North Carolina State U Awards Inaugural Sustainability Grants
(U.S.): The student-led board of the Sustainability Fund recently allocated funding toward 12 new bikes, a solar art installation, start-up funding for a Food Recovery Network chapter, installation of a solar trash compactor, and an on-campus community garden.
Ohio State U Students Work with City Policymakers
(U.S.): Spring semester students worked in teams to collect data, research best practices, and develop recommendations regarding strategies for the City of Columbus related to climate change adaptation, urban agriculture, alternative vehicles and green buildings.
Penn State U Creates Communications Initiative
(U.S.): The new Sustainability Communications Initiative will conduct original sustainability communication research that can be shared with communication practitioners, will partner with other organizations to create databases of existing sustainability research that will be shared with the media and communication practitioners, and will work with student groups at the university to promote sustainability knowledge and behaviors on campus and in the State College community.
Penn State U Wins Energy Dept Collegiate Wind Competition
(U.S.): The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the first place standing to the university after achieving the highest amount of points through performance testing, business plans and market opportunities for their turbine designs. The University of Kansas and University of Massachusetts at Lowell were second and third respectively.
Pomona College Diverts Year End Celebration Waste
(U.S.): The college's Class of 2014 Class Day celebration either composted or recycled all waste from 1500 participants and reduced bottled water by providing solar-powered water cooler drink stations.
Purdue U Partners with Navy
(U.S.): Researchers at the university are in the early stages of collaborating with the Navy in an effort to help the armed forces shift to alternative sources of energy, specifically liquid transportation fuels.
Seattle U Releases Energy Conservation White Paper
(U.S.): The newly released paper outlines the recently installed system that captures waste pool heat energy and preheats incoming pool water and air, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and contributing to utility savings.
U California Riverside Launches Energy Research Initiative
(U.S.): The university recently celebrated the formal launch of its Sustainable Integrated Grid Initiative, an initiative to research the integration of intermittent renewable energy, such as photovoltaic solar panels, energy storage, such as batteries, and all types of electric and hybrid electric vehicles.
U Guam Constructs Solar Arrays
(Guam): The university recently installed photovoltaic panels on 5 campus buildings in accordance with its Strategic Energy Plan. The university also is conducting research on new photovoltaic systems, with three different forms of photovoltaic technology being used among the buildings to determine which technology would be best suited for a tropical environment.
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign Sells Carbon Offsets to Chevrolet
(U.S.): After an impending carbon credit certification, the university expects to transfer approximately 150,000 tons of reduction from fiscal years 2012-14 to the Chevrolet initiative, which will enable the university to reinvest in clean energy technologies.
U North Carolina Greensboro Abandons Junk Mail
(U.S.): Eliminating staff time it takes to reprogram 6,000 student post office boxes, the new dynamic mail system assigns a unique one-time postal code that corresponds with a postal cubby where packages and letters can be picked up. In this new scheme all bulk mail, fliers and junk mail are eliminated.
Amherst College to Establish Environmental Sustainability Office
To raise awareness for environmental efforts within the college community, the university's soon-to-be-opened office will focus on coordinating campus operational sustainability initiatives and on further incorporating sustainability issues into research and teaching.
Black Hills State U Dining Receives Green Certification
Several of the university's dining services facilities have recently been designated as 2-Star Certified Green Restaurants by the Green Restaurant Association through sustainability work in the areas of water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable furnishings and building materials, sustainable food, energy, disposables and chemical and pollution reduction.
Chicago Area Schools Organize 'Bike2Campus' Week
Organized by the Chicago Network of Sustainability in Higher Education, ten colleges and universities recently participated in the inaugural event, which is a five-day alternative transit challenge http://www.bike2campus.com/ to get students on their bicycles and encourages students to reduce emissions, practice healthy lifestyles, and learn about bike-safety issues. The ten schools include Loyola University at Chicago, City Colleges of Chicago, Columbia College at Chicago, University of Chicago, University of Illinois-Chicago, Roosevelt University, Dominican University, Northwestern University, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the School of the Art Institute Chicago.
Elon U Registrar Office Acts to Reduce Paper Use
In an effort to manage staff workload, meet student needs and save resources, the university's Office of the Registrar has implemented a central printing station, switched diploma paper stock to one that is less likely to fade, offers an automated form depository, and has removed its fax machine.
Illinois Valley CC Dedicates Land for Organic Farm
With hopes its farm will produce enough organic vegetables to be brought to local markets, the new one-acre farm is used for research on sustainable farming methods by the college's Sustainability Club.
Ohio State U Class Develops Sustainability Framework
During the spring 2014 semester, a class from the university's Environment, Economy, Development and Sustainability program worked with a local materials company to develop strategic sustainability initiatives for which the company can use to engage stakeholders.
Oregon State U Brings Ground-Mounted Solar Online
Aiding the university's offset of greenhouse gas emissions, the newest system is the largest of its kind at the school and collectively contributes to 10-acres of clean energy generation through photovoltaic technology.
Richland College Repurposes Collected Plastic Bags
The college's Sustainable Conversations group, designed to brainstorm ways to reduce campus waste and productively recycle and reuse discarded materials, set up a bag collection during RecycleMania, which they are using for crochet projects.
Seven Schools Receive 'Canada's Greenest Employers' Recognition
Now entering its 8th year, the Canada's Greenest Employers competition recognizes the employers that lead Canada in creating a culture of environmental awareness in their organizations. The seven schools are Georgian College, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, Red River College, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, University of Northern British Columbia, and York University.
Stanford U to Divest from Coal Companies
The university recently announced it will not make direct investments of endowment funds in publicly traded companies whose principal business is the mining of coal for use in energy generation. The Board of Trustees endorsed this recommendation from the university's Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing, which conducted an extensive review over the last several months of the social and environmental implications of investment in fossil fuel companies.
U Buffalo Building Earns LEED Gold
The newly completed building houses the university's Educational Opportunity Center, which provides a range of tuition-free remedial, vocational and academic programs that help prepare students for college and careers.
U Georgia Installs Electric Vehicle Chargers
Installed due to campus community interest, the new EV charging stations are able to fully power a vehicle in two hours and are currently free to parking deck users, although beginning in the fall, a fee will be assessed.
U Wisconsin Madison to Offer New Sustainability Certificate
The new certificate to be offered through the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies with support from the university's Office of Sustainability will allow students to diversify their major course of study with interdisciplinary coursework in sustainability principles and application to real-world challenges. Through the certificate program, students will learn about links between natural and human systems, life-cycle thinking, value-generation for energy and other natural resources, and the role of public policy.
Campus Conservation Nationals Save 2.2M kWH in Fourth Year
The 2014 national competition to reduce energy and water use at colleges and universities collective tabulated a savings of 2.2 million-kilowatt hours of electricity and 476,000 gallons of water. The top ten schools with the largest campus-wide percent reduction during an electricity competition were Appalachian State University; Bard College; Berea College; California State University at Chico; Dickinson College; Louisiana State University; Loyola University Maryland; Portland State University; Wake Forest University; and Western Carolina University, with reductions ranging from 11 to 24 percent.
Colorado Signs Affordability Bill into Law
The recently signed bill will allocate an additional $100 million in state funding for Colorado’s colleges and universities to help offset several years of recession-driven cuts. As part of the legislation, Colorado’s universities and colleges agreed not to raise tuition by more than six percent a year.
Duke U to Build Rainwater Reclamation Pond
Developed after the worst-on-record 2007 drought, the on-campus, highly visible pond will collect rainwater from 22 percent of campus, and will be used in machinery that cools many campus buildings.
Humboldt State U Adopts Investment Pledge
The recently embraced Humboldt Investment Pledge, adopted through the university's Advancement Foundation Board, comes on the heels of stakeholder meetings including students and lays out a 10-point pledge with goals for investment activity that limit its holdings in fossil fuel companies.
Keene State College Averts Plastic Bottles
Fifteen buildings across campus have recently received water bottle refilling stations, which encourage the campus community to use their own bottles and will decrease the amount bottles recycled and sent to the landfill.
Minnesota State U Moorhead Adds Bike Repair Station
Helping to reduce the university's overall carbon footprint, the fix it station, replete with tools, air pump and QR code tip manual, was a student-driven project partially paid for by the green fee fund.
Mount Marty College Wins Recycling Grant
As part of a grant by Keep America Beautiful and The Coca-Cola Foundation, the college will receive 40 additional recycling containers and implement a plan focused on the act of recycling and educational outreach.
Trent U Designated Fair Trade Campus
On behalf of its social sustainability efforts, Fairtrade Canada has recognized the university for sourcing Fairtrade-certified products for campus services and for the University’s ongoing efforts to spread awareness about fair trade issues among students and staff.
U Colorado Boulder Buildings Achieve LEED Gold
The two buildings feature low-flow plumbing, efficient lighting, efficient heating and cooling systems, energy efficient windows, and power outlets in the student rooms that cut off electricity when rooms are unoccupied. Approximately 80 percent of all of the construction waste from the buildings was diverted from landfills.
U Maryland College Develops Sustainability Plan
The university's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences new sustainability plan complements its Climate Action Plan and was designed to serve as a guide for other colleges to join BSOS in this effort to improve the sustainability of the campus and community as a whole. The publication features the vision and background, objectives, implementation plan and metrics.
U Winnipeg Selected for Climate Change Project
The university's Richardson College for the Environment has been selected by Natural Resources Canada to co-ordinate a $500,000, three-year project on climate change called the Prairies Regional Adaptation Collaborative. The collaborative project will focus on agriculture, energy, mining, forestry and water as they relate to climate change.
15 Schools Selected to Participate in Keep America Beautiful Prog
Keep America Beautiful's Give and Go 2014 program is a partnership with Goodwill Industries and select colleges and universities to implement effective collection drives during the spring move out period at the end of the term when students leave campus housing. Selected 2014 schools include College of Charleston; Creighton University; Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis; Northern Illinois University; Pacific Lutheran University; Radford University; Southern Oregon University; Texas A&M University; Texas Tech University; The University of Toledo; Trinity University; University of Georgia;; University of Louisville; University of Missouri at Kansas City; University of San Diego; and University of St Thomas.
Auburn U Installs Utility Tracking Devices
In an effort to understand the impacts of projects on the university's utility systems and conserve resources and funds, the new meters for electricity, natural gas and water are wirelessly connected to a centralized system that digitally tracks hourly consumption.
Dalhousie U Releases Natural Environment Plan
The new plan represents four years of collaborative research that will formally recoginize vegetation, beneficial wildlife, water and air quality in campus natural environment management activities. Using surveys and interviews to determine management priorities from constituents, the plan is organized into three sections: planning, implementation, and operation and management review.
Energy Dept Announces Home Student Design Competition Winners
Grand winners of the U.S. Department of Energy's Challenge Home Student Design Competition are State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in partnership with Onondaga Community College and Ryerson University. In its inaugural year, 28 teams from U.S. and Canadian universities competed to develop cost-effective zero energy ready homes for mainstream builders. Other categories include Best Design Solution Integration, Best Technical Integration, Best Presentation, Best Production Home Integration and Special Recognition for Subject Area Excellence.
EPA Recognizes Teams of Sustainable Design Expo & P3 Competition
In a recent press release, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced seven winning student teams of EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) phase II awards for innovative and sustainable designs to help solve today’s complex environmental problems at the 10th annual National Sustainable Design Expo. The winners of the $90,000 seed funding are Cornell University; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Iowa State University; Purdue University at Indiana; State University of New York at Stony Brook; University of Tennessee at Knoxville; and University of Wisconsin at Madison.
EPA Releases Quarterly List of Top 30 Green Power Partners
The top 30 list represents the largest green power users among higher education institutions within the Green Power Partnership. The combined green power use of these organizations amounts to more than two billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of more than 190,000 average American homes annually.
EPA Releases Winners of Second Annual Campus RainWorks Challenge
Recently announced are four winners of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's competition to engage college and university students in reinventing the nation's water infrastructure and developing innovative green infrastructure systems to reduce stormwater pollution and build resilience to climate change. The winners are University of Florida at Gainsville; Kansas State Univerity; Michigan State University; and Mississippi State University.
Georgetown U $5M National Energy Competition Goes Live
The Georgetown University Energy Prize will offer $5 million in 2017 to one eligible community develop and implement plans for replicable, scalable and continual reductions in the per-capita energy consumed from local natural gas and electric utilities.
Macalester College Awarded $650K Sustainability Grant
The $650,000 Margaret A. Cargill Foundation grant is aimed at expanding sustainability and sustainable thinking beyond Environmental Studies and the Sustainability Office and potential projects include engaging faculty in creating new courses with a focus on sustainability, incorporating the topic into a future International Roundtable, training faculty, staff and students, establishing a sustainability fellowship, and hiring additional student workers in the sustainability office.
