Unity College Students Help Design Passive House Residence Hall
Unity College (ME) students and faculty recently gathered to provide design ideas and concerns for the college's upcoming project to build a residence hall to the Passive House standard. The Passive House standard in the U.S. is an extension of the PassivHaus Institute of Germany, utilizing insulation and tight air sealing to minimize heat loss. The college received a $389,000 grant from the Kendeda Fund to construct the cottage-style residence hall, which will use sunlight to generate energy with little or no active mechanical systems. The sunlight will be converted to usable heat. Students, who will also be involved in the construction and monitoring of the facility, participated in discussions about the potential size of the building, the orientation and interior set-up, and how the building will relate to the whole of the college.
Southern Illinois U Carbondale Students Install Green Roof
Southern Illinois University Carbondale students have installed a green roof with wildflowers and grasses on the College of Agricultural Sciences building. The project is both educational and economical, reducing energy costs by providing extra insulation and featuring an unplanted section for research purposes. The research will seek to establish tolerance thresholds for stress and to identify plant species suitable for green roof propagation. The project is funded by a $20,000 grant fed by the university’s current $10 per semester green student fee, as well as $10,000 contributions from the College of Agricultural Sciences dean and the Physical Plant budget.
U Minnesota Duluth Students Revive Neighboring Orchard
Students in the Students for Sustainable Agriculture group at the University of Minnesota, Duluth are helping the university revive a neighboring orchard and farm to provide produce for the campus. Students and faculty worked during the summer to clean up the orchard and ready the soil for vegetables. Raised bed gardens will be planted on a one-acre plot in the spring. A second acre of gardens will be planted in 2012 with plans for a well and fencing. Late last month, the students brought community members together to press the apples, forgotten since the 1970s, into cider. The university hopes to create a social enterprise garden where the produce sold will fund student internships. Some interns will grow food and others will work to market the food to local grocery stores.
Cal State U Long Beach Hosts Campus Green Competition
California State University at Long Beach will host the campus competition, "Do it in the Dark," to compare electricity and water consumption rates for each residence hall. The buildings will be divided into three competing groups. The group that reduces its consumption the most per week will win a pizza party. The university hopes that the competition, sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy's Green Campus Program, will be a successful outreach and educational tool.
Pepperdine U Students Start Community Garden
Pepperdine University’s (CA) Green Team, a student organization, has constructed a campus community garden. Twelve elevated, large box planters were filled with organic compost from a local distributor of bio-dynamic soil. Forty-eight separate plots within the planters will be rented out to individuals or organizations that want to support the Green Team while growing their own produce. Any funds raised from renting plots will go to upkeep and perpetuation of the garden.
Swarthmore College Students Convert Cooking Oil to Biodiesel Fuel
Swarthmore College (PA) students have launched a project to convert used cooking oil from the college's dining hall into biodiesel fuel that will be used in college facilities or vehicles. The first stage of the project consists of converting small batches of unused cooking oil into biodiesel in order to receive estimates on how much biodiesel fuel will be produced from the used cooking oil. The goal of the second stage is to find the exact measurements of how much biodiesel is produced and the amount of emissions created by the combustion of biodiesel.
Texas State U Students Initiate Sustainability Tour
Texas State University students organized a Sustainability Exploration event to promote environmental awareness both on and off campus. The tour highlighted sustainable projects on campus including the Bike Cave, compost bins, rainwater collection tanks and the recreation center's Calories for Kilowatts program. Participants also learned how to make a solar oven out of pizza boxes and met with community organizations like the Edible San Marcos Community Garden and the San Marcos Greenbelt Community Alliance.
U California Los Angeles Publishes Green Guide to Campus Living
The University of California, Los Angeles has published the “Green Guide to Sustainable Living at UCLA.” The booklet contains information about the environmental impacts of food, transportation, waste, electricity use and purchasing power tailored to student life at the university. All students moving into on-campus housing will find the Green Guide in their rooms. The guide, which also tells students how to get involved with sustainability efforts, will be offered at resource fairs and other events. Education for Sustainable Living Program students collaborated with UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services and the Office of Residential Life to publish the guide.
American U Installs Green Roofs with the Help of Volunteers
American University (DC) has installed two green roofs with the help of 50 students, faculty and local neighbors. The university partnered with local nonprofit DC Greenworks to oversee the collaborative learning experience. Volunteers helped with all aspects of the installation including the removal of existing roof pavers, the spread of the green roof growing medium and planting the green roof.
McMaster U Students Launch Campus Farmers Market
Students at McMaster University (ON) have launched a campus farmers market that runs every Thursday, offering fresh, local food to students, faculty and staff. The market has three area growers who supply produce, and the producers are invited to the market to share their food knowledge.
U Illinois Debuts Sustainable Student-Run Farm
The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has debuted the new Sustainable Student Farm. The three-acre farm is part of an initiative to have locally grown produce make up 30 percent of all food eaten on campus by the year 2015. All fruits and vegetables harvested will either be sent to the university’s dining services department or sold on Thursdays on campus during lunch hours. Students and volunteers work and manage the farm.
California State U San Bernardino Hands Out Sustainable Fortunes
California State University, San Bernardino sweetened its sustainability messaging by passing out fortune cookies during its recent Welcome Week. The cookies were filled with green campus information inside, an idea initiated by the university's Green Campus interns. The team is currently gearing up for more student-involved green activities.
Clemson U Starts Healthy Campus Initiative
From a campus bike share program to recyclable cafeteria to-go containers, Clemson University (SC) will kick off the school year with the Healthy Campus project. Targeting environmentally conscious students and those who struggle to remain active and healthy, the initiative takes a personal approach to sustainability. In an effort to keep fitness levels up, the university is working with engineers to make the campus more pedestrian friendly to encourage walking. Clemson Housing is also working with Students for Environmental Action to start a new on-campus live-in, learn-in community. The university's EcoPlex will serve as the pilot building for the learn-in community, featuring energy-efficient heating and cooling, reduced water use and on-site recycling.
American U Launches Green Eagles Program
The American University (DC) has launched Green Eagles, a student sustainability educators program. Green Eagles are paid, part-time student workers hired to implement sustainable practices on campus and to conduct outreach to the university community as a whole, with an emphasis on the residence halls where they reside. Green Eagles will have the opportunity to learn about waste, recycling, composting, energy and carbon neutrality.
Bucknell U Students Initiate Green Roof Learning Laboratory
Bucknell University (PA) has installed about 150 trays of soil and sedum on a 600-square-foot portion of a campus roof. The variety of hardy, flowering plans will serve as a testing ground as well as a living, learning laboratory for students interested in green building. The project was initiated by environmental studies students as part of the Campus Greening Initiative’s Sustainable Energy and Ecological Design Project Program. The green roof will help insulate the building and reduce stormwater runoff.
Central Michigan U Starts Campus Grow Project
Central Michigan University has launched the Campus Grow Project. With a focus on organic community gardening and composting, the project offers sustainable alternatives to the industrial food system through access to healthy local food and educational gardening opportunities. Students can grow and harvest food in two organic gardens on the university’s campus, where food scraps from the university’s residential restaurants are used to create nutrient-rich soil. Plots are also available to faculty and community members.
U Chicago Utilizes Dorm Open Space
The University of Chicago (IL) has announced plans to create student-maintained gardens with available land space outside dormitories. The "Uncommon Garden Project" will encourage dorm residents to plant, cultivate and harvest their own fruits, vegetables and herbs just outside their kitchens. With support from the Uncommon Fund, start-up costs will be provided along with the education needed to maintain the gardens. A Web page found on the Geophysical Science department website will feature updates, photos and garden announcements.
California State U Long Beach Students Ramp Up Green Program
Interns with California State University Long Beach’s student-led Green Campus Program are working to ensure that campus classrooms are as energy efficient as possible. One project features the use of data loggers that record the activity of occupancy sensors through on/off changes of lights. The students will watch for irregular patterns in lighting usage that indicate when automatic light sensors are not working properly and inform the university's Facilities Management Department. The Green Campus Program was implemented last spring at the university, with plans to promote energy efficiency to students, make operational change recommendations and encourage the implementation of energy efficiency lessons into university curriculum. A main goal of the program, which is currently in place on 19 California campuses, is to build pathways for students to green careers through trainings, internships, volunteer opportunities and project-based learning.
Lake Forest College Students Start Campus Garden
Lake Forest College (IL) students have created a campus garden, funded by the Andrew Mellon Grant for environmental studies. The garden features four different garden styles, including three bio-intensive beds, two tilled fields, three raised seeder beds and a no-dig garden. Crops include carrots, potatoes, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, kale, chard, tomatoes and herbs. The students are working to direct the harvest to the school cafeteria.
Pennsylvania State U Launches Eco-Rep Program
Pennsylvania State University has announced plans to start an Eco-Rep Program in the fall. Students who are Eco-Reps will live in residential halls and promote environmentally responsible behaviors. Eco-Reps are expected to focus on the reduction of electricity use during the fall semester and recycling in the spring. The university is looking to fill 28 spots open to incoming freshman.
U Missouri Students Plan 'Sustainahouse'
The University of Missouri’s nonprofit, student-run sustainability program, Sustain Mizzou, aims to increase its on-campus visibility with a project dubbed "Sustainahouse." Four to eight students will live in a rented house near campus and work to become a model of a more sustainable living environment for students. Residents will take shorter showers and grow and cook with locally grown produce. Sustain Mizzou plans to create a service learning class and provide Sustainahouse tours to the public. The group will start looking for tenants in December for the 2011 - 2012 school year.
Emory U Uses Energy Savings for Haiti Relief Efforts
Student teams from Emory University (GA) are off to Haiti to work on earthquake relief efforts thanks to $33,000 in savings due to a reduction in campus energy consumption. Faculty, students and staff cut back their energy use by four percent as part of the Haiti Relief Energy Conservation Challenge. With the energy funds saved, students selected by the university's Global Health Institute are working through August in rural Haiti on the expansion of safe water access through a household water chlorination program and a project assessing mental health.
Swarthmore College Good Food Project Starts Campus Window Farm
Swarthmore College's (PA) student-led Good Food Project has built a campus hydroponic window farm. The farm is made from stacks of plastic bottles which each contain a dirt filter and a small plant. Water trickles down each stack until it reaches the bottom, where a hydroponic pump recycles it to the top of the stack. Window farms have low ecological impact while supporting edible produce and can operate year-round indoors with enough sunlight. The farm currently houses small lettuce plants. Organizers hope to grow small tomatoes and peas later in the summer.
George Washington U Acquires Bee Hives for Sustainable Food Ed
The George Washington University’s (DC) Mount Vernon campus has received four Italian honeybee hives from a local beekeeping cooperative. Spearheaded by student organization Food Justice Alliance, the initiative is an effort to promote sustainable food and gardening by exposing students in urban areas to the practice of keeping bees. The campus plans to offer beekeeping workshops to the university community.
Harvard U Students Weatherize Campus Building
Harvard University (MA) students recently improved the energy efficiency of the 100-year-old Phillip Brooks House in Harvard Yard. Participants helped weatherize the building by caulking storm windows, sealing a chimney, and installing low-flow plumbing fixtures, door sweeps, and insulating pipes. With 180 square inches of gaps in the building envelope filled, the weatherization is expected to save the University more than nine tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases and $3,750 in utility costs annually.
U California Davis to Open Honey Bee Haven
The University of California, Davis has announced plans to unveil the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven in September, 2010. The half-acre garden, planted last fall, is designed as a year-round food source for bees and other pollinators. Another aim of the garden is to create public awareness about the plight of honey bees and their importance.
Delaware State U Dedicates Sustainability Garden
Delaware State University has dedicated a new sustainability garden. The vegetables grown on the plot will be served in the school café and sold at the University’s farmer’s market. The surplus will be donated to low-income families.
Loyola U Chicago Purchases Retreat Center for Env'l Learning
Loyola University Chicago has purchased a 98-acre retreat center that will be used for a number of purposes. Among other plans for the facility, Loyola plans to use the center to introduce an Outdoor Adventure Program, which aims to provide students, faculty, and staff with opportunities to experience outdoor activities that are designed to promote positive lifetime skills and leadership development; encourage personal and interpersonal development; and increase environmental awareness by providing high-quality leisure education, outdoor, educational, and experiential programs. On the academic side, the University's biology department and Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy will also benefit from the purchase. With 20 acres of natural habitat that includes ponds, streams, woods, and prairie land, the property offers a unique learning opportunity for students and faculty interested in the sciences.
Northwestern U Plants Organic Garden
Northwestern University (IL) has planted a garden on campus. Students designed the organic garden last fall and planted it the second week of May. Students hope their gardening efforts will raise awareness about sustainable gardening practices.
U California Los Angeles Students Complete Green Projects
Students at the University of California, Los Angeles have completed Action Research Projects to help make the University a more environmentally sustainable campus. Over the course of two quarters, 70 students were divided into 11 groups that each took on a different project. Topics included bicycles and their benefits, drought landscaping, sustainable food systems, water conservation, green student orientation, composting in residence halls, promoting drinking fountains over plastic water bottles, paperless course evaluations, single stream recycling, and green graduate housing.
U Minnesota Duluth Constructs Rooftop Garden
University of Minnesota Duluth has constructed a vegetable garden on a campus rooftop. The newly constructed straw bale gardens are part of an on-going project that focuses on campus gardens that produce edible foods as well as develop educational opportunities for food-raising at the University. The garden will also serve as a temperature control, keeping the building cooler during the summer. The total cost of the project was $5,000.
Loyola U Chicago Students Travel to DC on Biodiesel
A group of Loyola University, Chicago students recently traveled to Washington D.C. in a van powered 100 percent by biodiesel, which was made by the students themselves. The students showcased their Mobile Green Energy Show (MGES), a mobile deep fryer and a generated powered through a closed-loop system, on the National Mall. The waste vegetable oil from the deep fryer is used to power the generator that provides energy for the deep fryer.
Loyola U Chicago Wins Arbor Day Video Challenge
Loyola University, Chicago (IL) has won the Arbor Day Foundation's Video Challenge to create a compelling video to convince people to plant trees. Loyola received $2,500 in free trees to plant on campus or in the local community.
Emory U to Hold Zero-Waste Commencement
Emory University (GA) has announced plans to hold zero-waste commencement events. The composting of food and biodegradable service ware and recycling of plastic water bottles will occur at multiple Commencement events this month. A total of 15 events during Emory’s Commencement celebrations are expected to be zero-waste, all of which support Emory’s sustainability initiative to achieve 65 percent waste reduction on campus by 2015 from 2005 levels.
Boston U Sustainability Website Receives International Award
Boston University's (MA) sustainability@BU website has been selected as a 2010 “Webby Honoree” in the Green category for the 14th Annual Webby Awards. Nearly 10,000 entries were received from all 50 states and over 60 countries. The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 15 percent of all work entered that exhibits remarkable achievement.
College of the Holy Cross Releases Sustainability Video
The College of the Holy Cross (MA) has released "Don't Go Green," a video in which campus leaders urge the community to think seriously about their impact on the environment. The video, sponsored by the Presidential Task Force on the Environment, is designed to help enhance the culture of sustainability on campus.
Florida International U Garden Named 'People's Garden' By USDA
Florida International University's Organic Garden, located on campus and run by faculty, staff, and students, has been named a "People's Garden" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The special recognition is accorded to community gardens across the United States, an initiative started by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last year to promote sustainable, healthy, and local community food production in the country.
Humboldt State U to Hold Green Graduation
Humboldt State University (CA) has announced plans to hold a green commencement ceremony. The event has banned disposable plastic water bottles and will instead be offering chilled filtered water in compostable cups. In addition, all 1,400 graduate and undergraduate gowns sold by the HSU Bookstore have been made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles. The campus will also print fewer Commencement programs per graduate this year, with an eye toward reducing the amount of paper used.
NWF Announces 2010 Chill Out Competition Winners
Five colleges and universities from across the United States have won national recognition in National Wildlife Federation’s annual competition Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming. This award program is a campus competition to promote sustainability and honor U.S. schools that are advancing creative approaches to reducing the carbon footprint on campuses. This year's winners are: Western State College of Colorado (Students in Action category), Central Florida Community College (Green Jobs and Education category), University of Arkansas (Campus-Wide Actions category), Georgia Institute of Technology (Best Video), and Boston Latin School (MA) (Innovative Research, Design, and Technology category). The Chill-Out webcast is available for viewing on-demand.
U Florida Commencement to be Carbon Neutral
The University of Florida has announced that its graduation ceremonies will be carbon neutral this year. The University plans to offset the utilities of the three facilities that will be used during commencement. Additionally, more than 350 graduating students signed the Green Graduation Pledge, committing to carry the values of sustainability with them as they move on from the University of Florida.
U Massachusetts Medical School Student Invention Wins Grand Prize
Max Fraden, a University of Massachusetts Medical School student, and project partner Charles Ishimwe, a business student at the Adventist University of Central Africa in Rwanda, recently won a global social entrepreneurship competition with their idea to replace dangerous kerosene with human pedal power. Based on advanced hand-crank technology, the Nuru Light uses a pedal generator similar to an incumbent bike to generate electricity, which is then stored in batteries. These batteries can be used to power lights, and eventually small household electronics, such as radios and cell phones. Currently, 90 percent of residents in Rwanda use expensive kerosene fuel to light their homes, exposing them to toxic fumes and other dangers. The two students will take home the $10,000 Grand Prize in the 6th annual Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC). Awarded by the Global Business Center at the University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business, the GSEC is a business plan competition in which students from around the world—and across fields of study—develop creative, commercially sustainable solutions to problems of poverty in the developing world.
Washington Post Covers Earth Day on College Campuses
The Washington Post has published an article on how college students celebrated Earth Day this year. The article mentions St Mary's College of Maryland; University of Georgia; American University (DC); Texas State University; University of Denver (CO); Gustavus Adolphus College (MN); Georgetown University (DC); Hamilton College (NY); University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Salisbury University (MD); Susquehanna University (PA); Dickinson College (PA); Harper College (IL); Sewanee: The University of the South (TN); and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Western Michigan U Completes Res Hall Energy Competition
Western Michigan University has completed a competition to see which residence hall can save the most electricity. Eco-thon ran during the entire month of February and tracked which dorm could reduce electricity usage by the greatest percentage during the month. The competition used last fall's average electricity consumption as a baseline. The Grand Prize winner, Valley II, received $500 for reducing its consumption by 7.97 percent. Overall, campus residence halls reduced their energy use by 3.08 percent.
2010 Renewable Energy Challenge Winners Announced
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced that, at the college level, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (NM) and the College of Menominee Nation (WI) have tied for first place in the 2010 Indian Education Renewable Energy Challenge to build the most efficient portable wind turbine system. The focus of the contest was to promote renewable energy development for Indian Country among students and teachers at the high school and college level. The challenge was a two-part contest. In Phase I, student teams organized by the schools were asked to submit designs for a portable wind turbine installation that generated energy, stored it mechanically or electronically and then used the stored energy to power an array of light emitting diodes. The best 10 designs were selected in the fall and those teams each received $1,300 to construct a prototype for Phase II.
Campuses Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Earth Day
Campuses across the U.S. and Canada celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this year. Events ranged from tree plantings and panel discussions to presentations on composting and electronic waste collections. Many schools expanded their normal day or week long celebrations to last 40 days in recognition of the anniversary.
Indiana U Launches Pilot Project to be Greenest in Big 10
The Indiana University Athletic Department has launched the pilot project Greening Cream & Crimson, an effort to become the greenest athletic department in the Big Ten Conference. As part of the initiative, IU will offset carbon produced by electricity use, transportation, and food consumption during the game by trading out 100 watt incandescent bulbs with the equivalent 23 watt Condensed Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) in the area. Other projects will include recycling during tailgating, recycling inside Memorial Stadium, reducing vendor waste, collecting cell phones for recycling, and offering valet parking for bicycles. In addition to these new green initiatives, campus environmental groups are invited to set up educational booths in Memorial Stadium during the game to highlight other on-campus sustainability efforts.
Michigan State U to Hold Green Commencement
Michigan State University has planned a green commencement ceremony. Student diplomas have been made from recycled paper, caps from one 20-ounce plastic bottle, and gowns from 12 20-ounce plastic bottles. In addition, the program booklets were printed with soy-based ink on recycled paper, and invitations were sent electronically rather than through the mail.
Quinnipiac U Students to Graduate in Green Gowns
Quinnipiac University (CT) has announced that students graduating this spring will wear caps and gowns made of 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. The only features not made of recycled materials are the tassel, the button on the top of the cap, and the gown's zipper. The company making the gowns estimates that it takes 123 bottles to make each gown.
Austin College Launches Green Effort
Austin College (TX) has launched a new sustainability initiative - Thinking Green. The initiative has been designed by students, faculty, and staff to encourage “greener” practices on campus and in the community. As part of the project, students are distributing free energy-efficient light bulbs, picking up garbage off-campus, and doing cleanup and landscape work for several area social service organizations.
CNN Posts Video on Sustainability at U Colorado Boulder
CNN has posted a video on sustainability initiatives at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "The Greenest University in America" covers the UC Boulder's composting program, zero-waste football games, biodiesel buses, hybrid campus vehicle, solar farm, water-bottled refill stations, the Campus Environmental Center, recycling center, and the University's effort to teach students to live more sustainably.
