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.
U Nebraska Lincoln Begins Student Engagement Campaign
Students of the campus' Association of Students of the University of Nebraska are hosting events that engage on-campus residents to reduce energy consumption, discuss campus sustainability, and further Dining Services food waste diversion and recycling program.
Wesleyan U Students Pass Fossil Fuel Divestment Resolution
Proposed to further social and environmental justice on a financial level, Wesleyan Student Assembly recently passed the resolution calling for divestiture and citing the socioeconomic implications of condoning fossil fuels, and previous conscientious divestments.
Wesleyan U Uses App for Sustainability Contest
A fresh effort to engage students in campus sustainability and learn how social media can promote behavior change, the JouleBug Sustainability Contest used the mobile application to track environmentally-friendly efforts, such using a reusable mug.
Antioch College to Gain Energy Independence
Beginning in November, the college will begin drilling 150 geothermal wells to supply heating and cooling to the college. When the approximately $8.8 million project is completed, it along with photovoltaic energy will meet 100 percent of the college's heating and cooling demand.
Butler U Building Acquires LEED Gold
The new building's features include a white roof to reflect heat, dual-pane insulated windows to reduce thermal loss, energy efficient light fixtures, low-flow restroom fixtures, a rain garden and pervious asphalt.
California State U San Bernardino Connects CHP Plant
The new 1.4-megawatt combined heat and power plant is a joint project between the university and Southern California Edison utility company. Integrated into the campus' central plant, the system is generating electricity to the utility grid with waste heat at no cost to the university.
Connecticut College Partners for Local Food Market
After a recent class focused on world food production, a student initiates the Sustainable Food Market, a partnership with community partner, Fiddleheads Co-operative, to provide the campus community with fresh, organic and local foods every Friday.
Dalhousie U Receives 'Bright Star' Award
Efficiency Nova Scotia recently decorated the university based on 12 energy efficiency and water projects over the previous 5 years totaling a $40 million investment.
Denison U Addresses Modern-Day Slavery
The goal of the initial Fair Food Festival was to increase awareness about modern day slavery as well as the role of corporate sustainability in creating better working conditions for farmworkers.
Eastern Michigan U SGA Creates Sustainability Committee
The university's Student Government Association created the new Energy and Sustainability Committee to focus on campus policies regarding energy and sustainability and community service involvement among the student body.
ELECTRI International Green Energy Challenge Winners Announced
Hosted by the Foundation for Electrical Construction, the 2013 international competition challenged students to develop a comprehensive design and bid package for a parking garage sustainable energy retrofit. University of Washington took top prize; Penn State achieved second; and Iowa State University came in third.
Energy Department Awards $1.08M for Diversity in Solar Industry
The U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Diversity in Science and Technology Advances National Clean Energy in Solar (DISTANCE-Solar) program awarded funding to Delaware State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio. The DISTANCE-Solar initiative aims to drive solar innovation among underrepresented groups and spur new domestic job creation.
Naropa U Divests from Fossil Fuels
After recent unanimous vote by the university's endowment committee, the institution has fully divested from companies identified as having the highest potential greenhouse gas emissions. From gofossilfree.org, a 350.org campaign to divest from fossil fuels, Naropa is one of eight institutions that has committed to divestiture of fossil fuel holdings.
Three Universities Sign 'Real Food Campus Challenge'
Johns Hopkins University; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and University of Montana, Missoula pledged to buy at least 20 percent real food annually by 2020. Johns Hopkins University pledged to source 35 percent.
U Illinois Urbana-Champaign to Debut New Sustainability Institute
Evolving out of chancellor-led campus planning exercises and pending Board of Trustees and Illinois Board of Higher Education approval, the Center for a Sustainable Environment will soon be the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and the Environment. Launching with a $500,000 annual budget, the campus-wide research enterprise is projected address globally significant challenges.
USDA Awards Grant to Study Trees as Bioenergy Feedstock
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture recently announced it will be awarding $10 million to a Colorado State University consortium to study the major challenges limiting the use of insect-killed trees as a sustainable feedstock for biofuel. Project partners include University of Idaho; University of Montana; Montana State University; and the University of Wyoming.
U Texas Austin Students Plant On-Campus Farm
The new green-fee funded Micro Farm is the university's first student-run operation where students grow vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs for university dining halls, a local food shelter and an on-site farm stand.
U West Florida Students Begin USGBC Chapter
In hopes of creating an environmentally-friendly campus, the new U.S. Green Building Council student club's first project will be construction of an Earthship structure composed of compacted dirt and used tires, which will be used as a seating area outside of the science and engineering building for campus members to create community.
Virginia Tech Students Push for Fair-Trade Apparel
Students recently partnered with United Students Against Sweatshops to work with the university to adopt the Bangladesh Fire and Factory Safety Accord into its licensee code of conduct. The policy aims to improve the safety of factory practices and conditions.
22 Historically Black Schools to Receive Toyota Hybrid Vehicles
As part of its environmental stewardship program designed to empower the African American community, the Toyota Green Initiative tour recently announced plans to lease a Toyota Prius to select schools in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Bucks County CC Holds Diversity Discussion
Spurred by the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case, the Interactive Conference on Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Understanding brought the campus community together in a moderated discussion around issues facing minorities and how to find harmony among diverse groups.
Clarkson U Hosts Community Farmers' Market
The university's recent decision to host the winter market allows campus and community members to procure locally grown and processed goods. The markets' new location is near the all-local dining concept, which will allow dining services to source food directly from the market.
Clarkson U Students Conduct Waste Audit
As part of a fall class project, students separated the waste publicly in separate piles to understand the habits of the campus community. By way of this public display, passers-by were also educated about waste.
Duke U Arts Festival Centers Around Sustainability
The annual festival's thematic choice this year is sustainability in order to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and expand the boundaries of artistic endeavors on campus. Organizers' intention is for participants to consider how creativity can galvanize sustainable behaviors.
Eastfield College to Implement Sustainability Projects
The college's Green Team plans to install 16 water-bottle refilling stations in an effort to reduce waste from plastic bottles on campus; attach "smart heads" to sprinklers to conserve water; and create a new community garden project.
