Spotlight on Green Schools
Schools are focusing more and more heavily on cutting back on the energy they use and trying to reduce their impact on the environment. The articles on these pages spotlight individual campus energy conservation programs, energy initiatives, solar installations, energy-related technology, HVAC, research, grants, policy, and other topics related to green campuses.
Old Dominion University has entered a partnership to install 600 solar panels on the roof of the university's student recreation center at the heart of its Norfolk, VA, campus.
Power purchasing agreements allow universities to harness solar power without large capital outlays. Two schools share their insights about the benefits and how to set one up right.
Gone are the days when green campus initiatives were a balm to the soul and a drain on the wallet. Today's environmental initiatives are all about saving lots of green--in every sense of the word.
Hartnell College has embarked on a solar energy project expected to save the community college more than $11 million by improving energy efficiency and replacing 90 percent of its electricity use at its Alisal campus with solar power.
Georgetown University student solar initiative "Solar Street" has partnered the university with SolarCity to install 75 solar panels atop six university-owned townhouses on the Washington D.C. campus.
Tennessee Tech University and Chapman University have begun a contest to see which school can produce the most electricity for the power grid by using gym equipment installed at their schools.
A new array of solar panels installed at the University of Colorado at Boulder has doubled solar power production on campus, providing clean energy for research facilities and saving the campus about $50,000 a year in utility costs.
Texas State University, San Marcos is implementing new energy management software that automates the university's data entry and audit process and provides Web-based reporting and other tools.
A new solar energy project underway now at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology will save UH Manoa an estimated $2.3 million in energy costs over the next 20 years.
Texas State University-San Marcos will go live with a new energy management program this fall. The move is designed to improve reporting, benchmarking, and measurement while also speeding data entry and auditing.
Central Connecticut State University has installed a 1.4-megawatt fuel cell power plant that will reduce the school's energy costs by $100,000 per year.
As part of its goal to decrease institutional energy usage by 30 percent in the 10 years between 2006 and 2016, Harvard University has just installed the largest solar project on campus.
A Greenpeace report on the environmental impact of the biggest cloud service providers is prompting some campuses to rethink their clean-energy options.
When construction on Crowder College's new Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology (MARET) Center kicked off in September 2011, the word "green" was on everyone's mind. From the facility's construction materials to its energy sources to it wastewater management, literally every corner of MARET Center's 10,000-square-foot first phase factored in environmentally conscious practices and decisions.
Energy-efficient power systems, server consolidation, and expanded use of virtualization are helping to drive down costs in higher education data centers, according to a new report released Monday.