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AASHE Bulletin

1. University of Victoria’s Medical Sciences Building Receives LEED Gold Certification
The University of Victoria’s Medical Sciences Building has received LEED Gold Certification.  The $12-million, 43,000-square foot facility incorporates energy efficient systems, locally-sourced recycled and salvaged building materials, wastewater recycling and natural landscaping.
http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=release&id=749

2. New Tahoe Center for Environmental Science Building to Open at Sierra Nevada College
Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences recently opened at Sierra Nevada College.  The Center, a collaborative effort between the College, the University of Nevada, Reno, the University of California, Davis, and the Desert Research Institute, will provide new home for scientists studying environmental issues facing the Tahoe Basin.  The $25 million, 45,000 square feet, building that houses the Center is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification.  It includes a system to recover heat from exhaust air; cogeneration of electricity and heat; solar photovoltaic panels; rainwater capture and reuse; exterior walkways made of recycled materials; and natural light.  In addition, the building produces cold water at night and uses it to cool the building by day thereby saving energy costs.
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/TB/20060820/News/108200038/-1/REGION
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060814/NEWS10/608140337/1016/NEWS

3. Cape Cod Community College to Open Green Technology Building
Cape Cod Community College will open its new Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Building in September.  The building, which was designed for LEED Gold certification, includes a number of sustainability features.  As a result of dual occupancy/daylight sensors and other energy saving measures, the building is expected to use 35% less energy than an equivalent conventional building.  The electricity the building does use will be generated from renewable sources, including 27 kW solar array on the roof of the building.  By using native, drought-resistant species in the landscaping; reusing rainwater for flushing toilets; and installing low-flow fixtures and waterless urinals, the building is also expected to use about 85% less water than a conventional building.  In addition, locally extracted and manufactured materials comprise over 40% of the total cost of the building.
http://www.capecodtoday.com/news489.htm

4. Student-Run University of Idaho Sustainability Center Begins Operation
The student-run University of Idaho Sustainability Center has begun operation.  The Center is the result of a student campaign last year that resulted in an allocation of $85,000 to the center.  The center is currently in the process of hiring its five-person staff and planning activities for the fall.  Potential activities include promoting fair trade coffee and local, organic foods in campus dining halls and developing a composting system for food waste.
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_4212791     
http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/envs/sustainability.htm

5. University of Wisconsin Regents Approve Tuition Increase for Diversity at UW La Crosse
University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents recently approved a plan to increase tuition by $1,320 over three years in order to diversity its student body.  The income from the tuition increase will be used to hire new faculty members, provide financial aid for recruiting low-income and minority students, and support outreach to Wisconsin’s elementary and secondary school system and retention efforts. The increases, which have yet to be approved by the Wisconsin legislature, would be in addition to usual annual tuition increases.
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/08/21/tuition
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=484998

6. Campus Sustainability Efforts in WA and FL Featured
Recent articles in the local media have featured campus sustainability initiatives in Washington and Florida.  In Washington, a long article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer highlights: composting and solar energy at Seattle University; a new green building and waste reduction efforts at Pacific Lutheran University; green energy purchasing at Western Washington University and The Evergreen State College; degree programs in organic farming at Washington State University and green building and alternative fuel at the University of Washington.  Meanwhile, in Florida, the Tallahassee Democrat focuses on the work of the Sustainable Energy Science and Engineering Center at Florida State University and the Sustainability Office at the University of Florida.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/282232_greencampus23.html
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060816/NEWS01/608160316/1010

7. Green Business Building Under Construction at University of Minnesota Duluth
The $23 million Labovitz School of Business and Economics currently under construction at University of Minnesota Duluth is expected to be the first new construction at the University of Minnesota to achieve LEED-certification.  Green features include: Forest Stewardship Council certified wood; heat recovery; occupancy and daylight sensors; locally sourced and renewable/recycled building materials, and water efficient fixtures.  The 65,000 square-foot building is expected 40% lower operational costs than a conventional equivalent.  The building will open in mid-2008.
http://www.businessnorth.com/construction.asp?RID=1498

8. College of the Atlantic Receives Grant for Green Dormitory
College of the Atlantic has received a $2.5 million challenge grant to construct the Kathryn W. Davis Student Residence Village, an environmentally-friendly cross-cultural living and learning center.  The architects are designing the village to be among the most ecologically sensitive of any college dormitory in the nation with an environmental footprint approaching zero.  The village will house 51 students, thereby bringing the percentage of students living on campus from the current 33 percent to nearly 50 percent.
http://coa.edu/html/pressreleases_182.htm
Annotated listing of green dormitories (AASHE members-only): http://www.aashe.org/resources/residence_halls1.php

9. Cornell Bars Investments in Sudan Oil Companies
Cornell has announced its intention to bar investment of its endowment assets in oil companies currently operating in Sudan as a response to the genocide in Darfur.  It also will ban investing in obligations of the Sudanese government.  In addition, Cornell will talk to managers of commingled funds in which it invests about strategies seeking to eliminate any future association or indirect exposure to these companies.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug06/Sudan.announcement.html

10. University of Wisconsin System to Divest Sudan Investments
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System have voted to prevent university funds from being invested with companies that support or abet acts of genocide in the country of Sudan.  The Regent vote directs that UW System assets held in separately managed accounts, over which the Board of Regents serves as trustees and fiduciaries, shall not be invested in companies that do business with the Sudanese government or have been complicit in the Darfur genocide. Investments will also be prohibited in companies that provide military equipment, arms, or defense supplies to any Sudanese domestic party.  Where assets are invested through mutual funds, the fund firms will be notified of the Board’s action and asked to adopt similar policies.  The Regent action will be shared with UW foundations that manage private funds on behalf of UW institutions so they can consider a similar policy.
http://www.wisconsin.edu/news/2006/r060818c.htm

11. University of Minnesota Switches to Biodiesel Blend
The University of Minnesota Parking and Transportation Services has converted its fuel tanks on the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses from diesel to a 20 percent biodiesel blend.  The university has 50 vehicles on the Twin Cities campus that run on diesel fuel. In fiscal year 2006, the Twin Cities campus used 44,000 gallons of diesel fuel.  The Twin Cities campus has used an 85% blend of ethanol and gasoline (E85) for several years and currently has 50 vehicles capable of running on E85.
http://www.ur.umn.edu/unsreleases/find.php?ID=3191&from=umnnews

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