Green Honor Roll

(in alphabetical order)

Arizona State University at the Tempe campus 

At Arizona State University, sustainability is a fundamental precept underlying its teaching, learning, research and business missions. ASU President Michael Crow is co-chair of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The Tempe campus has the largest collection of energy-providing solar panels on a single U.S. university campus.

Established in 2007, ASU’s School of Sustainability, the first of its kind in the U.S., offers transdisciplinary degree programs that advance practical solutions to environmental, economic and social challenges. The school has over 60 faculty representing over 40 disciplines and offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs along with a professional certificate. ASU subsidizes bus and light rail passes for all students and employees and offers car-sharing and a carpool program with special parking privileges. A student-run bicycle co-op offers low- or no-cost bike repairs and free bike rentals.

Bates College has environmental sustainability in its DNA: Former U.S. Secretary of State Ed Muskie, a 1936 graduate, authored landmark environmental bills that we know now as the Clean Air, Clean Water and Resource Recovery Acts. Today, 82 percent of Bates’ food waste is diverted from the waste stream, either composted, recycled, or sent to a food bank or pig farmer. Thirty percent of the college's total food budget is spent locally. The new dining commons was built to LEED Silver equivalence. It is self-ventilated and uses 100 percent Maine renewable electricity.

Student interest in environmental action is at an all-time high at Bates, from its environmental theme houses, to its annual Trashion Show, to its ninth annual Clean Sweep: a "garage sale" of usable goods donated by departing students. Bates has a student bicycle co-op, a van pool program for employees, and was the first college in Maine to participate in the Zipcar program, which offers Prius cars to rent as needed, reducing the number of cars on campus.

College of the Atlantic has one major, Human Ecology. How humans relate to our environment is on the minds of all at COA—artists, scientists, and social activists. And COA practices what it teaches: It has been carbon neutral since 2007. All electricity comes from renewable hydropower; new buildings and some old are cleanly heated via renewable wood pellets.

An organic Beech Hill Farm (partially powered by a wind turbine, thanks to student effort) offers organic produce to campus, local schools and food banks. COA has a new Trans-Atlantic Food Systems program and a growing undergraduate green and socially responsible business program. Recycling bins are in every office, composting bins in every kitchen and composting toilets in all new buildings. Alumni take on the environment in Congress, business and global negotiations—including those that created the world’s largest underwater preserve.

Colorado College (Springs, CO)

Colorado College's “aCClimate” conservation campaign has saved close to $100,000 in utility costs and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 378 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The school’s organic garden was established behind the president’s house in spring 2008. The college dining service purchases food from the garden when it is available; food waste from the dining service is used as compost.

CC’s students organize a wide range of environmental initiatives. To kick off participation in the Recyclemania contest, students displayed “Trash Peak” in January 2009, featuring a 30-cubic yard mountain of trash representing the amount of solid waste CC generates in a day. CC’s first on-campus renewable energy project was initiated by a student. The 25-kilowatt solar PV array is the largest in the Colorado Springs Utilities service area.

Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA)

The Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA)

The Evergreen State College’s thousand-acre campus features miles of trails, a half mile of beach on Puget Sound, wetlands, forests and even an organic farm. The farm is used to teach a broad range of courses such as small-scale organic agriculture, ethnobotany, visual arts, beekeeping, forest ecology, and ecological agriculture.

The Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education at Evergreen has launched the Curriculum for the Bioregion, an effort that focuses on incorporating environmental and sustainability issues into general education college courses throughout the Pacific Northwest. Students recently launched the Center for Sustainable Entrepreneurship, an effort to put their business skills to use in socially responsible ventures.

Evergreen has purchased a fleet of electric cars to replace many of its gasoline and diesel vehicles.  Evergreen students pay a self-imposed clean energy fee to ensure that 100 percent of the college’s electricity comes from renewable sources.  The school has also reduced its landfill waste by more than 97,000 pounds since 2008.
 

Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)

Georgia Institute of Technology has 21 endowed chairs, 23 research and more than 100 classes that include significant sustainability components. Sustainability is a key component of Georgia Tech’s Campus Master Plan and Landscape Master Plan. In 2008, Georgia Tech was recognized as a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation – quite an accomplishment for an urban campus.   

Besides using environmentally friendly hand soap, paper products, cleaning equipment and other supplies, Georgia Tech requires that all vendors provide green products. The Institute’s cleaning equipment uses 70 percent less water and 90 percent less chemicals than traditional equipment. To further conserve water resources, Georgia Tech’s dining halls initiated a trayless system. The Institute’s inaugural football game day recycling program collected nearly 12 tons of aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles from home game attendees.

Harvard College (Cambridge, MA)

Harvard College is dedicated to confronting the challenges of climate change and global sustainability both through academic research and by translating that research into action on campus. Harvard’s goal is to reduce emissions 30% below a 2006 baseline by 2016.  These commitments are administered through the Harvard Office for Sustainability.

Harvard now has 62 building projects in process toward achieving LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, a 55% recycling rate, renewable energy projects on campus, composting in residential and commercial dining halls, organic landscaping in Harvard Yard, and a drive-alone rate of only 16.5%, to name just a few examples.

Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT)

Middlebury College, home to the country's oldest undergraduate environmental studies program, is on track to become carbon neutral by 2016. This ambitious plan was championed by Middlebury students and formally adopted by the college's board of trustees in 2007. The college will reach its goal through a combination of renewable fuels, conservation, efficiency measures, and carbon offsets.

Middlebury reached a milestone toward carbon neutrality earlier this year when it began operating a biomass gasification plant, which replaces one million gallons of fuel oil annually with sustainably produced wood chips from within a 75-mile radius of campus. The plant generates steam for heating, cooling and electricity and reduces the college's net carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent. Middlebury is also experimenting with growing its own fuel in the form of willow shrubs.

Northeastern University (Boston, MA)

Northeastern University has integrated energy conservation into its facilities management plans since the 1980s. Most recently, the school replaced 70,000 traditional lamps with fluorescent lamps that will reduce carbon emissions by 686 tons annually. International Village, Northeastern’s new mixed-use dorm/office building, will be submitted for LEED Gold certification.  Once certified, International Village will be the largest residence hall in the United States to meet this standard of sustainability.  Additionally, International Village is working with a national non-profit to improve the environmental impact of its dining hall. 

As a result of “Project Clean Plate”, an aggressive food composting initiative, approximately 594 tons of dining hall service and catering food waste was composted in 2008. This numbers is expected to increase dramatically in 2009.  Northeastern's recycling program started over 20 years ago and has expanded to include thirteen different categories of collected items, including asphalt and construction materials.

State University of New York at Binghamton 

State University of New York at Binghamton has established innovative and creative opportunities both inside and outside the classroom to engage and educate students in ‘going green.’ An energy conservation contest pits residential communities against one another to see who can reduce energy consumption the most over a nine-week period. The 2009 contest resulted in a 7.5 percent overall reduction in electricity consumption.

The Binghamton campus encompasses almost 900 acres of land, of which a large proportion is undeveloped and in its natural state. The core of this undeveloped land is officially designated the Nature Preserve, and includes hiking trails and a 20 acre wetland. Each year approximately 2,500 pounds of compostable waste is collected around campus. Binghamton either recycles or composts more than 90 percent of its current service ware.

University of California–Berkeley 

University of California–Berkeley has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2014 (six year sooner than the rest of California).  To meet this target the campus will complete over 200 energy efficiency projects.  The university’s primary food service operator was the first in the country to receive organic certification, and organic salad bars are now a staple at campus dining facilities. 

Berkeley has more than 80 academic degrees, 90 research centers, and 25 student-run organizations with an environmental focus.  Student projects have reduced energy consumption by over 8.5 million kWh and water usage by 3 million gallons. UC Berkeley publicly reports its sustainability metrics each year. 

University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH)

In 2009, University of New Hampshire became the first university in the nation to receive the majority of its campus energy needs from landfill gas (the school will receive up to 85 percent of its electricity and heat from purified landfill gas from a nearby Waste Management landfill). UNH boasts the largest public transit system in New Hampshire, with most vehicles running  on biodiesel and compressed natural gas.

UNH’s organic dairy research farm is at the center of the university’s growing focus on sustainable agriculture. The school launched a unique EcoGastronomy dual major in 2008, integrating sustainable agriculture, hospitality management, and nutrition. It also offers courses in climate change science and policy, marine sciences, sustainable engineering, environmental sociology, as well as a sustainable living minor.

At the university’s sustainable commencement in 2009, all speeches and honorary degrees focused on sustainability; programs were printed on recycled paper and invitations were issued electronically; food scraps were composted; porta-potties used environmentally friendly chemicals; students were encouraged to “recycle” their robes.

University of Washington (Seattle, WA)

University of Washington is a signatory of the Presidents Climate Commitment, which is a pledge to develop policies and practices that are climate neutral. As part of that commitment all new campus buildings will meet at least the LEED Silver standard. The UW is a founding member of the Seattle Climate partnership, which requires the university to purchase power that is 100 renewable and also requires extensive measures of energy conservation.

The UW's food services emphasize local organic foods and are working toward a zero-waste goal, composting post-consumer waste, and offering compostable dishware and to-go packaging. The UW is now the pilot site for the first compostable paper cup designed specifically for soft drinks. The plastic used in this cup is made from plants, and could reduce by 150,000 the number of cups sent to local landfills.

Yale University (New Haven, CT)

Yale University has a comprehensive campus sustainability plan in place, highlighted by a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas. Yale has implemented solar and wind projects to provide renewable energy. It also has its own co-generation power plant and is building another. Kroon Hall, the new home of its school of Forestry & Environmental Studies is a model of energy-saving design and is expected to earn a LEED Platinum certification.

Several undergraduate organizations seek to educate students in environmentally responsible practices. The Yale Sustainable Food Project directs a sustainable dining program, manages an organic farm and runs diverse educational programs. In addition to its sustainable practices, Yale is conducting leading research on climate change and other environmental issues, and educating the environmental leaders of tomorrow in its college and graduate and professional schools.