Wilfrid Laurier U Receives Recognition for Sustainable Energy Management
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change recently honored the university with its Minister's Award for Environmental Excellence for putting in place a series of innovative energy conservation measures to reduce energy consumption while improving efficiencies and functionality of space. To date, the initial phase of the Laurier Energy Efficiency Program (LEEP) has reduced the university’s current energy consumption by approximately 40 percent. LEEP is a multi-campus energy management program designed to reduce the consumption of all utilities across the Laurier’s campuses.
U Idaho Receives LEED Gold for College of Education Building
The College of Education building was built in 1969 and recently underwent a two-year, $17 million remodel, which features glass walls throughout to allow for daylighting across all five floors and incorporates design elements that help create community.
Western Michigan U Earns LEED Platinum on Building Renovation
The university renovated Heritage Hall, which opened in 1905, in an effort to turn the least energy-efficient building on campus into one of the most efficient. The building now contains geothermal heating and cooling, LED lighting, energy-efficient windows and a high level of repurposed historic building materials. The energy-saving elements make make the hall more than 50 percent more efficient than buildings that use more traditional elements.
U Kentucky Scores LEED Gold on Academic Building
The building utilizes water-efficient plumbing fixtures, which reduce water use by 42 percent compared to a baseline model, and is 26 percent more energy efficient than the baseline model. More than 40 percent of materials used in the renovation were regional and all adhesives, sealants, paints, composite woods, sealers and floor systems are low- or no-VOC (volatile organic compounds) emitting materials.
Goucher College to Relocate Three Residence Halls
The college is relocating and repurposing three 1,300-ton residence halls to make room for two brand new buildings on its Towson campus. The three-week relocation will cost Goucher about $7.6 million, to be paid for through a combination of debt proceeds and donor contributions.
Arizona State U Student Develops New LEED Pilot Credit
A 2016 alumnus who received a Masters in Sustainability Solutions (MSUS) did a capstone project suggesting a new USGBC Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Pilot Credit, which was recently accepted and published. The new LEED BD+C credit is Residential Energy Sub-Metering and Real-Time Usage Data.
U Idaho Research Building Receives LEED Gold
The university's new interdisciplinary research facility features include dedicated bicycle parking and electric vehicle charging spaces; metal paneling and automatic window shades that let in natural light while reducing glare and heat; and a 3,500-cubic-feet rainwater catchment system used to water trees, native grasses and plants.
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign Expands Energy Saving Campaign
With the support of a grant from the Student Sustainability Committee, a one-time, energy-saving initiative now happens monthly. Student volunteers walk through campus buildings to turn off lights that were left on at the end of the day. During seven scheduled walk-throughs during the 2016-17 school year, teams turned off more than 11,000 light fixtures, avoiding approximately $3,400 in energy costs.
U Wyoming Lighting Upgrade Creates Efficiency & Saves Money
Thanks to a proposal by a student pursuing a sustainability minor, the university is now taking advantage of cost avoidance by using energy-efficient LEDs in place of metal halide lighting. The lighting retrofit has an estimated payback of eight years.
San Diego State U Building Achieves LEED Silver
The university's newest residence hall features a lighting control system with occupancy sensors, photo-sensors for daylight harvesting and 100 percent LED lighting. The two towers also have an automated heating and cooling system and water-saving shower heads in the resident rooms.
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign Residence Hall Earns LEED Gold
The residence hall opened in fall 2016 and features locally manufactured construction materials, products with recycled content, wood products certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council, roof mounted solar panels to provide renewable energy that offsets one percent of the energy costs, and landscaping that includes native and drought-tolerant plants to reduce dependency on potable water.
Harvard U to Retrofit Home as Model of Ultra-Efficiency & Affordability
The Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities announced plans to retrofit its headquarters, a pre-1940s house, into an ultra-efficient, healthy, positive-energy structure. Called HouseZero Project, the prototype will be designed to require almost zero energy, rely on natural daylighting, and produce no carbon emissions. The center aims to show how any existing building can become a model of efficiency and cut emissions without requiring a huge investment.
Three Schools Win Green Cleaning Award
The 2017 Green Cleaning Awards, hosted by American School & University, recognized Western Michigan University as the grand prize winner, University of Michigan for the silver award, and Folsom Lake College as honorable mention. The juried competition highlights education institutions whose green cleaning programs go above and beyond using green products to protect health without harming the environment.
Baylor U Building Receives LEED Gold
The new building, completed in 2015 and housing the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, features a solar-reflective roof, dimmable LED lighting, daylighting controls that allow individuals to adjust the level of lighting based on brightness throughout the day, natural lighting for all interior offices using glass walls and doors, use of low-emitting materials to reduce concentrations of chemical contaminants, and sustainable landscaping and irrigation systems that increase water efficiency and reduce the burden on municipal water supply and wastewater systems.
U Hong Kong Introduces Green Revolving Fund
(Hong Kong) The university's new Green Revolving Fund (GRF) supports improvement initiatives on campus with the aim of reducing carbon emissions. The fund will invest in energy-efficiency projects in university buildings, returning the utility and maintenance cost savings back to the fund for further projects. Initial funding of approximately $1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,000) will be allocated this year in the GRF’s pilot phase. The seed capital will fund two lighting projects.
Nanyang Technological U Opens Sustainable Building
(Singapore) The university's new sports complex features LED lighting, solar powered systems, and a special cooling system that chills the air as it enters the hall so that no conventional air-conditioning systems are needed. The complex hosts three full-sized basketball courts or 13 badminton courts.
U California Merced Class Commissions Campus Building for LEED O+M Silver
The university's LEED Lab Engineering Service Learning class, in its fourth semester, has commissioned its first building on campus, which earned a silver LEED Operations and Maintenance (O+M) rating. The one-unit, LEED Lab class gives students from all majors the opportunity to assess the performance of existing campus facilities through the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED O+M program.
US EPA Declares Winners of Green Power Challenge
The Big Ten beat 36 other athletic conferences to become the Conference Champion in the 2016-2017 College and University Green Power Challenge. Procuring nearly 246 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville was recognized as the top individual green power user in the challenge.
American U Building Receives LEED Silver
The university's new residence hall features nearly 5,000-square-feet of ground-level green roof and a 46 percent decrease in water use relative to standard buildings of similar size. A rooftop solar thermal system heats water and the entire building is powered with renewable energy. Over 90 percent of the building has a view of the outdoors.
North Carolina State U Coliseum Achieves LEED Silver
Following a 16-month renovation, the building now features a new energy-efficient heating and air conditioning system, exterior replacement windows that better insulate the building and save energy, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures, native and adaptive species of outdoor plants that require little to no irrigation, and infrastructure for alternative transportation, including bike racks, pedestrian paths and a bus stop served by six different campus bus routes.
Nottingham U Building Achieves BREEAM Outstanding & LEED Platinum Designations
(U.K.): The university's new GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry building, partially funded by GlaxoSmithKline, features minimal energy use, utilization of natural ventilation, wind catchers, a water leak detection system and sustainable drainage systems to deliver energy and water reductions. A green roof featuring drought-tolerant native species is also installed. Excess energy generated by the building during its lifespan will offset all the carbon associated with its construction, allowing it to reach carbon-neutral status.
U Massachusetts Amherst Opens Net-Zero-Energy Building
The new 16,800-square-foot building houses 35 offices and four conference rooms and was designed to produce as much energy as it consumes, aided by daylighting, ground-source heating and cooling, and photovoltaic energy. It will use about one-fifth the energy of the average office building in that region's climate.
Leuphana U Completes Zero Emissions Building
(Germany): Topped with a green roof and powered by renewable energy, the light-filled building will operate at zero emissions. It also includes a gray water system. The building exceeds the standard that sets energy requirements for new buildings in Germany.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges Building Earns LEED Gold
The campus' first LEED certified building includes energy-efficient windows that allow natural daylight, ductwork that was sealed against dust during construction, filter systems that keep air in the building clean, low-flow water fixtures, and the use of long life-cycle materials such as slate and brick. The project was designed to reduce square footage of the building by making many spaces dual purpose.
U California Merced Building Achieves LEED Platinum
Some of the new building's sustainable features include 93 percent diversion of construction waste, 51 percent recycled content in the building materials, and 43 percent more water efficient and 46 percent more energy efficient than California code requires.
Pomona College Receives $2.5M for Energy Efficiency Upgrades
A new $2.5 million California Energy Commission grant will fund a three-year project to enhance existing energy management systems for 10 campus buildings. In partnership with five other organizations, the grant will provide additional occupancy sensors, automated controls, and optimization of air circulation, lights and thermostats.
Harvard U Renovation Receives LEED Gold
Over 90 percent of occupied space within the 6,415-square-foot laboratory renovation was designed with access to daylight and views. Additionally, 39 percent of materials used were manufactured locally and 80 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills. Overall, the space is projected to use 13 percent less lighting power.
Willamette U Fitness Center Earns LEED Gold
The building features salvaged existing materials and energy-efficient lighting, improved HVAC systems and water-saving fixtures. The project also used building materials with low or no volatile organic compounds and Forest Stewardship Council-certified forest products, and recycled more than 90 percent of construction waste.
Dickinson College to Complete New LEED for Homes Residence Hall
On March 2, the college began construction on a new, 40,000-square-foot residence hall designed to meet LEED for Homes standards, and is expected to achieve Platinum rating. Energy-efficient exterior walls and roof, high-efficiency windows and connection to the central energy plant are among the many features that help reduce carbon emissions. Additionally, an upgraded stormwater-management system, including a rain garden, will minimize impacts to the existing community systems.
Loyola U Building Earns LEED Gold Level
The new five-story, $137 million building houses 500 students, faculty and staff and features a high energy efficient building envelope, operable windows, and natural daylighting and sun shades.
U Iowa to be Coal Free by 2025
Increasing its use of biomass and other renewable energy sources, the university has teamed up with industry experts to develop diverse fuel sources and to optimize the power plant’s handling and combustion of these new alternative fuels in order to eliminate the use of coal by 2025. The current biomass fuel portfolio includes oat hulls, Miscanthus grass and wood chips.
U Reading Sets New Carbon Reduction Goal
(U.K.) After hitting a 35 percent reduction from a 2008-09 baseline, the university announced a new carbon reduction goal–45 percent by the 2020-21 academic year. To date, more than 4 million pounds ($4.9 million) has been invested into projects to improve energy performance, the savings from which will be reinvested back into sustainability initiatives. In addition, plans are already underway to reduce water consumption by 10 percent.
Hope College Building Receives LEED Silver
The building is co-located near public transportation, and uses light-colored concrete to reflect light, and stormwater retention and filtering. By weight, the materials used in construction have 32 percent recycled content, and by cost, more than 55 percent came from within 500 miles.
Indiana U-Purdue U Building Earns LEED Gold
The building is located close to bike lanes and bus routes, and includes parking areas for carpoolers and high-efficiency vehicles, and a stormwater-detention system for runoff. The building features water-efficient technology, daylighting and sunshades to reduce heat gain and glare. The university is sourcing 70 percent of it's power from Indianapolis Power and Light's Green Power Option, a program offering renewable energy procurement.
California State U East Bay Building Achieves LEED Platinum
The Student and Faculty Support Center building houses 300 faculty and 200-400 students per day and includes energy efficiency through building design and operation, a 147-kilowatt solar electric system, a bio-retention stormwater management and is located close to public transportation.
Colgate U Installs Geothermal Exchange System
This summer, the university installed a ground source heating and cooling system to help reduce dependence on fossil fuels and achieve carbon neutrality by 2019. The $150,000 project will pay for itself in seven years and is anticipated to save the university more than $650,000 over the course of its lifetime.
Colorado State U Commits to 100% Renewable Energy
The university president recently signed a pledge committing the university to be powered from 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030, after more than 4,300 students, faculty and staff had signed a petition encouraging the university to consider the pledge. The university says that the decision to invest in renewable energy is due to the projected increase in energy prices over the next 20 years.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
