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.
U California Davis Building Claims LEED Platinum
Sustainable features include easy separation for disposing of recyclable products, natural light and views in common areas, high-recycled content in building materials, an energy-efficient mechanical design, and water-efficient sustainable landscaping.
U Kentucky Launches Sustainability Radio Show
Green Talks, hosted by the the director of the Student Sustainability Council, interviews faculty, staff and students who have received funding for projects through the university's student green fee, which generates about $160,000 annually.
U Nebraska Passes Legislation for Eco-Representatives
The university's Residence Hall Association approved legislation that will place eco-representatives to live in each of the residence halls to encourage sustainability through both formal and informal communications with their peers.
U Northern British Columbia Earns Fair Trade Campus Designation
In order to earn the designation, university students, faculty and staff worked together to meet Fairtrade Canada’s procurement standards regarding the price, labor conditions, and environmental sustainability of products consumed and sold on campus. As a result, all campus food partners incorporate Fair Trade products into their offerings.
U Saskatchewan Student Helps Deal With Costly Research Byproduct
A Sustainability Living Lab project, a biological engineering student is investigating a system to process manure from the campus' Dairy Research and Teaching Farm into a product that can be kept on campus or one that is cheaper to have discarded. Currently the university spends $65,000 annually for the manure to be hauled away.
Utah State U Connects Photovoltaic System
Reducing utility costs and increasing visibility for renewable energy, the newly installed 264-panel system will offset energy consumption used by the university's equine research center.
Utah State U Faculty and Student Projects Receive $15K
The university's Facilities recently awarded $15,610 to four projects that include moveable bike racks to increase biking as a mode of transportation, two electric vehicle charging stations in a student parking lot, a bike tire pump, and videos that raise awareness about alternative transportation options.
U Wisconsin Madison Holds Diversity Discussions
Spurred by a campus demonstration of the national frustration over racial inequity in the criminal justice system, campus officials welcomed students back by convening a newly planned round of public discussions of race on campus.
Carnegie Foundation Designates 'Community Engagement' Schools
(U.S.): The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected 240 U.S. colleges and universities to receive its 2015 Community Engagement Classification. Community engagement describes collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. Of this number, 83 institutions are receiving the classification for the first time, while 157 are now re-classified. These 240 institutions join the 121 institutions that earned the classification during the 2010 selection process.
Chicago State U Implements Campus Recycling
(U.S.): As part of the university's Go Green initiative, buildings now have paper, plastic and aluminum recycling bins available throughout campus. This is the first campus-wide recycling plan implemented at the university in over a decade.
Cornell U Building Earns LEED Platinum
(U.S.): The new addition boasts a vegetative roof, an energy efficient HVAC system and automated building control systems, recycled and regionally-procured materials, and carbon dioxide detectors to circulate fresh air only when the space is occupied.
Indiana U Student Organization Passes Sustainability Resolution
(U.S.): The university's Graduate and Professional Student Organization recently passed a resolution calling for the university to establish a dollar amount allocated to renewable energy and to make the amount public, and to report associated emissions reductions each year.
Knox College Completes Waste Free Move
(U.S.): Over the most recent winter break, 70 staff and faculty moved, including the contents of five storage rooms, to a newly renovated building without renting a dumpster or increasing its regular trash pickup schedule.
North Central College Bolsters Electric Vehicle Use
(U.S.): By joining the U.S. Department of Energy's Workplace Charging Challenge, the university pledges to develop a plan to maintain and promote electric charging stations on campus. The university owns two all-electric, zero-emission fleet vehicles and two electric charging stations.
St. Edward's U Reuses Staff Uniforms
(U.S.): Expecting to replace worn out staff uniforms once or twice per year, the university partnered with a locally-owned and operated textile recycling company to repurpose them into dust rags.
U Alberta Launches Sustainability Scholars Graduate Program
(Canada): Supporting the university’s Sustainability Plan 2012-2016, the new programs' objectives are to create opportunities for sharing information and ideas between graduate students and the city professionals, to advance professional development opportunities for graduate students at the university in the area of sustainability, and to inspire graduate students to apply their learning to real world city challenges.
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign to Install 5.87MW Solar Farm
(U.S.): Contributing to the university's goal of carbon neutrality, construction of an on-campus 5.87-megawatt solar farm will begin in spring 2015 after university and state officials recently approved power purchase and land lease agreements.
U Indonesia to Prohibit Vehicles on Campus
(Indonesia): In an effort to reduce emissions from vehicles on campus, the university recently announced plans to build three 3,000-vehicle parking structures on the outskirts of its campus where students and faculty will be required to park and ride the bus or bicycle to campus.
U Richmond Reaches Agreement to Install Solar Energy
(U.S.): With construction slated to begin in July 2015, the 204-kilowatt solar electric array will help the university meet its 30 percent by 2020 carbon reduction goal. Under the arrangement, a solar energy developer in Virginia will install, maintain and own the solar array and its associated tax benefits and will sell the electricity generated by the array to the university at a set rate over a 20-year period.
Utah State U Administers Ridesharing Program
(U.S.): In an effort to reduce single-occupant vehicle use, the university recently initiated the ridesharing service Zimride hoping to make carpooling easier for students, faculty and staff.
Washington U St. Louis Completes Green Renovation
(U.S.) The recently completed renovation of the university's Arts & Sciences department features a green roof with native plants and is used as a new green-space learning environment where faculty and students work in experimental garden plots to study the human use of plants.
West Liberty U Adds 400 Recycling Bins
(U.S.): After past surveys revealed that 84 percent of the campus community would recycle if it was more convenient, the university, aided by funding from West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, added bins to common areas, classrooms and offices.
California State U East Bay to Sign ACUPCC
At an upcoming signature event featuring faculty experts discussing climate change science, impacts and mitigation, the university's president will sign the American Colleges and Universities Presidents' Climate Commitment.
Eastern Connecticut State U Partners to Offer Solar to Community
In an effort to make solar affordable and accessible, the university recently brought the Solar U program online. Part of the Solarize Connecticut program, Solar U offers faculty, staff and students' families the opportunity to compare online competitive bids from pre-screened installers of solar energy systems.
Emory U Studies Sustainability Network
Beginning in fall of 2014, the university's Graduate Sustainability Group conducted an analysis of involvement of graduate students in sustainability by making visible the connections between individuals and groups, and are evaluating how these relationships and interactions function.
EPA Honors Raritan Valley CC
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency commended the community college, an EPA Green Power Partner, for using enough wind power to meet 100 percent of the main campus' electricity needs.
Green Mountain College Receives Donated RECs from Solar System
Contributing to the college's goal of using 100 percent renewable energy by 2020, the Renewable Energy Credits from a 150-kilowatt photovoltaic installation are being donated to the college and will offset approximately 8 percent of the campus' electricity consumption.
Hartwick College Celebrates Health and Environment Theme
This year's campus theme, Health and the Environment: Personal Courage and Community Activism, invites students and faculty to participate in its month-long agenda featuring a film series, bus trip for political action, and education and awareness of fair trade products.
Northern Arizona U Installs Residential Wind Turbine
Funded through the university's Green Fund and the department of Finance and Administration, the 2.4-kilowatt wind turbine was installed on campus and originated from students working on the Arizona Wind for Schools initiative, a project of the U.S. Department of Energy's WindExchange program.
Obama Administration Proposes Free Community College [Video]
President Obama recently announced a proposal to make the first two years of community college free requiring students attend community college at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and make progress toward completing their program. Community colleges, the federal government and participating states would have requirements that must be met as part of this proposal.
Santa Fe CC Completes 156KW Solar Electric Array
The new 156-kilowatt photovoltaic installation combines a solar parking structure with rooftop arrays that will produce approximately 70 percent of the energy to power the building and is estimated to save the college more than $200,000 annually.
U California Initiates President's Sustainability Student Program
Supporting the university system's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025, the university recently announced the creation of the President's Sustainability Student Fellowship/Internship program, whereby the Office of the President will provide $7,500 to each of the university's 10 campuses to fund student awards.
U California to Begin Supplying Electricity to Campuses
The university will switch from a third-party electricity supplier to provide electric power directly to five of its campuses and three of its medical centers, along with other electric accounts throughout the university as part of its initiative to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.
U North Carolina Wilmington Names First Diversity Officer
Currently serving as the vice president for diversity and inclusion at Georgia Regents University, W. Kent Guion, M.D., will begin his duties in April 2015. He has 25 years of experience in higher education as a research assistant, faculty member, dean and administrator.
U Tennessee Knoxville Opens Public Recycling Drop Off Site
The newly designated site for faculty, staff and students accepts paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, steel and aluminum cans, electronic waste, printer cartridges, batteries and scrap metal. In addition to this new site, the university's recycling program is providing at least one dumpster at all residence halls.
Vanderbilt U Extends Recycling to Glass
Spurred by students, the university's Sustainability and Environmental Management Office has recently expanded access to glass recycling to six new campus locations and converted bins designated as event-only to public bins.
