U North Carolina Asheville to Create Resiliency Institute
A newly pledged $1 million dollar gift will be used to create the new McCullough Institute for Conservation, Land Use and Environmental Resiliency. The institute’s goals include working with faculty to develop certifications in environmental studies and policy as added professional credentials for university students. Three areas of focus are land use and conservation, urban planning and renewal, and sustainable agriculture.
U Wisconsin Madison Tests Campus Sustainability Game App
Designed with support from the university's Office of Sustainability, students from an introductory environmental studies course tested the new app, called Sustainable U, which directs players to find signs posted in campus buildings and scan a code with their mobile device to pull up information, videos or games related to waste, energy, water or transportation.
Arizona State U Completes Solar Shade Structure
Costing the university $5.825 million to complete, the new photovoltaic installation, at the center of campus, is functional, adds aesthetic value to campus, and contributes to the university's carbon reduction goals.
California State U Fresno Plants Desert Landscaping
The new landscaping initiative includes plants and trees that are common to a desert environment in an effort to further water conservation efforts. The university also replaced older sprinkler heads to newer models that use less than half than that of the older technology.
Indiana U Partners on Public Gardens
The university's Office of Sustainability recently partnered with a nature center and garden to offer gardening workdays to the public for free as part of its Campus Green Initiative, which fosters sustainability through interactive work spaces.
U Mississippi Receives Recycling Grant
One of the state's agencies to receive a portion of $227,160, the university will increase recycling stations across campus and develop educational recycling campaigns.
U Wisconsin Platteville Offers Bike Repair Station
To enable biking as a more convenient form of transportation on campus, university employees recently installed a self-service bicycle repair station that includes a hand-operated air pump, hand tools and a rack to hold the bike during repairs.
Berea College Earns Fair Trade Designation
(U.S.): Recently earning the declaration, students from the university's People Who Care program spearheaded the achievement, which has five criteria: building a Fair Trade Advisory Council, including Fair Trade in applicable curriculum, offering Fair Trade products at campus outlets, using Fair Trade products on campus, and passing a university-wide resolution to support a commitment to Fair Trade.
California Polytechnic State U Bolsters Bike Safety
(U.S.): In an effort to promote biking and create a safer environment for bicyclists and non-motorists, the university recently completed a new bike path that connects the endpoint of an existing city path to the heart of campus.
Coe College to Perform Energy Retrofit Project
(U.S.): The new project aims to reduce the environmental impact of the 20-building campus through implementation of a number of HVAC improvements, high-efficiency lighting and occupancy sensors, weatherization improvements to reduce the loss of conditioned air, and new plumbing fixtures to cut water waste.
Colorado Mountain College Holds Sustainability Summit
(U.S.): The college's inaugural summit featured an overview of the sustainability-related accomplishments to-date, signing onto the Real Food Challenge, instituting a sustainability award, and nearly 50 posters by sustainability capstone students.
Foundation U to Connect 140 Photovoltaic Panels
(Philippines): The current solar electricity initiative is projected to save 30 percent of the current electricity costs, and contribute to the university's sustainability and serve as a teaching tool.
Harvard U Offers Climate Change Secondary Field
(U.S.): Offered to any undergraduate students regardless of their course of study, the new energy and environment field is designed to allow students to explore issues surrounding energy and the environment from the perspective of their primary discipline.
Instituto Superior Técnico Wins International Award
(Portugal): Instituto Superior Téchnico recently received the 2014 International Energy Project Award of the Year from the Association of Energy Engineers. The project Sustainable Campus at Técnico was developed under the school's Energy Initiative and aims to exchange ideas, information and good practices to ensure the sustainability on the university campus.
Nanyang Technological U Launches 'EcoCampus' Initiative
(Singapore): The newly launched plan calls for a 35 percent reduction energy and water usage, carbon footprint and waste output by year 2020, and will initiate 12 key research projects at the campus' CleanTech Park with a $20 million investment.
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.
