Emory U Hospital Tower Earn LEED Silver
The building features low-flow indoor water fixtures and energy-efficient exterior glazing systems, and is a lead- and mercury-free facility. A special focus was put on indoor environmental quality for improved occupant health and well-being. Over 95 percent of the construction waste was recycled.
U Buffalo Library Earns LEED Silver
The renovation of the 24-hour library included using locally-produced or recycled building materials, reusing materials, such as light fixtures, and the installation of an air station to monitor fresh air intake and improve air quality.
U Kentucky Athletics Building Earns LEED Silver
The Joe Craft Football Training Facility features energy-efficient HVAC, thermal comfort and lighting systems. Additionally, it consumes 40 percent less water and 21 percent less energy than other buildings of its type.
Mohawk College & U British Columbia Win Awards for Sustainable Built Environments
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada announced in mid-May the 2019 recipients of its Awards of Excellence, which reflect outstanding achievement in architecture through innovation, green building, allied arts, advocacy and journalism. Mohawk College's Joyce Center for Partnership & Innovation won the Innovation in Architecture category for its net-zero institutional building on the Fennel campus that is helping to set the standards for the Canada Green Building Council Zero Carbon Buildings Framework. The University of British Columbia's Campus Energy Center won in the Green Building category for its hot water facility that uses almost 63 percent less energy and 31 percent less water than a baseline building of its type.
Monash U Opens Sustainable Residential Building
(Australia) A new 150-bed residential accommodation complex includes rooftop solar panels, a rainwater harvesting tank, and a landscaped dry creek bed to manage stormwater during high-rain events. In addition to electricity supplied by its rooftop solar, some electricity will come wind energy through the university's power purchase agreement in a wind farm. The complex will be powered solely using renewable energy.
The Chronicle Covers Climate-Related Facilities Concerns
In May, the Campus Spaces section of The Chronicle of Higher Education compiled pieces on how colleges are planning for climate change through the built environment and how they are protecting the campus from floods, fires, utility failures and more. The piece highlights Washington College, whose campus lies along the bank of the Chester River; Middlebury College, who became carbon neutral in 2016; and an opinion piece on the urgency of creating resiliency.
Paul Quinn College Announces Strategic Energy Initiative
The college's new energy plan includes cost-effective energy procurement, valuable infrastructure upgrades and renewable energy generation. Six campus buildings will host a combined total of 711-kilowatts of solar electric. Each will receive a full roof replacement at no upfront cost to the college prior to the solar installations.
U Massachusetts Lowell Installs Rooftop Vegetable Garden
Thanks to a collaboration between the university and a Lowell-based urban farming nonprofit, there’s a new rooftop, modular garden consisting of about 180 plants growing in individual milk crates filled with compost that originated from the university's dining halls. The primary purpose of the garden is to educate passersby about the university's Urban Agriculture Program.
North Carolina State U Housekeeping Becomes Green Seal Certified
University Housekeeping recently achieved the Green Seal certification by meeting products and services requirements and passing a performance review encompassing all aspects of its cleaning program. The requirements, which range from equipment and procedures to chemicals and employee training, were documented and verified through an on-site audit.
U Saskatchewan Invests in Energy Efficiency
Armed with $1.5 million in support from the federal government’s Low Carbon Economy Fund, the university plans to fix, replace or eliminate equipment and systems that are outdated and inefficient in 26 buildings on campus, to be completed by March 2022.
Duke U Develops Green Building Standards
The High Performance Building Framework is a set of procedures and guidelines for new construction and major renovations that takes a holistic view of sustainable building at Duke. Outlining a process for planning and designing campus buildings, the plan also includes a new tracking and rating system to examine how facilities perform.
Northwestern U Receives Energy Star Award
The 2019 Energy Star Partner of the Year Award recognizes the university’s achievements in energy efficiency, including efforts to accurately track energy usage data and measure progress in reducing consumption. Northwestern’s notable accomplishments include completing a comprehensive building energy consumption audit of all 222 campus buildings and implementing a new dashboard system that supplies key departmental contacts across campus with monthly utility consumption reports.
Colgate U Benton Hall Earns LEED Platinum
Benton Hall features a passive house design with high-performing windows, occupancy sensors and daylight-responsive light dimming. Stone was sourced within a 500-mile radius and 75 percent of its construction waste was recycled or salvaged.
Washington U St. Louis Adds 1.9 MW of Solar Energy
Construction is underway on a 1.9-megawatt solar electric project that will add arrays to six university buildings. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the fall 2019. A new interdisciplinary program allows students to use the project as a case study to learn about the business, policy and engineering aspects of the solar industry.
Bowie State U STEM Research Center Earns LEED Platinum
The university's Center for Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Nursing is a 149,000-square-foot, four-floor building that features dynamic glazed windows that tint on-demand to lower energy usage and a computerized and automated ventilation system for laboratories. Sloped landscaping prevents rainwater from running off onto paved surfaces, and native deciduous shade trees in the building's plaza serve as a natural buffer from the sun's rays.
U Maryland Baltimore Building Achieves LEED Gold
The university's School of Medicine building now features a green roof planted with native and adaptive plants, a cistern water collection system, high-performance glazing on the south façade, natural ventilation, high-efficiency flush fixtures, low-flow sinks, secure bike storage spaces and shower facilities.
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign Classroom & Research Building Receives LEED Gold
A recent $79 million renovation of the historic building includes energy-efficient heating and air conditioning, high levels of daylight for natural lighting, occupancy sensors and continual energy monitoring. More than 76 percent of the construction waste was recycled. The building was able to reduce its water usage by at least 20 percent. The project also received high marks for using an existing site, having convenient access to public transportation and incorporating bicycle parking.
Dalhousie U Sexton Campus Undergoes Green Renovation
The university's redesign of its downtown campus was a $64-million project, with $4 million earmarked for specific green features, including ground-source heating and cooling, photovoltaic electricity tied to a 180-kilowatt battery bank, and a 6,600-gallon underground cistern that will capture and treat rainwater for toilet and urinal flushing.
Southern Oregon U Student Rec Center Earns LEED Gold
The athletic pavilion and recreation center complex, which opened last spring, was recognized for bike-friendly infrastructure and electric vehicle charging stations, lighting that minimizes disturbances to night skies and wildlife, plumbing fixtures that reduce water usage by 39 percent and efficiency measures that reduce energy consumption by almost 23 percent. Other elements include a rooftop solar installation that offsets 10 percent of the facility’s annual electricity consumption, the use of sustainable lumber products and recycled building materials, and the use of substances such as paints and sealants that emit only low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC).
U Massachusetts Boston Building Earns LEED Gold
The university's Dining and Residence Hall includes low-flow showers, faucets, toilets and urinals, a high performance building envelope, energy recovery units, and LED lighting throughout.
California College of Arts to Complete Green Residence Hall
The new, five-story student housing building, which will provide housing for more than 500 students, will feature rooftop photovoltaic arrays and solar water heating systems, 167 indoor bike parking spaces and high-performance floor-to-ceiling windows. The building infrastructure has also been designed to enable the eventual connection of campus energy systems to a microgrid. All rooms will be ADA accessible.
U Maryland Installs Indoor Vertical Garden
With the help of a University Sustainability Fund grant, students, faculty and staff can now reap the health and well-being benefits of a 240-square-foot, vertical garden installed on the ground-floor patio inside the Student Union.
College Lake County Building Earns LEED Platinum
The 42,000 square-foot Science & Engineering Building features photovoltaic solar panels, LED lighting, ample natural light, vegetated rooftops, a geothermal heating and cooling system, and energy-efficient fume hoods in chemistry labs.
U Colorado Boulder Building Earns LEED Gold
The Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) features LED lighting throughout, low-flow plumbing fixtures, energy-efficient HVAC and glazing on some south-facing windows that self-dims as sun exposure increases, minimizing heat gain and glare. Also significant was construction of the building atop an existing parking garage, avoiding consumption of green space and introducing new sources of vegetation to the site on the north-facing slope.
Bowdoin College Building Achieves LEED Platinum
The college's Roux Center for the Environment features a rooftop garden that absorbs stormwater runoff and adds insulation, a roof-mounted photovoltaic solar system, and a 1,500-gallon storage tank that collects filtered rainwater to flush toilets.
Vanderbilt U Science Building Earns LEED Gold
The Engineering and Science Building includes LED bulbs as well as occupancy sensors, windows that optimize natural solar light and help prevent bird strikes, and a 10,000 gallon cistern to capture rain water for irrigation.
Dickinson College Building Reaches LEED Platinum
The college's new residence hall features energy-efficient exterior walls and high-efficiency windows. An upgraded stormwater management system, including four rain gardens, will minimize impacts to the existing community systems.
Carnegie Mellon U Building Achieves LEED Gold
The university's home for the Tepper School of Business features a 120,000-gallon cistern to collect rainwater for reuse and the floor of its four-story atrium uses radiant slabs to heat or cool the space.
Three Universities Win Energy Innovation Awards
The University of Maryland, University of Virginia, and University of California San Diego were recently recognized as the 2019 Smart Energy Decisions Innovation Award winners. The objective of the Innovation Awards program is to recognize the individual and collective efforts of large electric power users, their suppliers, and their utilities in support of the energy transformation currently taking place.
U Cincinnati Clermont College Becomes 100% Wind Powered
The university recently signed an agreement to purchase 100 percent of its electric supply with Green-e certified wind power renewable energy credits. This action is projected to reduce the university's total annual greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent.
U California Berkeley Building Earns TRUE Zero Waste Platinum & LEED Platinum Certification
Chou Hall at the Haas School of Business now has two Platinum certifications, one covering waste reduction efforts and the other for the building's energy-efficient design and operation. The True Zero Waste certification comes after more than a year of dedicated waste sorting, composting and other waste reduction efforts to divert over 90 percent of the building's landfill waste.
U Notre Dame Buildings Earn LEED Silver
The university's Jenkins and Nanovic Halls have low-flow faucets in bathrooms and kitchens, high-efficiency shower heads and toilets, energy-efficient LED lighting throughout, and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems. Spaces such as classrooms, conference rooms, lounges and lobbies have lighting controls with dimming capabilities.
Beloit College Turns Coal Plant Into Recreation Center
The decommissioned Blackhawk Generating Station is projected to open in fall 2019 as a 120,000-square-foot student recreation center and student union. One of the aims of the renovation project is to showcase sustainable redesign of the historic building.
Western Technical College Building Remodel Achieves LEED Gold
The building, which was originally built in 1923, was remodeled in 2016. The project highlighted wide-ranging energy efficient building systems and extensive construction activity pollution protection. In total, Western’s efforts in all of its LEED facilities has led to a total cost avoidance of over $2.5 million.
Colby College Achieves LEED Platinum & SITES Certification
Grossman Hall, a nearly 16,000-square-foot building that opened in September 2017 is now LEED Platinum. The hall features a 48 percent reduction in energy use due to a high-performance building envelope and an efficient HVAC system with energy recovery. Low-flow fixtures contribute to a 45.5 percent reduction in potable water use in the building. Across campus, the college’s lacrosse, soccer and practice fields in the outdoor competition center have received certification through the Sustainable SITES Initiative for including stormwater runoff filtration and an irrigation system that conserves water by automatically adjusting to precipitation and evaporation rates with the use of rain and soil sensors.
Brandeis U Completes LED Retrofit
The recently completed lighting retrofit of the university's Carl and Ruth Shapiro Campus Center is expected to reduce the university's annual lighting costs by over $32,000 annually.
West Texas A&M U Enters Energy-Efficiency Contract
The university entered a partnership for a $14.4 million Campus Energy Reduction and Modernization Project throughout 31 campus buildings. Scheduled for completion by September 2019, the conservation and modernization measures include high efficiency LED lighting, improvements to the campus heating and cooling systems, water conservation measures, and automated controls that allow for improved tracking of energy consumption.
Wellesley College Commits $24M to Energy Initiatives
Based on recommendations from a task force assembled to assess the energy needs of the college, the board of trustees has committed approximately $24 million to be spent over the next three years on a multipart energy initiative. The college will make the following improvements in its buildings and central utility plant: replace the steam absorption chiller plant with an electric chiller plant; decommission five natural gas electricity generators and increase renewable energy; construct a power plant that will generate electricity during peak electrical-use periods and during power grid failures; and improve energy efficiency in campus buildings.
Dalhousie U Opens Biomass Energy Plant
The new Biomass Energy Plant is a $26.5 million project that burns biomass fuel to create electricity using a new 1-megawatt turbine. Additionally new piping for a district hot water system was installed that will use waste heat from electricity generation to heat the campus. Overall, the steam system is now 30 percent more energy efficient.
Bucknell U Building Earns LEED Silver
The repurposed Hildreth-Mirza Hall, a building that originally opened in 1941 as a fraternity house, features occupancy sensors, air quality monitors and automated ventilation systems. Together, these measures reduce the building's energy consumption by 35 percent.
U Virginia Saves $750K Through Energy Savings Measures at Clark Hall
After a team of UVA engineers, technicians and specialists who focus on conserving resources reviewed and retrofitted the systems of the university's Department of Environmental Sciences, and Science and Engineering library, the university achieved a 67 percent reduction in energy costs, saving about $750,000 annually. Energy-saving measures included converting all lighting to LED lamps, installing low-flow toilets and sink aerators, upgrading the HVAC system, repairing the energy recovery system, and recalibrating airflow rates in labs to provide correct ventilation for the space. The building earned LEED V4 Existing Buildings O+M Silver certification.
Salem State U Arts Building Achieves LEED Gold
The Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts demonstrates a 28 percent energy cost reduction and achieves a 32 percent reduction in energy consumption compared to a baseline building. More than 75 percent of the existing building structures were reused. The entire project site was redesigned to improve building accessibility and public entry.
Salem State U to Install 387 KW Solar Electric With $193K Grant
As part of a $5 million solar grant program launched earlier this year by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, Salem State is receiving the first award of $193,500 for three photovoltaic systems totaling 387 kilowatts. Estimated to save the university $28,500 in annual electricity costs, the installations are projected to generate 439,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity through a 20-year third-party power purchase agreement with no upfront costs.
Crowder College Building Earns LEED Platinum
The newly certified building houses the college's Roy Blunt Center for Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology. It features motion sensor lights, solar panels that supply about 60 percent of the building's electrical needs, and an occupancy sensor for the heating and cooling system. To increase the efficiency of the solar electric panels, a series of water pipes underneath the solar panels pulls away heat, and then the heated water is dumped into a geothermal well to use later for heating and cooling. Another aspect of the building that helped it achieve Platinum certification is that Crowder solar and wind energy students maintain all of the building's equipment as part of their classes.
U Notre Dame Installs 2-Acre Green Roof
Home to the Fighting Irish Athletics Department, the building now has a 79,096-square-foot vegetative rooftop. The layout consists of 25 plant species, including 22 varieties of sedum. A rooftop irrigation system also was installed.
UCLA Wins National Athletic Sustainability Award
The University of California, Los Angeles was the winner of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USG Corporation Sustainability Award for its work on the Wasserman Football Center. The award was designed to recognize NACDA member institutions across all divisions, honoring athletics directors and their universities for incorporating sustainable practices and materials into their athletics facilities. Bentley University and Georgia State University were finalists, receiving $10,000 each in USG product while UCLA received $40,000 in USG product.
U Rochester, RIT & Suffolk County CC to Receive $1M Each for Clean Energy Projects
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that New York State will award nearly $1 million each to the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Suffolk County Community College as part of the Energy to Lead Competition. The competition challenges New York colleges and universities across the state to develop plans for local clean energy projects on campus and in their communities.
Hope College Student Center Earns LEED Gold
The new building features large, energy-efficient windows, shower facilities for cyclists, and an energy-efficient HVAC system. Twenty-one percent of the building’s content is recycled material and the college was able to divert 91 percent of construction waste from landfills. Connecting the building to its site, wood boards from an elm tree that was knocked down in a 2011 storm were used to panel the east wall of the building’s chapel.
