Oregon Tech to Connect Solar Array
(U.S.): Working toward its climate action plan, the soon-to-be-connected array of 7,800 panels will provide approximately 26 percent of the college's energy and covers nine acres.
ORT Hermelin Academic College of Eng & Tech to Become Microgrid
(Israel): The college president announced plans recently to transform the campus into a self-sustainable island to demonstrate how a smart electricity microgrid can successfully deliver energy to consumers when they need it and without power failures or extraneous costs.
Portland State U Initiates Green Revolving Fund
(U.S.): Aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower utility expenses and advance the university's climate action goals, the new $500,000 fund will be used towards projects that improve building conditions and reduce its environmental footprint. Savings are reinvested in the fund.
Skidmore College to Begin New Clean Tech Program
(U.S.): In a recent release, the university will soon offer the New York Executive Clean Energy Leadership Institute, which intends to teach business professionals about renewable energy and opportunities for new ventures.
South African Academe Promotes Equity Index
(South Africa): In an effort to spur progress toward an academe that reflects South Africa's ethnic mix, the University of KwaZulu-Natal has developed and introduced an "equity index" that tracks how closely student, staff, senate and governing council bodies reflect the country’s ethnic and gender make-up. Controversially, the data allow institutions to be ranked by how similar they are to the South African population as a whole.
Tufts U to Add 99KW Photovoltaic Array
(U.S.): Joining the city of Medford's effort to solarize the city, the university will install the 99-kilowatt solar system to foster environmental sustainability on the campus.
U California Los Angeles Responds to White House Call
(U.S.): In response to the 2012 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the university recently introduced plans to participate in the Grand Challenge Initiative with six projects focused on pressing sustainability issue. The first of six projects, "Thriving in a Hotter Los Angeles," aims for the region to use exclusively renewable energy and local water by 2050 while protecting biodiversity and enhancing quality of life. The remaining five projects will be announced over the next five years.
U California Santa Cruz Introduces Impact Award
(U.S.) The university's 2013 Chancellor's Sustainability Challenge inaugural Impact Award recognizes students who develop waste reduction/diversion projects, experience a deeper level of commitment, participate in existing programs, or raise awareness of the need to reduce waste. First place prize is $300.
U California Santa Cruz Transitions to 100% Recycled Paper
(U.S.): As of summer 2013, the university's Copy Center now procures strictly post-consumer waste paper for student course reading packets. It is currently transitioning to this type of paper for all copy machines and printers it services across campus.
U Otago Joins Fairtrade Movement
(New Zealand): The university was recently accredited as one that procures certain products that are ethically, socially and environmentally responsible.
U Washington Offers Campus Research Project Funding
(U.S.): The university recently established the new Green Seed Fund to provide grants of $25,000 to $75,000 for proposals outlining research projects that provide practical solutions to helping the university reach its sustainability goals.
AACC Receives $1M Grant for Clean Technology Training
The recently awarded funding to the American Association of Community Colleges' Sustainability Education and Economic Development (SEED) Center will be used to expand training and sustainability education innovations at community colleges nationwide.
American Farmland Trust Awards Local Food Funding
The funding has been awarded to four SUNY campuses, University of Albany, New Paltz, Oswego and Oneonta, and aims to promote AFT's pilot project called Farm to College. The new program seeks to increase the use of fresh, frozen and processed vegetables raised by New York farmers by all SUNY colleges.
Austin College Dedicates Green Building
The university's newly dedicated Inquiry, Discovery, Entrepreneurship, and Access (IDEA) Center is aiming for LEED Silver through incorporating energy efficiency, green building techniques, solar shading, natural light and a rooftop rain irrigation system for native landscaping.
British Columbia Institute of Tech Hosts Computer Reuse Program
In an effort to address the plethora of electronic waste inundating the landfills, the university will now be home to the West Coast branch of the World Computer Exchange, a service that will accept computers from members of campus or the community, refurbish the machines, and redistribute them to local and international communities in need.
Catawba College Hosts Diversity Conversations
The campus' Diversity Club hosted a week of activities focused on appreciating differences. Events included exhibitions, a "race kiosk," varied ethnic food offerings and a documentary.
Connecticut College Initiates Recycling Education Campaign
After recently observing trash and recyclables intermingling in bins across campus and to help end confusion about single-stream recycling, the Office of Sustainability started the Blue Campaign using billboards across campus to ask the question "What does blue mean to you?"
Department of Education Solicits College Affordability Feedback
President Obama has directed the U.S. Department of Education to develop and publish a new college ratings system that would be available for students and families before the 2015-16 school year. The ratings system will help students compare the value offered by colleges and encourage colleges to improve. As part of an effort to gather public input about the development of the system, the Education Department has the last of four open forums on Nov. 21 at Louisiana State University. Transcripts of the forums are available. To submit input, email collegefeedback@ed.gov.
Joliet Junior College Buildings Achieve LEED Gold
The university's recently certified Health Professions Center features a rainwater gray water system, solar shading, ground-source heating and cooling, and lighting efficiency. The Campus Center features solar panels, ground-source heating and cooling, green roofs and accessible natural areas.
Lafayette College Uses On-Campus Farm Produce in Dining Halls
The university's new food service provider, Bon Appetit, is now procuring 100 percent of produce grown at the student-run campus garden. Called the food loop, students have coordinated with Dining Services for the food scraps to be collected for compost that is reapplied on the garden fields.
Loyola U Students Help Lower Avian Mortality
In a concerted effort to reduce avian mortality on three of the university's buildings, service-learning students enrolled in the spring 2013 SOAR (Student Operation for Avian Relief) program designed a plan that includes nets and usage of the building's automation system to lower blinds during early morning hours.
North Carolina State U Homecoming Becomes Sustainable Certified
Through the university's Sustainability Office, the fall event earned the highest achievement, Wolfpack-Certified Green Champion Level, for its efforts to reduce event waste, including parade materials, offer healthy food options and donating leftover food, and community engagement.
Northwestern U Sustainability Center Expands Scope
The university's Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern recently became an institute (formerly an initiative), and has expanded its scope to include interdisciplinary research. New research facilities to house university and visiting scholars are currently under construction and expected to open in 2014.
Parking Efficiencies Create Financial Savings
Recent implemented technologies at several U.S. universities have shown to improve the campus driving experience, reduce emissions, and conserve financial resources. These technologies include online maps, smartphone applications, and scanners that issue parking permits and provide driver data.
Six Connecticut Universities Receive Funding for EV Stations
In an effort to combat "range anxiety" for drivers of electric vehicles and promote the use of zero-emissions automobiles, the governor recently announced grant awards for the installation of charging stations to Western Connecticut State University, Goodwin College, Wesleyan University, Central Connecticut State University, Norwalk Community College and the University of Connecticut.
U Albany Rolls Out Sustainability Minor, Bus Tracker
The university launched an undergraduate minor designed to provide students with a foundation in the environmental, geopolitical and social aspects of sustainability, and installed a new GPS bus system to provide real-time arrival data to riders.
U California Berkeley Meets 1990 Carbon Emissions Level
Through investing in energy efficiency, sustainable transportation practices, purchasing sustainable power, and improving data and inventory methods, the university successfully reduced its carbon emissions to 1990 levels two years earlier than targeted.
U California Santa Cruz Transitions to Bottle-Free
University Dining services announced recently that all Perk Coffee Bars no long sell single-use water bottles. All buildings where the coffee bars exist were outfitted with hydration stations that allow members to fill their own reusable bottles.
U Delaware Renewable Energy Credits Fund Graduate Position
A newly established three-year deal enables the university to sell its renewable energy credits from the university-owned wind turbine to a local municipality, with an annual floor of $35,000, which will fund a graduate-student fellowship within the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment.
U Louisville Sets Living Wage
The university just initiated a living wage program beginning November 1 that will increase the salary for regular staff employees to $10 per hour. Based on the cost of living in that community, the initiative is not a one-time raise, but rather a program that will be reviewed annually to make sure employees remain above the living wage threshold.
