One component of the Green Rehab Experiment is to determine if a combination of energy efficiency upgrades, solar panel installations, and reduced energy consumption can result in a century-old apartment building that satisfies the annual energy needs of its occupants solely through on-site renewable energy generation. An experimental apartment building was retrofitted to this end, […]
On February 6, the Buder Center for American Indian Studies hosted a symposium on indigenous rights and environmental justice at Washington University’s Hillman Hall. The symposium addressed environmental and cultural issues relevant to St. Louis and the Dakota Access Pipeline project in North Dakota. The event featured a diverse and dynamic group of presenters. Keynote speaker Harold Frazier, […]
Celebrate the start of the weekend and warmer temperatures by visiting one of St. Louis’s many local, sustainable restaurants! The Green Dining Alliance (GDA) is a program of the non-profit organization St. Louis Earth Day. The GDA helps area restaurants assess and determine a path for meeting sustainability needs and goals. All GDA restaurants participate in a […]
Are you interested to enhance your student leadership skills while fostering a sustainability culture on campus? Apply to be a team leader for the 2017-18 Washington University Green Ambassador (WUGA) program! The Office of Sustainability launched the Green Ambassador program in 2013, and it transitioned to being a student-managed program in 2015. Under the guidance of […]
The Office of Sustainability is pleased to welcome ten new part-time associates this semester. From left to right: Sam Emery, Jenna Schnitzler, Alexis Vidaurreta, Ankita Bhalla, Camille Rieber, Sofia Joison, Annalise Wagner, Sean Fallon, Channing Hunter, and Ashwin Sundaresan. This dynamic group of students will work alongside 12 returning associates and 3.5 staff members to […]
WashU’s annual energy reduction and sustainability competition is back! Green Cup is a four-week competition to reduce energy use among South 40 Residential Colleges, North Side housing, fraternities, and the School of Medicine’s Olin Dorm and Farrell Learning and Teaching Center (in four separate leagues). Students compete to reduce their energy usage below a baseline. […]
On January 27, the first annual Washington University Green Carpet Awards recognized the 55 university offices that certified or re-certified with the Green Office Program in 2016. To certify, an office must first fulfill requirements that promote a sustainable workplace and environment, ranging from sourcing recycled-content paper to eliminating individual space heaters. Since the program […]
In recent months, the Office of Sustainability’s Renewable Energy team has focused on identifying opportunities for increasing solar energy generation on WashU’s campuses. WashU currently has 605 kilowatts of solar photovoltaics (PV) installed on university-owned property throughout the region – roughly 2,500 solar panels that together would cover just under half of Mudd Field. The solar […]
The Office of Sustainability is hosting a two-day preparation course for the LEED Accredited Professional Building Design and Construction (LEED AP BD&C) exam. This exam builds on the Green Associate (GA) credential by providing expertise in a particular LEED Rating System; in this case, Building Design and Construction. The LEED AP BD&C exam is designed to […]
Like the State of Missouri, the City of St. Louis, and St. Louis County, WashU has been working to limit idling by vehicles. WashU’s no-idling policy has been in place since early 2009 and helps reduce the pollution caused by vehicles running when parked or waiting for passengers. Emissions produced by vehicles endanger public health […]
The Catholic Student Center (CSC) hosts weekly mass services for over 700 students and community members and provides free soup lunches. For many WashU students, it also offers a place to study and build community throughout the week. Brian Wieliczka is a graduate student who volunteers with the CSC, and over the past two years, he has been […]
On October 22, Washington University Students for International Collaboration on the Environment (WUSICE) presented the second annual Washington University Climate Change Negotiations (WUCCN). During the event, around thirty WashU undergraduate students, law students, and students and staff from other universities participated in a simulation of the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) […]
WashU’s Green Office program is a point-based, self-assessment checklist that enables offices to evaluate their current practices and set goals to be more sustainable moving forward. Congratulations to recent participants: Office of Central Services & Mail Receiving Office of Access Control School of Medicine’s FMD Supply Room Office of Student Technology Services Habif Health and Wellness […]
Believe it or not, buildings use an estimated 40% of all energy consumed in the United States. That’s a big contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, and although we can now construct extremely energy efficient buildings like the Bullitt Center in Seattle, we still need to worry about all of the existing ones that were built decades before […]
The Washington University Green Ambassador (WUGA) program launched in 2013 and gives students the opportunity to become sustainability leaders across campus. This year, 30 WUGAs completed training and are volunteering across residence halls, dining facilities, and at large events to help first-year students with waste sorting and to provide sustainability resources. Over the first 40 days of the semester, they helped […]
The university’s Resource Management Department hosted a presentation by a manufacturer of ultra-low temperature lab freezers that highlighted information about it’s newer, energy efficient model that has been designed to be environmentally-friendly. The presentation highlighted sustainability features of the process to manufacture it, the materials it is constructed from and the energy it takes to operate […]
Washington University Students for International Collaboration on the Environment (WUSICE) is hosting its second annual Washington University Climate Change Negotiations (WUCCN). WUCCN is a mock climate change negotiations, modeled after the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP). WUCCN is a great opportunity for anyone interested in international negotiations, COP, […]
Washington University’s Green Office Program challenges staff and faculty to create sustainable work spaces within their offices. Through a self-assessed, point by point checklist, offices can determine their sustainability in six key areas: energy, waste, documents, purchasing, transportation, and awareness. The checklist assesses sustainability on the specific practices applicable to each office, such as how […]
The Washington University Green Ambassador (WUGA) program launched in 2013 and gives students the opportunity to become sustainability leaders across campus. First-year impacts included making numerous orientation events near-zero waste (over 90% diversion from landfill); recycling 100,000 pounds of cardboard; and distributing hundreds of Eco To-Go reusable box program memberships. Ingrid Archibald, Alex Symes, and Lily […]
Over the summer, WashU staff and faculty supported a variety of sustainability projects and initiatives across multiple campuses. Learn more about several key accomplishments below. Energy Efficiency and Green Building Projects Installed a 25 kilowatt (kw) rooftop solar array on the Academy Building, just across Forest Park Parkway from the Danforth Campus (the photo above shows the installation mid-process). Over […]
The School of Medicine’s Student Sustainability Committee works to make sustainability a priority on campus. On August 1, committee members presented to first-year medical students as part of their orientation. In addition to reviewing the importance of energy efficiency and waste reduction, members touched on the impacts of climate change on public health, such as the link […]
In February 2016, Washington University in St. Louis published its updated Strategic Plan for Sustainable Operations. This plan outlines strategies for setting a clear path toward a more sustainable campus through changes to university operations in a number of sectors of campus life. The plan was published with the goal of clearly communicating university goals and […]
Washington University and Bon Appetit staff members are helping conserve energy, decrease emissions, and save money by targeting efficiency projects across campus dining locations. Refrigeration has been a focus area in recent months. Refrigeration is estimated to use twenty percent of the world’s global energy. Refrigerators cycle cold air when built-in thermostats recognize changes in […]
Fifty-seven Washington University alumni and current students came together for a Sustainability Social in Washington, DC on July 14. The social was sponsored by the university’s Office of Sustainability with assistance from the Alumni Association. Jeremy Sigmon, AB ’04, and Anisa Baldwin Metzger, BS ’06, hosted the event at the U.S. Green Building Council Headquarters and gave […]
During the spring 2016 semester, utilizing support from the Student Sustainability Fund, the WUSM Student Sustainability Committee distributed nearly 1,000 LED light bulbs to medical students. This project engaged future physicians in sustainability by encouraging this easy first step: changing out light bulbs. This initiative had two main goals: (i) generate tangible action on energy reduction, […]
A Dynamic Duo: Carrol Joiner and Bob Gereaux Carrol Joiner came to the Medical School 20 years ago, while Bob Gereaux joined the Medical School 11 years ago. Carrol started out as a building HVAC maintenance mechanic/technician. Bob ended up working for the in-house HVAC systems and controls group as a recommissioning technician. About 2½ […]
The School of Medicine’s (WUSM) Facilities Management Department has been involved in two recent efforts at the Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) to optimize the operation of the space conditioning equipment at the school and research buildings in order to save energy and lower operating costs. The Facilities Management Department has operated and maintained the CID’s […]