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.
The Sustainable Endowments Institute, along with 15 partner organizations, has launched the Billion Dollar Green Challenge to encourage higher education and nonprofit institutions to invest a total of $1 billion in green revolving funds to finance energy efficiency improvements.
Kyocera and Independent Energy Solutions have completed a 355.9-kilowatt solar photovoltaic solar installation at San Diego State University.
Researchers at Oregon's Portland State University are trying to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic solar panels and green roofs by combining the two.
NRG Energy, Inc. will partner with the University of Delaware to launch the eV2g program to commercialize vehicle-to-grid technology.
California State Polytechnic University has chosen Aircuity's OptiNet system to help improve indoor air efficiency and decrease energy costs in its biotechnology building.
A couple of computer scientists--one from Johns Hopkins University and the other at the University of Alabama at Birmingham--have looked to the science of waste management for guidance on what to do with unwanted or unused data from the digital world.
Arizona State University has surpassed 10 megawatts of solar energy capacity with multiple installations on two of its four campuses.
New York's New School has earned a Silver rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating system (STARS).
The University of California, San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering has received a software donation, worth $150,000, from Power Analytics.
The University of Houston is developing a ventilation optimization program to improve air quality and energy efficiency in its new health and biomedical science center.
Harvard University has achieved its 50th LEED certification as part of an institution-wide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30 percent below 2006 levels by 2016.
The University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment has awarded $4.1 million to 20 energy projects.
A flexible thin-film solar array and monitoring system has been installed on the rooftop of the University of Notre Dame's Fitzpatrick Hall of Engineering at no cost to the university.
A car that achieved a fuel efficiency of nearly 82 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent helped a team of students from Virginia Tech University take top honors during the final rounds of the three-year EcoCAR Challenge competition last month.
Texas A&M and Siemens have entered a $15.1 million performance contract guaranteed to save the university $1.1 million dollars in annual energy and operational costs.
