Campus Sustainability
The town of Mansfield, Conn., broke ground last week on the state’s first net-zero elementary school. Local politicians, town administrators, parents and students attended the ceremony on Thursday, June 25. The new school, which has yet to be named, will replace the town’s three existing elementary schools.
New Construction
Architecture firm SRG Partnership recently announced that it has designed a Net Zero energy building for the Cascades Campus of Oregon State University in Bend, Ore. Edward J. Ray Hall will serve as a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) learning center featuring both interior and exterior active learning spaces.
Campus Sustainability
Energy and sustainability solutions company Schneider Electric announced this week that it is partnering with Gulf Shores City Schools in Gulf Shores, Ala., on a system-wide modernization project. The project’s goals are to boost district sustainability and energy efficiency, increase student engagement, and boost opportunities for STEM education.
Campus Sustainability
On the campus of Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia, construction of the Advanced Technical Training Center is scheduled for completion in spring 2023. The center will be the first higher education facility in the state—and one of just a few community college buildings across the U.S.—to achieve net zero energy.
Campus Sustainability
The University of Arkansas is about to embark on a new round of energy-saving upgrades for its campus. The improvements will include the addition of LED lighting; fault detection diagnostics; upgrades to HVAC; and examination of building envelope systems and other retro-commissioning work. In total, the latest project will encompass some six million square feet of facilities.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 06/08/21
Campus Sustainability
The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) in Long Beach, Calif., has announced that it will add solar canopies in 21 schools in an effort to meet sustainability goals. The solar canopy systems will be owned and operated by Standard Solar, Inc., a nationally recognized community solar assets solutions company.
Campus Sustainability
At Rice University in Houston, Texas, the Betty and Jacob Friedman Holistic Garden recently received a solar upgrade and other improvements courtesy of the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club.
- By Anne Holford-Smith, Serena Losonczy
- 05/01/21
IAQ
Campus Sustainability
Susquehanna University’s solar array was built in 2018, just outside the city of Selinsgrove, Pa. And from April through November of each year, the university enlists help from an unconventional source to help keep the 14-acre site maintained.
Sustainability
Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C., recently announced a partnership with ENGIE North America to promote sustainability and energy conservation. ENGIE will manage the university’s utility system in an effort to help it achieve its sustainability goals.
Campus Energy
Stevens Institute of Technology has announced that it intends to fill all of its electricity needs from local renewable energy sources by October 2021.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 04/14/21
Campus Sustainability
Clean technology integrator Ameresco, Inc. has announced a partnership with Holy Cross Energy to build a solar and battery energy storage project on land leased from the Spring Valley Campus of Colorado Mountain College, located in Glenwood Springs, Colo.
Sustainability
A school district in Northern California will be adding new infrastructure to bring down the cost of recharging its electric school bus fleet. Palermo Union Elementary School District has signed with AMPLY Power, which will supply energy management intended to reduce the cost to a dime per kilowatt hour versus 19 to 39 cents/kWh under the previous charging program.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 04/07/21
Campus Sustainability
A New York school district is now generating all of its electricity needs through a 4.1-megawatt solar project. Maine-Endwell Central School District in Endwell activated its system, located on district property next to an elementary school, on March 23. It's expected to save the district more than $6.2 million in future energy costs over the course of 25 years.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 04/06/21
University Research
Solar panel arrays that cover canals and other waterways—also known as floating solar farms—have become an increasingly intriguing possibility as sustainable energy practices gain momentum. Researchers from the University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland, and Lancaster University in Lancashire, England, have finished the first detailed model of floating solar installations’ environmental effects on the bodies of water they cover.
Sustainability
The Batesville School District in Batesville, Ark., isn’t the first school district to save money on utilities by switching to solar power. It may, however, be the among the first to pass those savings directly to teachers.
Energy
A student-driven initiative at Colorado State University has added almost 114 megawatt hours of clean electricity to the Fort Collins-based university's annual solar generation. The purchase of an 80-kilowatt, $100,000 photovoltaic solar array was funded almost entirely by student fees allocated through the Associated Students of Colorado State University (ASCSU), beginning in 2019.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 03/29/21
Solar Energy
San Jacinto College, located in the metroplex area of Houston, Texas, has announced plans to add solar electricity arrays to two of its buildings. The arrays, designed and installed by Sunfinity Renewable Energy, are set to lower the school’s utility costs by millions and contribute to better air quality in the area.
Campus Sustainability
California community college Merced College has partnered with Johnson Controls to upgrade the campus infrastructure and target deferred maintenance problems. In an effort to improve sustainability and the student experience on campus, Johnson is set to manage the design, procurement and installation of energy-efficient central plant and lighting retrofits, as well as upgrade campus building automation systems (BAS) and mechanical systems.
Energy
Federal energy regulators have given Oregon State University permission to move forward with PacWave South, an offshore wave energy testing facility.
Solar Energy
The University of Toledo just received a five-year, $12.5 million grant from the U.S. Air Force to develop flexible solar cell sheets for space. The photovoltaic energy sheets will be used to collect solar energy for powering Earth-based receivers or other orbital or aerial instrumentation, such as communications satellites.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 02/26/21
Transportation
The Porterville Unified School District (PUSD), located in Tulare County, California, recently placed an order for six new electric school buses. During its Board of Education meeting on Jan. 28, the district also approved plans to install six new electric charging stations.
Energy
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville has received approval from the state to erect a 2.4-megawatt solar array on its campus. According to the university, this will be the largest solar array owned by a Wisconsin state agency and will make the campus the sixth-highest on-site producer of renewable energy in the country among institutions of higher education.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 02/23/21
University Construction
Construction of a new solar project at New Mexico State University began this week. The university has partnered with El Paso Electric (EPE) on the initiative that they call Aggie Power, which should be sufficient to power about one-third of the 900-acre NMSU campus in Las Cruces.
Energy
A Virginia institution is the latest school to cover all of its electricity needs with a more sustainable source. The University of Richmond (UR) has joined campuses in Colorado, Hawaii and Minnesota to match 100 percent of its electricity usage with solar power.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 02/11/21
Podcast
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- 02/08/21
Podcast
- By Yvonne Marquez
- 01/15/21
Two universities are working together to figure out how to make energy generation, storage and system operation more efficient and reliable, especially in "microgrid" settings.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 01/07/21
Energy
A $5.8 million sustainability project to convert steam plumbing to hot water plumbing recently completed the first of eight phases at Wesleyan University.
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 12/10/20