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 San Mateo County Community College District has launched an energy efficiency project designed to reduce energy waste and create a cohesive facility management system across its three colleges and 82 buildings.
Midland College has completed sustainability upgrades, including efforts to improve IT efficiency, projected to save $4.4 million in energy and operational expenses over the course of 15 years.
Tompkins Cortland Community College has completed a solar photovoltaic installation at its main campus designed to provide 90 percent of the college's electricity, for a savings of approximately $300,000 per year at current utility rates.
The University of California, San Diego has teamed with a private partner for work on sustainable energy technology.
In a recent conservation competition held at 125 colleges and universities, students and staff at some winning schools were able to reduce residence hall energy usage by almost 31 percent and water consumption by nearly 20 percent.
The University of South Florida St. Petersburg has launched a new research initiative aimed at exploring better ways to store energy from the sun.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology held its first Clean Earth Hackathon over the Earth Day weekend.
Online education is good for the planet and good for the student, according to a new study by sustainability scientists at Arizona State University and Dell.
Southwestern College has completed installation of a 3.2-megawatt solar power system at its Chula Vista campus.
Cornell University plans to build its second large-scale solar farm, this one on university property in Seneca, NY, to provide electricity for its New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY.
Texas State University has teamed with a private partner to improve the operation and management of social infrastructure, such as resource management and water conservation.
The United States Department of Energy recently awarded $14 million to 10 research institutions as part of its "SunShot" program, which aims to make solar energy as cost-competitive as traditional energy sources before the end of this decade.
The Rochester Institute of Technology has entered into an agreement with a private partner to sell carbon credits to fund future sustainability initiatives on campus.
Cornell University has added an 11-acre solar photovoltaic installation capable of producing approximately 2 megawatts of power.
Carnegie Mellon University has found that helping users change their behaviors regarding energy usage involves giving them information in an integrated form, monitoring building performance and making real-time data accessible and visible. The findings grew out of a predictive analytics project by the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, a degree program and research center in the School of Architecture that studies advanced building technologies and designs as a way to improve "total-building" efficiency and performance.
