EPA Provides Support for Plastic Free Campuses Program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded funding to Plastic Pollution Coalition and four other organizations to expand the Plastic Free Campuses program to the University of California campuses at Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. A key objective of the program is to reduce plastic pollution at the source.
Frostburg State U Opens Sustainable Energy Research Facility
The Sustainable Energy Research Facility (SERF) will be home to a wide variety of renewable energy research projects, while also serving as an instructional building for classes related to renewable energy. The 6,300-square-foot building itself will be a demonstration and test center, as it will be entirely off-grid, powered and heated with all renewable sources including a combination of solar, wind, passive solar, and hydrogen fuel cell technology. The construction, equipping and staffing of SERF has been supported by two grants from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling nearly $1.6 million.
Harvard U Releases Online Sustainability Impact Report
The university has released a sustainability impact report that provides a campus-wide snapshot of the progress that has been made to reduce the campus’ environmental footprint and increase its operational efficiency. Available online, the report includes data on greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and transportation, as well as infographics, multi-media stories, and progress timelines.
Husson U Living and Learning Center Earns LEED Gold
The 61,000-square-foot multi-use facility incorporates energy efficiency systems including a drainwater heat recovery system, solar hot water system, low-flow faucets, and daylight dimming controls in the classrooms. The facility is also equipped with a Green Education dashboard that will provided water and electricity usage data to help create awareness and modify occupant behavior.
Kennesaw State U Debuts Campus Farmers Market
The university has begun hosting a weekly campus farmers market. Eleven vendors offer locally grown and organic fare, including wildflower honey, heirloom tomatoes, organic granola, broccoli, hydroponic lettuce, apples, and handmade goat’s milk products.
Lyndon State College Students Install Solar Panels
Students have assembled and installed twin-array solar panels as part of a class on energy and the environment. In addition, students are monitoring the system to gauge its capability and will also install a data collection system. A U.S. Department of Energy grant funded the project.
Macalester College Signs Real Food Campus Commitment
The college pledges to purchase at least 30 percent “real food” by 2020, which will include food that is community based, ecologically sound, humanely produced, or fairly traded. The college joins Wesleyan College, UC-Santa Cruz and the University of Vermont as a signatory institution.
Maharishi U of Management Program Shifts Focus to Sustainability
The university’s doctoral program in management has shifted to a more sustainable focus. The Ph.D. program will develop holistic consciousness in the manager; manage the transformation of organizations toward sustainable practices; and facilitate the measurement and communication of sustainability outcomes.
New Aviation Wing at Chukchi College Pioneers Alternative Energy
The college’s new $1.8 million expansion project includes the installation of 16 solar panels and community training for battery and other alternative energy equipment storage. The project also explores alternative energy systems tied to existing grids with battery storage and off-grid systems with battery storage for eventual use.
Ohio State U Studies Ways to Make Campus Operations Sustainable
The university has invested in a scientific study to improve the efficiency and sustainability of campus operations. An interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers will work with the university’s Energy Services and Sustainability Office to estimate the environmental footprint, and will then identify ways to reduce that footprint as well as operating costs. This project will help the university work toward achieving its 2050 carbon neutrality goal.
Partnership Program Launches on Green Chemistry Innovation
Saint Mary’s University in Halifax has partnered with Green Centre Canada and Springboard Atlantic Inc. to launch the Atlantic Green Chemistry Innovation program. The program will accelerate the commercialization of sustainable chemistry-related technologies in Atlantic Canada.
Pennsylvania State U Receives Grant for Biofuel Research
The university’s College of Agriculture Sciences has received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research biofuel-based economic development. The project will promote the use of marginal farmland and abandoned lands so that these crops will not compete with resources for food production.
Queen’s U Diverts 45 Percent of Waste from Landfills
The university has diverted 45 percent of its waste from landfills in the past year, improving by three percent from the previous year. The waste diverted falls into several categories, including leaf and yard waste, electronic waste, organics, furniture, scrap metal, and book recycling. The Sustainability Office is developing an online tool to provide information on recycling and responsible disposal on campus.
Stanford U Medical School Pilots Schedule Flexibility Program
A team at the university’s medical school has created a “banking system” that will allow medical professors to build flexibility into their schedules and better balance their professional and personal lives. The system, asks professors to track the time spent on tasks such as mentoring, serving on committees, and taking on extra clinical hours. Such work translates into credits, and professors can cash these credits in when needed.
St. Lawrence College Completes Solar Installation
The college has completed the installation of a solar project, which included the installation of 1200 solar panels on the Kingston Campus and 442 on the Brockville Campus. The project is expected to generate approximately $230,000 in revenue annually in Kingston and $93,000 in Brockville. Students in the college's Energy Systems Engineering program will gather real-time solar data and learn how solar power generation is impacted by tilt angles, flat versus sloped rooftops, types of inverters, and different geographic locations.
SUNY ESF Creates Office of Energy and Sustainability
The new Office of Energy and Sustainability will help to make the campus more sustainable through improved communication of sustainability resources to the community, increased student involvement, and innovative sustainability projects. Graduate students with one-year appointments will staff the new sustainability coordinator position.
U Detroit Mercy Pilots Recycling Program
The university has installed recycling bins in common areas of every floor in every residence hall after several semesters of students campaigned for a campus-recycling program.
U Maine Creates New Climate Change Adaptation Graduate Program
The Adaptation to Abrupt Climate Change program will support the international research of 24 Ph.D. students in earth sciences, ecology, economics, anthropology, and archaeology. Their focus will be on threats of abrupt climate change to global security; ecosystem sustainability under abrupt climate change; and adaptation of economic, social, political, and ideological systems to abrupt climate change. Funded by a $3 million award from the National Science Foundation, the program is a collaboration between the university’s Climate Change Institute and its School of Policy and International Affairs.
U Maryland Dining Services Launches Sustainable Food Commitment
The Department of Dining Services has created a commitment to sustainable food and launched a Sustainable Food Working Group, comprised of students, faculty, and staff. The group will help the department find innovative and cost-effective ways to achieve a goal of 20 percent sustainable food purchases by 2020.
U Maryland Students Help Bring Solar Lighting to Sierra Leone
In a partnership with the Madieu Williams Foundation and the Maryland Sustainable Engineering student group, about 40 university students helped to design and install a 1.5-kilowatt solar array that would provide lighting to an elementary school in Sierra Leone. The team also installed a battery array that can last several days without any power input from the panels.
U Missouri St. Louis Hires First Sustainability Coordinator
The university has appointed its first sustainability energy and environmental coordinator. Since the appointment, progress has already been made in developing a university climate action plan, creating awareness through social media channels, and building community partnerships.
U South Carolina Releases First Sustainability Report
The university has released its first Sustainable Carolina Annual Report. The 2011-2012 report highlights the work of students, faculty, and staff from across the university on subjects as broad as curriculum development, “greening the mind”, and recycling.
Yale U Printing Certified by Forest Stewardship Council
Yale Printing and Publishing Services has received Chain-of-Custody certification from the Forest Stewardship Council. This certification traces the path of products from forests through the supply chain, verifying that FSC-certified paper pulp is identified and kept separate from non-certified paper pulp.
Youngstown State U Students Win Green Energy Challenge
A group of 15 engineering students won first place in the national Green Energy Challenge competition with an energy-saving plan designed for the Historical Center of Industry and Labor on the university’s campus. The University of Washington, Iowa State, and Georgia Tech placed second, third and fourth, respectively.
ACTS Announces 2012 Green Gown Awards Australasia Winners
(Australia): Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) has announced the winners of the 2012 Green Gown Awards Australasia. This year there were 6 categories of recognition in addition to the ACTS Award of Excellence which was won by the University of Tasmania. In each category, one winning institution and several “highly commended” institutions were recognized.
American U Cairo Measures Carbon Footprint
(Egypt): The university has conducted a comprehensive study of its own impact on climate change. The report, prepared by the Desert Development Center and the Office of Sustainability, is the result of campus-wide efforts incorporating the work of faculty, students and staff. It identifies many strategies for reducing the university’s carbon footprint and energy expenditures.
Bristol CC Fall River Awarded Renewable Energy Grant
(U.S.): A $600,000 renewable energy grant has been awarded to help fund the institution’s wind turbine project that will meet 25 percent of the campus’s energy needs annually. The grant is one of three awarded to state community colleges through the Department of Energy Resources’ Leading by Example program.
Cornell U Garden Receives SITES Certification
(U.S.): A student-designed and installed garden has achieved certification by the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), a comprehensive national rating system for assessing the sustainability of built landscapes. The garden features healthy soils, recycled materials, and site-appropriate plants, and incorporates a design that promotes water conservation.
James Cook U Creates Sustainability Degree Program
(Australia): The new bachelor’s degree program features three majors that aim to build capacity and encourage competence for sustainable development. Students will have the opportunity to choose a ‘sustainability core’ of subjects that demonstrate the theoretical, philosophical and practical attributes of sustainability, or a ‘disciplinary core’ comprising subjects from a disciplinary major.
Lord Fairfax CC Receives Grant for Sustainability Initiatives
(U.S.): The college has received a $25,000 Dominion Foundation Higher Education Partnership Grant to implement sustainability and green practices on campus. The grant will enable Student Environmental Sustainability Committees to implement features such as rain barrels, solar panels, motion detection lighting, recycling bins, and other projects identified by the students, faculty and staff. The students will also hold community events such as fluorescent bulb recycling, community shred events, and workshops.
Louisiana State U Receives Recycling Grant
(U.S.): The university has received a $10,000 grant that will go toward purchasing 1,000 recycling bins to boost recycling efforts during campus events. Campus Recycling also purchased a recycling dumpster to provide a convenient drop-off site for off-campus students.
Manipal U Debuts Solar Water Heaters
(India): Thirty-nine solar water heater units have been installed to provide hot water to the university’s hostels, medical colleges, and hospital. The university has also announced plans to install solar panels alongside its coastal community.
Pittsburg State U Staff to Use Ride Share Program
(U.S.): To show support for the university’s sustainability efforts, the Unclassified Staff Senate has begun promoting ride sharing. Staff will be able to use a shared Zimbra to find others with corresponding campus commutes.
Queen’s U Introduces Car Sharing Program
(Canada): The university has partnered with VRTUCAR to offer a new car sharing program that will provide the campus community with an alternative transportation option and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative will include one shared car and the car-sharing company will cover the cost of insurance, gas, maintenance and snow tires.
Rajiv Gandhi Technical U to Construct Solar Power Plant
(India): The university has announced plans to construct a power plant that will feature cross linear concentrated solar power as part of the Jawahar Lal National Solar Mission, an effort to produce 10,000 megawatts of solar thermal power by 2022. The 30-kilowatt plant will be used for air-conditioning on campus.
Thomas College to Install Solar Array
(U.S.): The college has announced a new partnership with ReVision Energy for a solar energy project. The 170-kilowatt, 700-panel solar photovoltaic array will be mounted on the athletic center and is expected to produce about 11 percent of the college’s energy needs. The project is being financed through a Power Purchase Agreement.
U California Berkeley Installs DIY Bike Repair Station
(U.S.): The do-it-yourself repair station is the first of three planned by the university’s Office of Parking and Transportation as part of a wider effort to accommodate increasing demand for bicycle services on campus. The station is equipped with screwdrivers, a tire pump and a reference code to access detailed repair instructions on Internet-enabled phones.
UC Santa Barbara Receives $50 M Grant for Energy Research
(U.S.): The university has received a $50 million private donation to support energy efficiency research and engineering programs. About half the money will be used to construct a building to house the Institute for Energy Efficiency, an interdisciplinary research center.
U Georgia Costa Rica Campus to Offer Sustainability Certificate
(U.S.): The university’s Costa Rica study abroad campus has announced a new Sustainability in Action semester leading to a sustainability certificate. The program includes an international field experience with coursework intended to directly feed into the University’s Local Food Systems, Environmental Ethics, Organic Agriculture and Sustainability certificate programs.
U Massachusetts Medical School Creates Sustainability Pledge
(U.S.): The university’s Sustainability Committee has asked students, faculty and staff to sign a pledge in an effort to encourage the campus community to think about the environmental impact of everyday decisions. Every month, one person who takes the pledge will be selected to receive a gift.
U Massachusetts Student Farm Partners with Local Supermarket
(U.S.): The university’s Student Farm Enterprise class has partnered with Big Y Foods, a local supermarket, to sell locally grown produce. The partnership will allow students to learn how to manage their own farms and work with a mainstream retail market.
U North Dakota Dedicates Green Alumni Center
(U.S.): Designed to meet LEED Platinum requirements, the new center features solar photovoltaic panels, a geothermal system, native landscaping, and a designated room for the collection and storage of recyclables.
U Nottingham Debuts Sustainable Energy Research Facility
(U.K.): The new Energy Technologies Building features laboratory space for low-carbon research, a demonstration roof for solar panels and a prototyping facility in which researchers will be able to create full-scale building exteriors to test their energy efficiency. A newly installed hydrogen vehicle refueling station will be used for a small fleet of hydrogen-powered cars that will run in connection with research based projects at the building.
Virginia Tech Ambassadors Build Biking Community
(U.S.): The university’s Alternative Transportation Program has implemented the Bicycle Ambassador Program in an effort to encourage safe, responsible bicycle usage among students and faculty. Student ambassadors volunteer their time each week in order to teach cyclists of all skill levels about appropriate bicycling behavior. The ambassadors plan to hold bicycle repair workshops and registration drives, and gather feedback regarding what students want out of biking services on campus.
Walden U Participates in Global Day of Service
(U.S.): More than 2,500 volunteers from the university’s international community of students, alumni, faculty and staff led more than 150 service projects in 700 cities during the seventh annual Global Day of Service. Projects included the sustainability of a multigenerational neighborhood, health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar; working in food banks; cleaning and cooking in Ronald McDonald Houses; holding drives to donate food, clothing, infant and maternity items and coats for veterans; and cleaning up roads, beaches and parks.
Arizona State U to Become a Tobacco Free Campus
The university senate has passed a measure to ban on-campus smoking. Effective Aug. 1, 2013, tobacco use will be prohibited on university property, facilities, grounds, parking structures, university-owned vehicles and structures owned or leased by the university.
