Five Schools Receive Grant to Bolster Sustainability Initiative
Albion College, Antioch College, DePauw University, Hope College and Oberlin College have received funding from the Great Lakes College Association for a collaborative project, Expanding Collaboration Initiative, that fosters programs of teaching, research and outreach across college campuses to heighten awareness of how human behaviors affect the well-being of the natural environment.
Florida A&M U Opens Recycling Center
The university's new recycling center will manage and encourage the collection, sorting and processing of recyclables, such as paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The new center will also house a cardboard bailer and provide workspace for student interns and volunteers to assist with the recycling program.
Lehigh U Adopts Ride Sharing Platform
The university's new contract with Zimride allows the campus community to set up carpools with others at the university, saving money from fuel purchases and in some instances, campus parking permits.
U California Merced Tests Plug That Tracks Electricity Source
The new plug called WattTime, developed through the university's technology research institute, might carry the ability to allow universities to reduce their carbon footprint by tracking the fuel source of the energy being used to charge the carts, solar, natural gas, coal, geothermal or hydroelectric, and determine the cheapest and least environmentally impactful time to charge. WattTime plugs will gather data for a couple of months in the pilot program, and communicate a charging strategy for university facilities to most efficiently charge its electric cart fleet.
U Florida Commences Workspace Sustainability Assistance
Called Green Recognition for Office and Workspaces (GROW), the new program is designed to help offices, labs and other facilities improve energy use, water use, transportation and waste to create more sustainable practices.
U Maine Presque Isle Completes Fossil Fuel Divestiture
As a result of the university's work on its new strategic plan and update of its statement of institutional values, the university's Foundation Board directed its investment managers to divest from all fossil fuel holdings.
U Maryland Offers Free Sustainability Classes to Students
Called Sustainable Tuesdays, the series combines a pre-existing class with weekly guest speakers from the architecture, planning and preservation school that students can attend. The two semester-long classes about sustainable living can be attended without adding extra credits to their course load.
U Maryland Students Take Action for Clean Water
Protecting the Chesapeake Bay is a main priority of university students in the Maryland Public Interest Research Group as they raise awareness of the Clean Water Act to other students by holding a photo petition.
U North Carolina Charlotte Receives $64K Electric Vehicle Funding
One Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project grant for $12,000 enabled the university to purchase a vehicle battery monitoring system that checks, measures and calculates certain battery parameters to determine the health of the battery in order to save money on battery purchases. A second grant for $52,000 will fund the purchase of 20 on-campus charging stations for electric vehicles. Electric vehicle owners will be able to charge for free during the two-year grant period.
U Utah Joins Real Food Commitment
Thanks to members of the campus community, the recently signed commitment means that University Dining Services will spend at least 20 percent of their total food purchases on real food, defined as local, nutritional, ecologically sound, humane and/or fair, by 2020, nearly doubling its current level.
Wesleyan U Students to Build Living Wall
The university’s Wild Walls student group recently announced its plans to build a vertical plant wall on campus this semester focusing on redesigning conventional campus landscaping while promoting self-sustaining ecosystems.
392 Colleges Compete in RecycleMania Tournament
This year's competition to encourage waste reduction and recycling on higher education campuses features participation from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. New this year, students can post digital messages and selfies that document their reduction efforts in order to earn points.
Antioch U New England Announces Peace Corps Partnership
Following a model of engaged scholarship, the recently launched program allows students conducting Department of Environmental Studies doctoral work to complete advanced graduate work during their Peace Corps service. The program consists of two years of doctoral courses and 27 months in the Peace Corps while students conduct doctoral research.
Colorado Mountain College Holds Art Exhibit
In an effort to raise awareness for sustainability, the inaugural college-wide art exhibit showcased work that was either created with sustainable materials or with content reflecting the theme of sustainability.
Cornell U Shaves 15 Years from Carbon Neutral Goal
A new report detailing how the university can reach carbon neutrality by 2035, including fees on carbon, was recently released by the Climate Action Acceleration Working Group with 16 recommendations and specific milestones targeting campus utility bills and university-funded travel among others.
Georgetown U Announces New Committee on Diversity
The establishment of the Provost's Committee for Diversity, birthed from a proposed, student project, will be comprised of different subcommittees and expects participants to engage in an ongoing investigation of racial and social justice, intersectionality, and awareness of marginalized groups on campus.
Georgia Tech Receives $5M From Ray C. Anderson Foundation
Building on an initial three-year seed funding of $750,000 that established the Center for Business Strategies for Sustainability, the university's College of Business will now be known as the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business after the foundation committed $5 million.
Loyola U Chicago Student Extends Growing Season on Campus Grounds
A now senior student enrolled in the university's Solutions to Environmental Problems class uses the campus' outdoor urban agricultural spaces to research ways to extend the growing season into winter in hopes of providing easy and affordable methods people can use to grow fresh produce at home.
MacEwan U Students to Promote Carbon Footprint Awareness
Student members plan to launch the Carbon Cloud Initiative by walking around with eight balloons that visually represents the amount of carbon emissions an average Canadian generates per minute. Students will deliver a one-minute presentation to the students in their classes about the balloons.
Millersville U Expands Bikeability
Spurred by the support of the president, a biking enthusiast, the university now has additional bike racks and two new bike repair stations, and has plans to install bike lockers in new resident halls.
Northwestern U to Release Strategic Sustainability Plan
Currently under development, five working groups from the university's Sustainability Council are evaluating areas of focus, assessing and prioritizing various initiatives within those areas, and establishing clear goals and metrics to evaluate progress. Their recommendations will inform the council who will, in partnership with university leadership, publish the Sustainability Strategic Plan in summer of 2015.
Rice U Eco Rep Program Expands Sustainable Living Awareness
The university Eco Rep Green Dorm Initiative now includes education about environmentally sustainable living through a contest designed to increase interactivity. This year's focus on energy and water, well-being, and waste asks participates to engage with the theme through daily tasks.
Rice U Signs Agreement to Purchase Solar Electricity for One Year
In an effort to better manage energy consumption and spending, a recent one-year agreement with a power company was enacted that allows the university to purchase approximately seven percent of the university's purchased electricity from clean energy at the same rate as fossil fuel-powered electricity.
San Francisco State U Completes Lighting Upgrade
A project spearheaded by students in a management class led to the removal of unnecessary lamps on the second floor of the university's business building over winter break. Electricity consumption of hallway lighting on this floor has decreased 40 percent as a result.
Southern Oregon U Partners to Reduce Student Mileage
Part of a statewide "Drive Less. Save More." campaign, the university is working with the Oregon Department of Transportation and a district authority to reduce the number of miles driven by university students by providing information to students about the benefits of traveling by foot, bike, skateboard, bus and shared car. The program's goals are to to reduce traffic, increase parking availability on campus, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
SUNY Cortland Hosts Weekly Wellness Events
The university recently began the Wellness Wednesday Series, for campus and the community, encouraging health and wellness through speakers and panels, informational fairs, self-help workshops and demonstrations.
Three Universities Pilot Sustainable Purchasing Program
Emory University, Portland Community College and University of California at Santa Barbara recently signed up to pilot the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council's Guidance for Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing v1.0. The Guidance for Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing offers purchasers detailed advice for promoting market innovation and optimizing the environmental, social and economic performance of their supply chains.
U California Riverside Implements Sustainability Fellowships
As part of the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, a total of five $1,500 fellowships will be awarded to both undergraduates and graduate students for projects that contribute to a reduction in campus greenhouse gas emissions, and/or educate the campus community about the importance of carbon neutrality.
Washington U Initiates Green Monday Pledge
Aiming to decrease the university’s carbon footprint by reducing meat consumption, Green Monday encourages students, faculty and community members to take a pledge to eat vegetarian on Mondays.
California Schools Host Multicampus Food Summit
With a central theme of food justice the inaugural California Higher Education Food Summit convened roughly 150 students, faculty and staff from University of California, California State University and community college campuses to address environmental social and economic pressures that create barriers to food access, security and justice.
Cornell U Conserves Energy With New Chiller
The new air conditioning system air-cooled chiller is fully automated for seasonal and daily on/off and will use less electricity to provide cooling, saving the university $6,000 and diverting 23 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Duke U to Raise Minimum Pay Rate for Regular Employees
An annual review of all pay ranges relative to local and national markets inspired the university to announce an increase in minimum wage pay rate to $12 per hour from the current rate of $10.91, which was last adjusted in 2012.
Emory U Cleans Campus Wastewater for Reuse
A new wastewater reclamation system, called WaterHub, allows the university to clean effluent and reuse nearly 300,000 gallons of campus wastewater daily, cutting potable water consumption as much as 35 percent and projected to save the university millions in water utility costs over a 20-year period. In addition, the project will serve as a living laboratory by allowing students to analyze wastewater samples at various stages of treatment.
Five Universities Win Award for Social Entrepreneurship
Brown University, Duke University, University of British Columbia, University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Maryland recently won the 2015 Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Award based on their ability to demonstrate how students, faculty and community members transform the ways in which colleges and universities prepare students as changemakers while positively impacting the community.
Harvard U Building Receives LEED Gold
The university's Harvard Art Museums features energy-efficient LED lightbulbs, natural lighting, a rainwater recovery system, waterless urinals, and 96 percent of all construction-related waste and debris was diverted from landfills.
Penn State U Students Initiate Community Projects
Projects selected through the university's Sustainable Communities Collaborative include an exploration of net-zero energy strategies from an engineering and a human resources perspective, stormwater mitigation tools for residential neighborhoods, composting evaluation and marketing studies, communication strategies to increase participation in recycling, and marketing strategies for a farmer’s market. Sustainable Communities partnerships are formed through agreements developed between local governments and the university's Sustainability Institute to link community-based sustainability projects with existing courses across the university.
Texas A&M to Install Thermal Storage Tank
A soon-to-be-completed 3-million gallon tank for chilled water to air condition and dehumidify buildings is projected to save the university around $600,000 per year by creating the chilled water at night when electricity rates are lowest. Due to the new chiller's capacity, it will allow the university to shut down other chillers that charge during the day.
Texas A&M U Students Design Green Roof for Renovation
Engineers Serving the Community, a student organization that seeks to improve local communities through engineering, has designed a roof they hope will be incorporated into the renovation of the university's engineering building.
