The Rise of Sustainability On American Campuses

It's hard to think of better places than colleges as hubs of sustainability ideas and their dissemination. These are places of research and a tradition in innovation; for that reason, campuses are ideal breeding grounds for sustainability and related disciplines.


And it's happening. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) recently revealed that solar photovoltaic (PV) installations on college campuses have increased 450% in the last three years to 137 megawatts (MW). It said in 2010, the market for on-campus solar was over $300 million in the US, or 5.4% of the US total of 956 MW. AASHE said decreasing prices contributed to accelerating deployment of solar PV on American campuses (down by 40% over the last four years), as well as new financing mechanisms that make it even more affordable. Solar helps campuses save in rising electricity bills and create energy security.

Another example: more than a dozen colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada have introduced campus-wide bans on plastic bottles, said Triple Pundit. Another dozen institutions have partially halted bottled water sales and hydration stations have been installed a hundreds of schools to enable students to refill their bottles. Consumption of bottled water has increased from 13.4 gallons to 29.3 gallons between 1997 and 2007. Thanks to intense campaigning, demand has tapered off over the last few years and these days bottled water has become something of a bête noire amongst the green cognoscenti.

Elsewhere, the University of Michigan recently announced it will add 37 hybrid vehicles to its fleet of buses and install solar panels on its North Campus as part of an additional $14 million commitment to making its campus more sustainable. The plan brings the University's expenditures on behalf of sustainability to almost $100 million.

Meanwhile students at the University of Portland have been turning rice into fuel through an initiative called Biodiesel Club. Their raw material comes from its dining facility known as The Commons, and it becomes biodiesel for use within the campus - think mowers running on biodiesel and you get an idea.

Campus sustainability is a diverse arena indeed, and a good place to start looking is the website of the Campus Sustainability Day (CSD), which takes place on October 26. Created in 2003, CSD is a day of focus on what has been accomplished and what is needed to maintain momentum.

The organizers say CSD is devoted to the achievements by, and challenges for, students, faculty, and staff who are contributing to a more sustainable future. This can translate into education, policies, and practices within education institutions and the surrounding communities. Individual campuses and organizations plan their own events, programs, and initiatives.

Hopefully all these initiatives are influencing a new generation of graduates who will apply sustainability lessons learnt during their time at the university to their work environments. It's an investment in the future.

Image credit: CSD