Colleges Greener than Ever Despite Economy

Rotten economy? So what?! Colleges around the nation are still going green despite declining endowments, according to the new 2010 College Sustainability Report Card results, compiled by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

Twenty-six out of 332 schools evaluated for the report card got the highest possible grade of A-minus, determined by a number of criteria in areas like administration, climate change & energy, food & recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement.

That’s up from just 15 schoools getting an A-minus last year. Among the new schools on the list are Amherst College, Arizona State University-Tempe, Luther College, Macalester College and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. Ultra-green list veterans include Brown University, Carleton College, Middlebury College and Oberlin College. A few of last year’s highest fell off the list, including Dartmouth.

Congratulations to all the colleges that made it, and everybody else who moved up a grade for 2010. Keep it up!

Link [Green Report Card] via [Yale Environment 360]

For Shame: UGA Tailgaters Leave Behind Trash, Sewage

Jerkass fans of the University of Georgia football team descended upon the Athens, Georgia campus last weekend and left a wake of trash, abandoned grills, urine and feces behind when they left. And this is far from the first time it has happened.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that tailgaters left the lawn covered with 70 tons of trash. They peed in doorways and shat in various places that are definitely not toilets. UGA President Michael Adams said he was “appalled” and is asking for help from fans before the next home game to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

From AJC:

“There were tons and tons of trash and lots of inappropriate behavior that most of our fans don’t like or tolerate,” he said.  “It’s not pervasive. I don’t know if it’s 15 or 20 percent, but it is a substantial enough group. But if you’re going to haul all this stuff in for pregame, why not add a recyclable bag or two and either take it with you or put it on the side of the street where the appropriate people can take it away?”

“What happened last week is typical,” said George Stafford, UGA’s associate vice president for auxiliary and administrative services. “It takes 200 to 300 people on Sunday morning to pick up and bag up all the trash, throw it on a truck and haul it out to the landfill. A typical day game produces 35 to 40 tons of trash. A night SEC game like this we have 70 or more tons.”

Stafford said last year’s “Blackout Game” against Alabama produced a record 75 tons of trash on campus.

Are these people Neanderthals or what? Seriously, aren’t college sports fans supposed to have some pride in their schools? Sure, sports crowds can get unruly anywhere in the world, but to walk away at the end of the night and leave this much destruction is just shameful.

Wake up, people: there are these things called trash bags and toilets that keep us from having to live in filth. Party foul x 1000.

Link [AJC]
Photo credit: Tom Ritch

Green College Spotlight: Pomona College

Pomona College, a small private college located in Claremont, California, stands out even in a state with a large number of impressively green schools. Though this college has had an environmental policy since 2003, renewed dedication and enthusiasm for sustainability has led to a wide array of programs and initiatives that take their commitment to the next level.

President Oxby signed the Presidents Climate Commitment, seeking to reduce Pomona College’s carbon footprint. The college has a full-time sustainability coordinator and an advisory committee made up of faculty, staff and students who develop strategies for making the college greener.

Solar arrays, renewable energy credits and a number of energy-saving products and policies help accomplish Pomona College’s goal to use energy resources wisely. The college has committed to purchasing Energy Star appliances, and uses a number of other measures to control energy consumption.

Pomona currently has three LEED-certified buildings: the Richard C. Seaver Biology Building (LEED Silver-certified) and the Lincoln-Edmunds Buildings (LEED Gold-certified). The New North Campus residence halls will also be LEED Gold-certified once completed.

The college is also a supporter of local farms, purchasing produce from 25 local suppliers. They also have their own 2.5-acre organic farm on campus, which is mulched with composted food and landscaping waste. Dining services also provides fair trade coffee and some organic goods, and offers biodegradable utensils and paper to-go boxes.

A fleet of folding bicycles available for rental make it easy for students to get around without cars – they’re perfect for taking on public transportation as needed. Another program provides used bikes for rental and offers free bike repairs. Students also get discounted Metrolink passes, and a rideshare program encourages faculty to carpool.

Learn more about Pomona College’s green efforts at Pomona.edu/Sustainability.

Link [Pomona College]

Green College Spotlight: University of Calgary

Not all of North America’s sustainable colleges and universities are in the United States – far from it, in fact. Canada has quite a few of them, with the University of Calgary among the most impressive. This public university with over 24,000 students has made great strides toward inserting green values and practices into virtually all areas of campus activity.

A signatory of the Talloires Declaration, U of C is working to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and has begun retrofits to the central heating plant that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 43 percent below 1990 levels. One campus building – the Child Development Center, which is LEED-Platinum certified – uses 100 percent renewable electricity, 10 percent of which comes from solar panels.

All new building projects at the University of Calgary will achieve the highest level of LEED certification possible within budget constraints, and in addition to the Child Development Center, two more buildings are on track for certification. Carpoolers at U of C get premium parking, and students ride on public transit at a discount. A student-run program loans out bikes and provides a place for cyclists to socialize.

Food from over 19 local farms and producers is provided on campus, including local dairy. Fair trade coffee is also available. Students who bring reusable cups get a discount on drinks.

A number of student groups address sustainability issues, including the Sustainability Stewardship Program and many more. U of C also holds campus-wide competitions like the Commuter Challenge held this past spring, which prompted students, faculty and staff to record sustainable commuting choices like walking, cycling and carpooling.

Learn more about what the University of Calgary is doing to go green at UCalgary.ca/sustainability.

Link [University of Calgary Sustainability]

Green College Spotlight: University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota is among the nation’s most sustainability-dedicated institutions of higher learning, with green projects and practices extending into all areas of campus activity. Becoming a sustainable university is a tough goal to reach when you’ve got over 60,000 students, and UMN definitely deserves some major props for all of their hard work.

President Robert H. Bruininks has played a major part in increasing the University of Minnesota’s commitment to sustainability, signing the Presidents Climate Commitment and funding research and development in renewable energy. The university also adopted a sustainability and environmental policy, and a broad-based committee oversees campus sustainability priorities.

The University of Minnesota requires all new construction and renovation projects to meet sustainability guidelines, and has already completed a 50,000-seat LEED-gold certified stadium that is due to open this September. Science Teaching and Student Services Building, and the New Bell Museum of Natural History are also seeking LEED certification. UMN is also powered partially with biomass, and solar panels were installed on the College of Design for demonstration and research.

Students, faculty and staff get around on public transportation at discounted rates, and many also ride bicycles. The university also has 75 E85 vehicles in its fleet, as well as 53 hybrids. UMN purchases B20 fuel made from waste oil and soybeans.

A member of the Heartland Food Network,  UMN purchases 18 percent of its food locally and also gets some of its food from campus’s Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and UMN Cornercopia. The university recycles approximately 30 percent of the school’s solid waste and 50 percent of its debris waste.

UMN is also a great choice for students who want to become the green leaders of the future, from scientists to business people. In fact, several environment-related departments and graduate programs are highly ranked at the national level by the National Resource Council, including Evolution Ecology and Behavior, Geography and the School of Public Health.

The University of Minnesota has many more sustainability initiatives and improvements than we can go over here – learn more about their efforts at the UMN sustainability website!

Link [UMN] + [Green College Report Card]

Ideal Bite’s Top 10 Green Things to Pack for College

Millions of teenagers across America are preparing to head to college, and they’ve got long lists of supplies they need to bring, from bedding to shower shoes. Sometimes the hardest part is finding truly eco-friendly versions of all of these items – if only they were all sold in one place!

Luckily, Ideal Bite has put together a great list of recycled, organic and otherwise environmentally friendly gear – perfect for parents who are scrambling to find everything in the last frenzied weeks before their kids fly the coop.

1. Sheet smarts.

All-nighter pulled. Paper slipped under the Prof’s door five minutes before it was due. Time to crash…on soft, 100% organic-cotton sheets – no pesticides involved. PBteen’s Organic Sheet Sets ($89) come in twin size, with cheery graphic prints like flowers and turntables. Also: organic towels. Give it.

2. Board games.

Great for keeping class schedules and phone numbers handy, Envi Combo Magnetic Dry-Erase/Cork Bulletin Boards ($38) are Cradle-to-Cradle certified – made from recycled materials and designed to be recycled. Pair with nontoxic pens, and emblazon it with a bon voyage message (or a reminder about your birthday – oh, whoops, was that permanent ink?). Give it.

3. Electric bookaloo.

One thing’s for sure – they’re going to read. A lot. Give ‘em an electronic book reader like the new bigger-format, 9.7-inch Kindle DX ($489) – no trees necessary. They can download 300K books (lighter and cheaper than paper = less shoulder pain, more beer money), plus magazines and newspapers; highlight and make notes as they read; and download books anywhere. Give it.

Check out the rest over at IdealBite.com.

Link [Ideal Bite]

Defining Sustainability at the Arizona State University Art Museum

How can sustainability be defined with art? That’s what Arizona State University’s Art Museum set out to answer this fall with Defining Sustainability, a series of dynamic and interactive projects that will come together to illustrate sustainability ideas.

From ASU News:

Each exhibition or project tells a simple story – an artist’s proposal for green transportation or a designer’s solution for recycled shade structures – which together convey the complexity of sustaining life on earth. A nontraditional art museum project, artists and designers, faculty and students will engage the greater Phoenix community in their creative processes and in conversations about sustainability. The diverse projects range in materials and format, and are installed throughout the ASU Art Museum to tell stories of environmental, social and cultural sustainability.

In Defining Sustainability, art and the museum are catalyst and site for campus and community members to gather and further the conversation about sustainability. While many of the projects focus on this place, they have implications for art, museums and urban centers throughout the country and the world. Today’s art museum is a pristine, controlled environment, keeping the landscape, with all its environmental systems, hazards and problems, at bay. The ASU Art Museum strives to forge a new model for the university art museum as an interdisciplinary lab to explore real-world issues through the lens of the creative process.

Defining Sustainability will run from August 26th, 2009 through February 20th, 2010 and will feature exhibitions in all media by regional and international, emerging and established artists.

Learn more and view a few examples at the ASU website.

Pictured above: Shade structures made by ASU architecture faculty member Jason Griffiths, who will be leading the upcoming project Political Ply at ASU Art Museum in October 2009. Photo courtesy Jason Griffith.

Link [ASU News]

Green College Spotlight: Clark University

Clark University is among America’s greenest, a nationwide sustainability leader with a long list of impressive accomplishments. This small private college in Worcester, Massachusetts is lucky to have both an administration and a student body that is fully dedicated to energy conservation, recycling, local food, green building, community outreach and much more.

President Bassett signed the Presidents Climate Commitment, promising to work toward carbon neutrality, and Clark is also a signatory of the Talloires Declaration, an action plan for incorporating sustainability in higher education. The university has a full-time sustainability coordinator, an environmental sustainability task force and a student group called the Campus Sustainability Initiative who all work together to make Clark University even greener.

A program called Choose Renewable Energy gives students the option of helping fund Clark’s purchases of clean energy. With the support of the student body, the university has been able to purchase renewable energy credits. Clark also runs an energy awareness program and has completed a number of energy efficiency projects on campus.

Two of Clark University’s campus buildings are LEED certified. The Lasry Center for Bioscience Building earned Gold certification, while the Blackstone Hall student residence achieved Silver. Among the eco-friendly features in the buildings are enhanced natural daylighting, Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood, super-efficient water features and an incredible recycling rate of 97% during construction.

Clark University also offers its students, faculty and staff an array of local foods including hormone-free milk from a nearby dairy. Fair trade coffee and cage-free eggs are available as well as organic rice, produce and oatmeal. For special dinners, Dining services purchases produce from a local urban garden.

Congratulations to everyone at Clark University – your hard work is definitely paying off!

Link [Clark University]

Sustainability Degrees Growing in Popularity

The world is about to welcome a whole new generation of sustainability experts, bigger than ever before – and it couldn’t have come at a better time. College students are flocking to sustainability programs in droves, graduating with the knowledge they need to help guide the world to a greener, more sustainable way of life.

From Earth 911:

With an emphasis on trans- and interdisciplinary research and teaching, schools such as Stony Brook, Colorado State University, the University of Washington, Arizona State University, the University of Pennsylvania and others are incorporating sustainability into subjects such as business, architecture, biological science, social science and more.

Some universities are even creating stand-alone schools related to sustainability. Additionally, According to the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) most recent count, 66 sustainability-oriented academic programs were created in 2008.

The academic knowledge base of sustainability will likely continue to be needed and expanded as more “green collar” jobs emerge.

With the noticeable increase in academic programs related to sustainability, universities increasingly appear up to the task of educating the next generation of leaders so that they might tackle the pertinent environmental, social and economic issues of our age.

We profiled some of the nation’s best undergraduate sustainability programs earlier this year in an article entitled ‘Becoming Tomorrow’s Green Leaders: Top Environmental Undergrad Programs’. Among the chosen colleges and universities are Middlebury College in Vermont, Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, Northland College in Wisconsin and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Want to learn more? The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has an exhaustive list of schools offering various kinds of environmental programs available on their website.

Link [Earth 911] + [AASHE]

Green College Spotlight: Willamette University

Which college or university engages in the most sustainable activities? That would be Willamette University of Oregon, which beat out 1,067 other schools to take the crown in a National Wildlife Federation survey.

“Willamette is committed to energy efficiency and conservation, greener transportation, environmentally friendly landscaping practices, as well as to orienting personnel and faculty to the sustainability goals of the campus”, said the WWF report.

Willamette’s enthusiasm comes from a solid core of committed students, faculty and staff including President M. Lee Peldon, who signed the Presidents Climate Commitment. A sustainability council oversees the many sustainability activities on campus, and a number of student groups like the Environmental Community Outreach Society help make going green a priority.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) praised Willamette University last year for its remarkable initiative.

“People at Willamette take their motto and mission seriously and genuinely try to walk the talk,” said Judy Walton, AASHE executive director. “I’ve rarely seen so much honest engagement and reflection on the issue of sustainability. It’s a sincere commitment, not just lip service. The university takes time to make sure its efforts are deep and thoughtful.”

Earning a B on the 2009 Green College Report Card – a full grade higher than the previous year’s – Willamette has a long list of green projects and accomplishments, on campus and off.

All future buildings at Willamette will be required to reach LEED Silver or higher, and a new building under construction is currently seeking Gold certification. Double-glazed windows and low-flow plumbing are among the efficiency improvements that existing buildings have undergone. Solar panels have been installed on one building, and another building will get a 40-kilowatt solar array.

Students can rent bicycles and have their own bicycles repaired at the campus bike shop, and are also given free bus passes. The university uses hybrid campus security vehicles. In the dining hall, organic and local food options are abundant and half of all food waste is composted for use at local farms.

Check out a full list of Willamette University’s notable accomplishments at the WU Sustainability website.

Link [Willamette University] + [Green College Report Card]

Green College Spotlight: Colorado College

Drawing upon the adventurous spirit of the Rocky Mountain West, Colorado College of Colorado Springs has challenged its students to develop habits of intellect and imagination that will prepare them for learning and leadership throughout their lives. That mission has clearly spread to understanding, practicing and sharing sustainability on and off campus as the small private liberal arts college has amped up its green resume in the past year.

Colorado College conducted an environmental inventory and created a sustainability management plan in January of 2008, and in the year and a half since then, they’ve managed to green up campus operations enough to earn a B on the College Sustainability Report Card. That’s a lot of work in such a short amount of time, and everyone involved is to be commended on their efforts.

In May 2008, Colorado College students, donors and staff collaborated to install solar panels that produce enough energy to power the equivalent of one of the campus’ language-themed residential houses. After determining a plan of action for tackling energy conservation and reduction of greenhouse gases, the college has set a goal of carbon neutrality and is working toward meeting strict efficiency standards. Colorado College is currently pursuing a wind power project and is also considering a solar array that would make the campus carbon neutral.

One of Colorado College’s new building projects has achieved LEED certification, the Russell T. Tutt Science Center, which has a shower for bicycle commuters, xeriscaping, wind-generated electricity, low VOC paints and many other green features. The new Cornerstone Arts Center is also seeking LEED Silver certification. Other buildings on campus have undergone energy efficiency makeovers.

The college has biodiesel buses and several hybrid and electric vehicles among its fleet, and students can get downtown via a shuttle program or ridesharing. The campus is also bike-friendly, and first-year students are not allowed to bring their own vehicles.

Food services works with an on-campus organic farm, and the chefs purchase local products from Colorado Springs area farmers including beef and dairy products. Students, faculty and staff have many organic and fair trade options and are rewarded with a discount for using reusable cups and bags.

Colorado College shows how quickly you can get things done when you set your mind to it. We’re looking forward to hearing more about how they’re working toward going green when the 2010 Green Report Card is released.

Link [Colorado College] + [Green Report Card]

Changent Katherine Walsh Greens Up Boston College

When Katherine Walsh joined a student organization called ‘Ecopledge’ at Boston College, it wasn’t exactly a popular group to be in. There were just five members, and the general sentiment among her fellow students at the time was that environmentalism was just for “crazy hippie treehuggers.” Then, as part of the group, Walsh attended the annual Northeast Climate Summit at the University of Vermont, meeting hundreds of other college students dedicated to environmentalism – and it changed her life.

When, as a sophomore, Walsh found herself thrust into a leadership position in Ecopledge, she decided to make some changes. From Changents.com:

We started questioning our focus as a group and realized we could not continue focusing on the national issues without trying to change our own issues at BC. We started off slowly, establishing and nurturing better relationships with Facilities Management,Residential Life, and Dining Services, or as we liked to refer to them as “The Big Three”. And so began the next three years of triumphs, disappointments, lessons, and great change. Some highlights: BC moving from 33rd to 12th in RecycleMania; the beginning and continuation of campus events like Harvest Fest, Mt. Trashmore, and the Better Off Contest; the changing of over 800 incandescent bulbs throughout campus to fluorescent bulbs; hiring of an Energy Manager, promoted to Director of Sustainability and Energy Management; the creation of a BC sustainability website (bc.edu/sustainability); the purchase of five BigBelly solar trash compactors; numerous energy retrofits in garage and Plex lighting and heating and cooling mechanisms; the creation of a campus organic garden. BC even just had its first (and very successful) “BCisGreen Week”.

BC Dining has been a true “Changent” of its own, establishing a Green Cafe of organic and local foods only, composting and new recycling patterns in the dining halls, and no longer selling bottled water within the actual food areas. These many accomplishments came through our committed long hours of meetings, campaigns, collecting signatures, hosting campus events, and campus-wide publicity through “The Heights”. We in Ecopedge were rewarded for our work with the Mass Lottery Community Champions Award, the “Ever to Excel” Award, the “Skills: Leadership Award”, and the 2008 Heights Person of the Year Award.

Today, Ecopledge is a popular campus organization with over two dozen members. In addition to winning the “Ever to Excel” Award as a group, Katherine Walsh won the 2008 Leadership Award for her efforts on behalf of the environment.

We’d like to congratulate Katherine and all the other past and present members of Ecopledge who have helped make Boston College a much greener place. Check out Katherine’s continued work to ‘Grow Boston Greener’ at Changents.com/KatherineWalsh.

Link [Changents]

Green College Spotlight: Grinnell College

It’s no surprise that Grinnell College has stepped up its game when it comes to being green: this private liberal arts institution in Grinnell, Iowa has a long history of social activism. Grinnell has been ranked among the top 17 liberal arts colleges in the nation since 1983.

Grinnell College has adopted a statement of environmental responsibility and a master plan of sustainability goals, with an environmental and safety coordinator working on sustainability issues. The school has set an emissions reduction goal of 20 percent below anticipated 2010 levels and is constructing a 4-megawatt turbine that will provide half the campus’ electricity. It also has a 15-kilowatt turbine at its Conrad Environmental Research Area, which meets over 90 percent of the center’s energy needs.

All new buildings at Grinnell must meet LEED standards, and the campus already features LEED-certified dorms. The Conrad Environmental Research Area is also LEED Gold-certified. Also featured on campus is the ECOhouse, an off-campus sustainability living project located in a converted older home. The twelve students who live in the ECOhouse try to live as green as they can, exploring ways to improve energy efficiency, reduce water usage and waste, grow their own food and educate the campus.

Local, organic ingredients are used in the dining hall, and food compost is delivered to a local farmer. Grinnell College also has a community garden in addition to two student gardens on campus. Yard waste is composted through the city of Grinnell, and the college collects reusable items at the end of the school year that would otherwise by thrown out, donating them to thrift stores or selling them to new students during orientation.

The Campus Advisory Committee on Environmental Concerns, known as EcoCampus, is made up of students, faculty and staff who work to research and share information on environmental concerns, and find ways to solve them. Grinnell also has a Dorm Environmental Coordinator Program, which hires students to serve as sustainability coordinators within their dorms, as well as student organizations like Free the Planet and the Environmental Action Group.

Thanks to everyone at Grinnell College for doing your part to make the world a greener, better place!

Green College Spotlight: Brandeis University

Just west of Boston, private liberal arts institution Brandeis University stands on a wooded campus with architecture that ranges from sleek and modern to a romantic stone castle. Rated among the nation’s top universities, Brandeis is also starting to get attention for its sustainability efforts, which have steadily increased in recent years.

The Campus Sustainability Initiative at Brandeis aims to reduce the university’s carbon footprint, with many departments, offices, academic disciplines and student groups working together to green the campus. President Reinharz signed the Presidents Climate Commitment, and Brandeis has allocated over $9 million to help reduce energy use. The school is partially powered by renewable energy, and many conservation programs incite students to engage in friendly energy-saving competitions.

Though Brandeis doesn’t currently have any LEED-certified buildings, it will seek a LEED silver rating for any new construction projects and has already begun to implement green features into existing buildings including low-VOC paints and bamboo flooring.  When it comes to transportation, students can easily get around campus by shuttle service or a car-sharing service, and the university offers employees the opportunity to buy transit passes with pretax earnings.

The dining hall is where Brandeis’ commitment to green is really blossoming, with organic and fair-trade options as well as cage-free eggs and discounts for students using reusable mugs. A campaign called “Eating in does not mean take out” encourages students to use real china instead of disposables, and waste from the dining halls is composted. Brandeis also has its own farmer’s market where fresh, local produce is sold.

One area where Brandeis definitely stands out is student involvement. A ‘Greening the Ivory Tower’ course has students taking leadership on sustainability projects like a community garden for local children. Conservation and advocacy events are organized by Students for Environmental Action, and an Eco Reps program was started in Fall 2008. The university has also spread its sustainability message to the local community with donation drives, pollution reduction efforts and children’s environmental education projects.

Learn more about Brandeis’ efforts at the Brandeis University Campus Sustainability Initiative.

Link [Brandeis University]

Solar Blimp Created by French Students to Fly Over English Channel

A solar-powered, emissions-free blimp designed by engineers and built by French students will soon begin a journey across the English Channel. The helium blimp is 22 meters long and is made up of an aluminum frame covered in an outer wrap made from nylon and polyethelene. Semi-flexible solar panels affixed to the blimp are capable of providing 2.4 kilowatts of power.

From Wired:

“Right now we use a surprisingly small motor which powers two big red propellers,” Felix Hildenbrand, one of the people involved in the project, told Wired.com. The propellers can push the blimp, which is 5.5 meters or about 18 feet in diameter, along at as much as 25 mph.

“All the work was done by students of engineering schools or technical high schools,” Hildenbrand said. “We want to cross the channel with this prototype by the end of the summer.” At the Strait of Dover, it should take a little less than an hour.

After a year and half of work, the team just wrapped up a successful display of their final creation at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget.

The team is preparing for a test flight in two weeks before sending the blimp, which has been dubbed ‘Nephelios’, out over the channel. Hildenbrand says they don’t have military ambitions for the blimp – they just want to show that it’s possible.

It may seem strange to mix new tech – solar power – with the old tech of blimps, but it’s an interesting mashup and if this project is successful, it could inspire all kinds of solar-powered aviation creativity.

Link [Wired]

Green College Tech: Water-Cooled Supercomputer Doubles as Dorm Space Heater

Massive supercomputers use a lot of energy, but a new innovation by IBM could at least recycle some of the waste heat to help heat the universities where they are housed. The company also plans to use water to keep the supercomputers cool, which could lead to a reduction of overall energy consumption by at least 40 percent compared to similar air-cooled supercomputers.

From Wired via ENN:

“Energy is arguably the number one challenge humanity will be facing in the 21st century,” says Dimos Poulikakos, lead investigator of the project. “We cannot afford anymore to design computer systems based on the criterion of computational speed and performance alone.”

Supercomputers are used in energy research labs such as Argonne National Laboratory, in space research by NASA and at universities for scientific research, all applications which have a nearly insatiable demand for processing power. The new supercomputer, called Aquasar, will be housed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and will have a top speed of 10 teraflops. (A teraflop is a trillion floating point operations per second, a measure of computing capacity.) While that’s a lot of computing power — a Core 2 Duo processor is capable of about 20 gigaflops, or 1/500 the speed of Aquasar — it’s a fraction of what some of the fastest supercomputers today. For instance, IBM’s Blue Gene/L supercomputer, which ranks fourth on the top 100 list, has a peak speed of 596 teraflops. Meanwhile, IBM has moved on to create its first supercomputer in Europe capable of one petaflop, or one thousand trillion operations per second.

Keeping these machines cool is a challenge: many of the chips used in supercomputer systems put out ten times as much heat as a typical kitchen hot plate. They have to be kept below 185 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal performance. It takes a whole lot of energy to do that the conventional way, so using water could potentially be a huge energy saver.

And to use the excess heat to keep students warm in the winter? Sheer brilliance!

Link [Wired] via [ENN]
Photo credit: CNET

Green College Spotlight: University of New Hampshire

The University of New Hampshire is home to the oldest endowed sustainability program in higher education in the United States. Its sustainability efforts center around four key systems: the Biodiversity Education Initiative, the Climate Education Initiative, the Food & Society Initiative and the Culture & Sustainability Initiative. All four of these systems aim to unite the spirit of discovery with the challenge of sustainability.

UNH is a signatory of the Talloires Declaration, which commits the university to being world leaders in developing, creating, supporting and maintaining sustainability    . President Huddleston also signed the Presidents Climate Commitment. So far, UNH is going a great job lowering its carbon footprint – it fuels its cogeneration heat and power plant with landfill gas, significantly lowering energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Curious about all the different areas where sustainability has been implemented on campus? Check out UNH’s sustainability map, which is literally covered with little green dots indicating green projects and initiatives. You can click on each dot to learn more about each project, from transportation to the ‘Farm to School’ program. It really gives you an idea of just how serious the University of New Hampshire is about being green, helping to further the cause and spreading the message of sustainability to the community.

Some highlights of UNH’s sustainable efforts include its Climate Change Research Center, which studies the chemical and dynamic properties of the Earth’s atmosphere to better understand how our activities affect it as well as an Energy Task Force , made up of students, faculty and staff who guide UNH’s energy conservation and emissions reduction policies.

Students are heavily involved in sustainability at the University of New Hampshire. Among the student groups are ‘Ecological Advocates’, which promotes environmentally sustainable behaviors on campus. This group leads popular campaigns and competitions focused on waste reduction, recycling, food waste minimization, energy use, Earth Day and more.

The UNH campus is pedestrian- and bike-friendly, with a Cat Cycles bicycle program that allows students to sign out a bike and accessories for up to a week at a time. The campus itself is getting greener, too, having committed to seek LEED silver certification on all new construction projects.

Great job, UNH – we can’t wait to see all the new ways in which you continue to be a leader in college sustainability!

Link [UNH] + [Green College Report Card]

UC Berkeley Student Graduates with ‘Small Green World’ on Cap

One University of California at Berkeley student definitely stood out from the crowd at graduation this year, with a ‘small green world’ on his cap complete with a working solar panel.

Roland Saekow, a Product Design major, created this fun little diorama with grass paper, miniature trees, a working solar panel that drives the little wind turbine and a sun that can be made to rise by remote control.

Saekow was involved in several sustainable groups on campus and helped pass the Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) legislation on campus, which generates $200,000 annually for green projects at Berkeley. He was also the Waste Reduction Manager at his housing cooperative for four semesters and taught a course on the impact of waste on our past, present and future.

If this amazingly creative little cap is any indication, we’ll be seeing some awesome sustainable products from Saekow in the years to come!

Link [AP Community]

Green College Spotlight: University of Florida at Gainesville

The University of Florida is training the scientific, social, political, cultural and business leaders of the future, and it wants to be sure that they’re all going to go out into the world and make it a better place. That’s one of the reasons sustainability is such a big priority at this university of nearly 48,000 students in Gainesville.

UF’s guiding principles for sustainability cover a wide range of areas including teaching and research, energy conservation and climate change, land and resource management, waste reduction, transportation, stewardship and many more. The university’s commitment to becoming a model of sustainability has earned it a B+ on the College Sustainability Report Card and designation as a Campus Sustainability Leader.

In addition to signing the Presidents Climate Commitment, UF President Machen also set a goal of zero waste by 2015. UF lowers energy consumption through a variety of programs and initiatives including residence hall competitions and energy efficiency improvements on campus. The university is also holding its first carbon-neutral home football season this year.

All new construction on the UF campus must attain LEED silver certification, and two recent projects were awarded LEED gold – the newly renovated Library West and the Rinker School of Building Construction. A 2,600 square foot green roof was recently installed as part of a 32-building LEED-EB portfolio project.

Students, faculty and staff ride biodiesel-powered buses for free, and UF also has a car-sharing program. In the dining halls, students enjoy local dairy and produce from 70 Florida farms as well as cage-free eggs and shade-grown coffee. Both UF dining halls use reusable tableware and provide to-go containers made from 100% sugarcane.

With so many students, the University of Florida had its work cut out for it in becoming such a great example of sustainability on campus – but they’ve done an amazing job.

Link [UF Sustainability] + [Green College Report Card]

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