clean technology innovation through student entrepreneurship. A new Western Regional business plan student competition will work to double the number of student groups engaged in clean technology production.
Indiana U Rolls Out Student Sustainable Computing Contest
Indiana University has launched a competition designed to make its computing more sustainable. Students will work in groups to create a tool, system or process that addresses at least one of three sustainable computing areas: waste reduction, leveraging IT for campus-wide sustainability gains, and campus sustainability metrics.
Maharishi U Mgmt Student Promotes Sustainability with T-Shirts
A student at the Maharishi University of Management (IA) recently launched a line of organic cotton T-shirts with messages designed to educate about sustainability. His best-selling shirt has a solar power design on the front and a simplified schematic of how solar power works on the back. A percentage of the sales are donated each month to a charitable foundation or community project.
Whitman College Students Create Vermicomposting Program
Students from the Campus Climate Challenge at Whitman College (WA) have launched a new vermicomposting initiative. Thousands of worms will break down campus food waste into compost for campus landscaping. The college expects the vermicomposter to be able to process about 100 pounds of food waste per day.
Temple U Students Initiate Bike-Powered Concerts
Verde Styles, an environmental student group at Temple University (PA), is expanding its bike-powered concert initiative. The idea has grown from a single bicycle that powered part of the sound system during Earth Day to a four-bike setup that recently powered the sound at two local green-awareness events. Next year, they plan to power a bigger concert with 50 to 60 bikes. The bikes were funded in part by a $5,000 grant from Hewlett-Packard.
U Massachusetts Students Debut Farmers Market
The University of Massachusetts Amherst has launched a student-run farmers market. Leafy greens, ripe tomatoes, garlic and squash were among the student-grown and organic selections for sale during its debut. The Student Farming Enterprise, a six-credit course at the university, also runs a community supported agriculture (CSA) program.
NY Times: Fordham U Administrators Shutter Farm Share
Fordham University's legal counsel ordered the shutdown of the School of Law's farm share program this month, reports the New York Times. Founded by third-year law student Michael Zimmerman, Farm to Fordham allowed students, faculty and staff to buy a share of a harvest from a local farm for $150 per semester. Objections to the project remain “perplexing” to Zimmerman. Law school administrators declined to comment on the university's decision.
City College Students Construct Solar Roofpod
Students from City College (NY) have designed and built a Solar Roofpod to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. The 750-square-foot pod has a solar trellis that collects energy, computer-controlled heating and ventilation systems, and windows and blinds that are programmed to automatically open and close. Additional features include a built-in alert system to let the occupant know how much water and electricity is being used, and a rainwater harvesting system that supports an incorporated garden.
Lafayette U Students Working toward Campus-wide Food Loop
Lafayette University's (PA) Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists student group is working on the implementation of a campus-wide food loop. The project involves composting food waste from campus dining halls that is then used to fertilize crops grown at the college's organic gardens, which are then used back in the dining halls. The goal is to compost up to 1,000 pounds of the 1,300 pounds of food and yard waste produced by the campus per day.
Cornell U Students Design Garden that Cleans Toxic Waste
Featuring ferns, grasses and black elder trees that absorb lead and arsenic from fertilizers and lead arsenate from pesticides, five landscape architecture graduate students at Cornell University (NY) have designed a garden with plants capable of cleaning up hazardous waste sites. Focusing on plants that draw in, store, and in some cases convert, toxic materials into benign compounds, the students' garden includes more than 50 plant species including sunflowers, cabbage plants, rice and willows.
Duke U Students Create Guide to Green Living on Campus
Students at Duke University (NC) have created a new Green Book, an online guide to living in an eco-friendly way at Duke University (NC) for first-year students. Many incoming students will also receive a hard copy of the book, printed on recycled paper, as they are distributed during Orientation Welcome Week. The book was created in collaboration with campus offices including Sustainable Duke, Duke Recycles, and Duke Parking and Transportation to develop a comprehensive guide to sustainability resources on campus. Students will find information about dining, recycling, alternative transportation and other aspects of green campus life. The book also provides information that is useful to students before they arrive on campus.
Ecotech Institute Launches Student Mentorship Program
The Ecotech Institute (CO), a trade school focused entirely on renewable energy, sustainable design and green technology that opened its doors at the start of this year, has announced a new student mentorship program for incoming students. The program pairs the new students with a continuing student to help with the course material and often unfamiliar surroundings.
Inside Higher Ed Covers Rise in Student Farms
The efforts of the University of Montana and Prescott College (AZ), among others, are profiled in a recent Inside Higher Ed article that looks at the current growth of student-run farms on college campuses. The article highlights the new book, "Fields of Learning: The Student Farm Movement in America," in which Iowa State University Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture's Frederick L. Kirschenmann says that student farms play a critical role in training the next generation of farmers.
U Alaska Anchorage Debuts First Student Campus Garden
Student members of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Sustainability Club have constructed a raised-bed garden and whiskey barrel planters for the first student garden on campus. Students planted swiss chard, radishes, spicy salad mix and lettuce. The whiskey barrels are being used to grow potatoes, zucchinis, herbs and berry shrubs. The Sustainability Club plans to harvest the produce and hold a community feast.
Northwestern U Students Construct 'Tiny House'
Students and alumni of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University (IL) have begun construction on a Tiny House project that will serve as a display to the community. Part of a movement stemming from high energy prices and an increased interest in sustainability, the tiny zero net-energy house - with a toilet in the shower - will produce its own electricity using solar panels and collect all of its water. The tiny house movement, which emphasizes living simply and creatively using the space one has, is defined by some enthusiasts as less than 140 square feet. Construction began in the spring and the team intends to complete the home in the fall.
Clark U Student Orchestrates Bike Initiative for Campus Police
A student at Clark University (MA) has launched a University Bike Patrol initiative on campus. Funded by the university's Big Idea Contest, one officer was outfitted with a patrol bike and uniform. In a show of support, the Police Department purchased a second bike and uniform. In addition to increased safety and officer visibility among students, the bike patrol will help decrease the university's greenhouse gas emissions with fewer sports utility police vehicles.
Dartmouth College Greek Community Creates Sustainability Council
Two Office of Sustainability interns at Dartmouth College (NH) have begun working to initiate a new Greek council on sustainability. The council will provide a forum for Greek organizations to share ideas and work together to promote efficient use of resources. The current council has identified short and long-term goals, the first of which is to increase recycling in Greek houses. Long-term goals include conducting energy audits, energy-efficient lighting and ensuring that there is insulation in place for the winter. Additionally, the council hopes to organize a competition that would award a prize to Greek organizations for improvements in sustainability.
New Jersey IT, Rutgers U Students Build Sustainable Home
A group of architecture, planning and engineering students from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University (NJ) have built a one-story house as a submission to the 2011 Solar Decathlon, an international green technology contest staged every two years by the U.S. Department of Energy. The 940-square-foot house features a modular structure, precast concrete walls and an inverted roof to catch water and sunlight. Solar and thermal technology is integrated into every exposed surface of the house, which produces enough energy to power all of its appliances and maintain a comfortable temperature year-round.
Indian Youth Climate Network Reports on World Environment Day
From a plastic waste removal event to an environmental march, the Indian Youth Climate Network has documented the efforts of its chapters for World Environment Day in June. Its Jammu chapter created awareness through a movie screening and Green Campus Challenge and the Gwalior chapter organized a painting competition themed "Go Green" where students were asked to imagine how they would promote messages like "Go Green" and "Save the Environment."
Korea U Students Launch Organic Farmers Club
With the objective to teach themselves about organic farming techniques, a group of Korea University (South Korea) students have created the Seed Folks group. The group will provide students with the chance to plant and grow vegetables on campus and learn about organic farming through a Real Garden School workshop. So far, the workshops have attracted about 60 students.
La Trobe, Melbourne U Students Help Farmers with Sustainability
Australian students from La Trobe University and Melbourne University have traveled to Indonesia to work with farmers. The program links institutions and growers to help improve the sustainability of agricultural practices. The students held meetings with area farmers to talk about sustainable practices including storage, use of chemicals and diversifying crops.
London Metropolitan U Students Build Solar Decathlon Home
London Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) students have created an energy-efficient home for the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe competition. Using techniques in digital design and manufacturing, the team of students designed a home to demonstrate the technology available in today’s market that offers a new way of sustainable living. The curved design has been specifically configured to work with its surrounding environment to reduce its energy consumption. Photovoltaic panels to power the home are being placed using precise solar data and parametric techniques to optimize energy generation.
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Students Plan to Green Campus
Students at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) have announced plans to help make the campus become more sustainable. Doctorate students will focus on transportation, water, alternative energy and urban planning. The students will also work alongside local businesses to improve infrastructure and environmental practices in the community.
U Tampere Students Pilot Endangered Lichen Green Roof Project
Students at the University of Tampere, known as the first and only fair trade campus in Finland, are pioneering a green roof project to promote the growth of endangered lichen and mosses on limestone beds. The project is an effort to preserve a threatened habitat in Finland, as the majority of limestone beds have been mined for fertilizer.
Lakeland College Student Club Launches Green Roof Project
The Lakeland College (WI) Environmental Club has initiated a green roof project. The club is looking for answers concerning native grasses and plants and how they cope with the climate. Several varieties of grasses and perennials were planted with different levels of soil. With the help from the carpentry department, the club cut and assembled four structures with sloping roofs to help with irrigation. The club plans to water the plants at first and then see if the gardens can maintain themselves and survive until next year.
U Kansas Students Create Solar-Powered Autoclave
University of Kansas engineering students have designed and built a five-foot, funnel shaped metal autoclave to sterilize medical instruments using solar energy. The project was specifically created for a doctor who is working in Zimbabwe. Another group of students will continue testing and fine-tuning the autoclave. The project cost $1,500 and is expected to be ready by next May.
U Michigan Announces Planet Blue Ambassador Program
The University of Michigan has announced the creation of a new seminar-based program that will provide the necessary skills and training for Planet Blue Ambassadors. The ambassadors will model and teach sustainability practices and serve as Eco Reps to the university community. The program hopes to create a culture of sustainability across all university units. The two-credit seminar is open to all students living in university housing and will meet every two weeks during the fall 2011 and winter 2012 semesters for classroom education and training. Students will also dedicate an additional three hours per week to working on various projects. The Planet Blue Ambassadors pilot program will accept a total of 25 students, with 10 staff members participating.
U Utah Student Initiates Solar Ivy Installation
An environmental studies major at the University of Utah has initiated the installation of a new product called Solar Ivy, a composition of small photovoltaic panels shaped so that they can be installed in an attractive arrangement, much like ivy growing over a building’s surface. The panels generate electricity that is consumed by the building, offsetting the amount of power the building purchases from the utility company. The majority of the project’s funding was provided by the university’s student-led Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund. The Solar Ivy project was awarded a grant for approximately two-thirds of the $42,000 cost.
Harvard U Freshman Pilot Vermiculture Project
Harvard University (MA) freshman group Green 14' recently debuted a vermiculture project in the Thayer Hall dorm. The students placed vermiculture bins, which use the natural composting abilities of earthworms, on each floor. To raise awareness, the group brought food like strawberries, grapes, bananas, celery, peanuts in the shell, bread and peanut butter to study breaks to show which foods could be composted.
Clark U Recognizes Student Sustainability Leadership
Clark University (MA) recently handed out its first Leadership in Sustainability award to a student. Hannah J. Tirrell-Wysocki, who served as an Eco Reps coordinator and founder of the Clark Sustainability Collaborative, raised sustainability awareness as an orientation coordinator, peer adviser and campus tour guide.
Linfield College Students Embark on Sustainability Road Trip
Six students from Linfield College (OR) are traveling cross-country this summer in a renovated veggie oil bus to promote sustainability. Dubbed "The Self Express," the bus features donated bamboo boards, solar panels and used veggie oil from Community Plate in McMinnville, Ore. Enviofuel of Corvallis, Ore. donated the labor to install a new veggie oil system. The students will stop first in Salt Lake City for the sentencing of Tim DeChristopher, convicted for disrupting an oil-and-gas lease auction by bidding when he wasn't planning to buy in an attempt to protest policies on climate change. The bus hopes to connect with other forward-thinking youth, nonprofits and media there. The students also plan to visit Appalachia to see the environmental and social devastation of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Santa Clara U Students Create Carbon Calculator
Inviting their peers to consider the connections between their actions and carbon emissions, Environmental Ethics Fellows at Santa Clara University (CA) have created a Carbon Footprint Calculator for students to measure their impact on the environment. The students developed the calculator with open-source programming to allow other universities to adopt the same model.
Shoreline CC Students Perform Energy Audit
Shoreline Community College (WA) students performed an energy audit for the Parent Child Center building on campus. The students presented their findings and made recommendations that would reduce the amount of energy loss and save energy costs. Recommendations included a new heat ventilation air conditioning system, Energy Star Rated appliances, low-flow plumbing and a rooftop garden to reduce the heat gain in the summer.
U California Riverside Students to Develop Solar Clothes Dryer
A team of students from the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside have been selected for a $15,000 grant from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency to develop a system that will use heat from the sun to operate a clothes dryer. The system will harness solar thermal heat from a rooftop solar heat collector and heated air from the attic. The students are working to implement the concept at a 30-home zero net energy, urban agriculture-focused community planned for 10 acres. The heated air can also be directed through air ducts for space heating applications in the house as needed to reduce the electric and natural gas heating costs. The students estimate that using the system will save nearly $6,500 in a 20-year period. In April 2012, the students will travel to Washington, D.C. to find out if they won the $90,000 phase two grant that would provide funding to commercialize the idea.
Virginia Tech Students Win EcoCAR Challenge
A team of 30 mechanical engineering students from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have won first place in the three-year “EcoCAR Challenge,” co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors. An engine from a 2009 Chevy HHR was donated by General Motors to the participating schools. The Virginia Tech students added a battery, an electric motor and eliminated engine idle with stop/start. The end result is a car that can travel 50 miles on its battery, another 155 on gasoline and gets 82 miles per gallon. The redesigned car boosted the fuel achievement of the stock engine by 70 percent. The team consisted of 30 mechanical engineering students.
Cornell U Students Hosts 'Dump and Run' Event
Cornell University (NY) students recently organized a Dump and Run event, which has raised and donated nearly $200,000 over the past eight years. The event collects household goods, clothing, working appliances and electronics, sporting items, toiletries and nonperishable food to benefit local charities. Donations will be sorted over the summer and sold at the Dump and Run community sale in August.
Babson College Eco Reps Create Freshman Sustainability Class
Student Eco Reps at Babson College (MA) have created a sustainability class as part of the First Year Seminar (FYS) curriculum starting this fall. Designed to help entering students realize how their behaviors can make a positive impact on campus and in the world, the class gives an overall view of the college's sustainability efforts and encourages students to become change agents for a better planet. The Eco Reps developed "A Student's Guide to Sustainable Behavior," a case study, quiz and optional extra credit for the class, as well as a Teacher's Guide for FYS instructors.
Morgan State U Students Design App to Encourage Recycling
To encourage campus recycling, Morgan State University (MD) students have created a mobile phone application that sends alerts to users’ phones when they are in the proximity of recycling units on campus. Born out of the lack of emphasis and notification about where to recycle on campus, the solution also required the development of special transceivers to transmit signals from the recycling units and receive signals back from the cell phones. Funded by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant, the student research team that developed the app ranged from history to industrial engineering majors.
Syracuse, SUNY ESF Students Hold Sustainability Showcase
Syracuse University (NY), in collaboration with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, recently organized a sustainability showcase in an attempt to engage a broader campus audience in sustainability efforts. From highway design alternatives to algae biofuel to several sustainable product prototypes and proposals for ecotourism and lifestyle changes, the Showcase 2011 Green Museum featured more than 100 graduate and undergraduate sustainability ideas.
Tufts U Students Win Dow Sustainability Innovation Award
Three teams of Tufts University (MA) graduate students have each won $10,000 from the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award program. The students’ research included the development of a silk-based biosensor to detect highly toxic bacterial compound in drinking water, a plan to analyze water consumption for energy-producing technologies in 177 countries, and a plan to develop a solar powered energy system for urban Pakistan.
Hartwick College Art Students Recreate Tree Planting Initiative
Inspired by the social and environmental implications of German artist Joseph Beuys’ "7,000 Oaks" project, Hartwick College (NY) students enrolled in "Contemporary Art History" recently recreated the artist's tree planting initiative. Beuys erected a stone pillar beside 7,000 individual oak trees planted in Germany, providing the viewer with a juxtaposition between growth and stability. The students planted one tree alongside a basalt pillar on campus. Each class member was involved in the project in a variety of different roles including sourcing materials and seeking administrative approval. Beuys claimed his original intent for the "7,000 Oaks" project was to continue and extend the project around the globe. The students intend to continue the legacy and also hope that the project at the college can be continued by future generations.
Johnson County CC Students Create Sustainability Sculptures
Johnson County Community College (KS) has unveiled five student-made sustainability sculptures. The installations display students’ personal experiences with waste, recycling and reuse, and will remain on display into the fall to encourage discussions amongst the campus community. The sculptures were funded by a grant from the Student Sustainability Committee.
