Northwestern U to Release Strategic Sustainability Plan
Currently under development, five working groups from the university's Sustainability Council are evaluating areas of focus, assessing and prioritizing various initiatives within those areas, and establishing clear goals and metrics to evaluate progress. Their recommendations will inform the council who will, in partnership with university leadership, publish the Sustainability Strategic Plan in summer of 2015.
Rice U Eco Rep Program Expands Sustainable Living Awareness
The university Eco Rep Green Dorm Initiative now includes education about environmentally sustainable living through a contest designed to increase interactivity. This year's focus on energy and water, well-being, and waste asks participates to engage with the theme through daily tasks.
Rice U Signs Agreement to Purchase Solar Electricity for One Year
In an effort to better manage energy consumption and spending, a recent one-year agreement with a power company was enacted that allows the university to purchase approximately seven percent of the university's purchased electricity from clean energy at the same rate as fossil fuel-powered electricity.
San Francisco State U Completes Lighting Upgrade
A project spearheaded by students in a management class led to the removal of unnecessary lamps on the second floor of the university's business building over winter break. Electricity consumption of hallway lighting on this floor has decreased 40 percent as a result.
Southern Oregon U Partners to Reduce Student Mileage
Part of a statewide "Drive Less. Save More." campaign, the university is working with the Oregon Department of Transportation and a district authority to reduce the number of miles driven by university students by providing information to students about the benefits of traveling by foot, bike, skateboard, bus and shared car. The program's goals are to to reduce traffic, increase parking availability on campus, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
SUNY Cortland Hosts Weekly Wellness Events
The university recently began the Wellness Wednesday Series, for campus and the community, encouraging health and wellness through speakers and panels, informational fairs, self-help workshops and demonstrations.
Three Universities Pilot Sustainable Purchasing Program
Emory University, Portland Community College and University of California at Santa Barbara recently signed up to pilot the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council's Guidance for Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing v1.0. The Guidance for Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing offers purchasers detailed advice for promoting market innovation and optimizing the environmental, social and economic performance of their supply chains.
U California Riverside Implements Sustainability Fellowships
As part of the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, a total of five $1,500 fellowships will be awarded to both undergraduates and graduate students for projects that contribute to a reduction in campus greenhouse gas emissions, and/or educate the campus community about the importance of carbon neutrality.
Washington U Initiates Green Monday Pledge
Aiming to decrease the university’s carbon footprint by reducing meat consumption, Green Monday encourages students, faculty and community members to take a pledge to eat vegetarian on Mondays.
California Schools Host Multicampus Food Summit
With a central theme of food justice the inaugural California Higher Education Food Summit convened roughly 150 students, faculty and staff from University of California, California State University and community college campuses to address environmental social and economic pressures that create barriers to food access, security and justice.
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.
