Third UNCF Building Green Learning Institute—The Journey to a Green Campus Continues

By Van Du, Advancing Green Building Intern, Second Nature Second Nature’s Advancing Green Building in Higher Education team participated this month in the third and final UNCF Building Green Learning Institute. Hosted in San Antonio, Texas, from June 10-12, 2010, the institute once again brought together faculty, staff, and students from colleges and universities across [...]

Read Full Post »

The New Prosperity Initiative | Community Dialogue Series

I recently had the privilege of participating in The New Prosperity Initiative (NPi) Community Dialogue Series. NPi, was founded by Jeanne Dasaro and Alexis Schroeder with the goal to publicize the efforts of individuals and organizations working to build social and economic prosperity. NPi brought together four Boston based non-profits with missions focused on food [...]

Read Full Post »

US News & World Report’s 10 Eco Friendly College Campuses

In addition to their innovative campus green building, renewable energy projects, and sustainable agricultural practices, all 10 colleges named in US News & World Report’s list of Eco Friendly College Campuses have something in common: they’re all signatories of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). click to view the US News & [...]

Read Full Post »

RECs and GHG Offsets: A Folly of Choice and a Crisis of Definition

by Tim Stumhofer, Program Associate, Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (This article appears in the June, 2010 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer) At face value, the question of which environmental commodity to use in support of voluntary climate objectives (e.g., “carbon neutrality”) may read as a simple preference of taste. Tasked with parsing vague marketing claims [...]

Read Full Post »

Purchasing Green Power: Best Practices and Unique Higher Education Opportunities

by Blaine Collison, Program Director, Green Power Partnership, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (This article appears in the June, 2010 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer) The fundamental economic, environmental and security importance of dramatically increasing the United States’ portion of renewable electricity generation portfolio cannot be overstated.  American colleges and universities have compelling and unique abilities [...]

Read Full Post »

Power Purchase Agreements: Can I develop renewable energy and keep the carbon too?

by Dano Weisbord, Environmental Sustainability Director, Smith College (This article appears in the June, 2010 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer) Smith College recently installed a 29 kilowatt photo-voltaic (PV) array on our Campus Center. We developed this project using a power purchase agreement (PPA).  The PPA is an increasingly common model for developing renewable energy [...]

Read Full Post »

Universities in Peru Work for Sustainable Future

by Georges Dyer, Second Nature Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Lima, Peru to participate in an exciting seminar with leaders from universities, government, business, and NGOs on higher education’s opportunity to lead the shift to sustainability. As is the case in most countries around the world, Peru’s energy ministries are working [...]

Read Full Post »