Green Schools
College rivalries are nothing new, whether it is academics or athletics. Now there's new competition over which are the greenest.
Colleges across the country are making sustainability a priority to both help the environment and raise their profile. Kaplan chose these 25 schools as the greenest for its 2009 college guide. Kaplan factored in environmental campus projects, courses offered and on campus student groups. Take a look at the alphabetical listing.
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona
The school’s garden produces food that can be sold to vendors, used by the campus dining room or donated to charity. Besides the farm, the university gives its staff three-wheeled bicycles to get around campus.
Bates College
Lewiston, Maine
In order to reduce waste, Bates hosts The Clean Sweep, an annual tag sale that takes items left behind by students in their dorms, which are then sold to other students.
Berea College
Berea, Kentucky
The historic campus has been renovated so that all of its historical buildings are brought up to green standards. Berea also has a college farm that produces green vegetables for the on campus dining room.
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, Maine
Committed to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent, Bowdoin has purchased wind-generated power, instituted single-stream recycling and renovate buildings to be more sustainable.
University of California
California
The system of 10 schools has pledged to generate 10 megawatts of renewable power by 2014 and increase the use of low-emission vehicles on its campus by 50 percent in 2010.
Carleton College
Northfield, Minnesota
The college overhauled most of its buildings by changing light bulbs, as well as using other environmentally friendly materials and appliances. In 2004, construction was finished on a wind turbine located just outside the campus.
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
In 1990, Carnegie Mellon launched an extensive recycling program. It recycled 682 tons of waste last year. The university also powers some if its campus using alternative energy sources.
College of the Atlantic
Bar Harbor, Maine
One of the highlights of College of the Atlantic's sustainability practices is offering students and faculty the opportunity to borrow bicycles for a day, or an entire semester, free of charge.
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
Students started the Sustainable Move-Out in 2006, an event where they collect appliances and room decorations at the end of the year, store them through the summer and sell them to incoming students in September, reducing the amount of waste the school produces.
Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Dickinson's college farm is in the process of expanding from 1.5 acres to 4 acres of vegetable production, which is used for the school's dining services. Students who apply for a summer internship at the farm can live in off-grid yurts (tent-like huts) powered by solar panels.
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
In an effort to conserve water, Duke has handed out 9,000 free low-flow showerheads to employees and off-campus students, replaced automatic flush toilets with manual ones and turned off decorative fountains in the school's garden.
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, Michigan
Campus dining services at GVSU purchase food, mostly from local vendors since it requires less fuel to deliver. They also only use biodegradable plastic bags, cups and containers.
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Harvard recently announced a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2016. It is reducing the amount of energy it uses, as well as installing solar panels that produce hot water and low-flow water fixtures in its bathrooms.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
In 2006, MIT retrofitted its lighting at many of the school's athletic facilities -- a move that will save $120,000 in electricity bills annually. It also uses an outdoor lighting Web-based control system for the soccer field and tennis courts that allows those who book the spaces to have the lights go on and off automatically at a specific time.
Middlebury College
Middlebury, Vermont
Besides the common energy efficiency initiatives, Middlebury encourages environmental activism. It launched Step It Up, an organization that produces rallies and events across the country to bring more attention to global warming.
University of New Hampshire
Durham, New Hampshire
Reducing its dependency on fossil fuels, the university will soon tap into a nearby landfill -- and its methane gas -- for 85 percent of its energy needs. The initiative will pay for itself in 10 years.
>Video: More on UNH's Green Initiatives
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The school is committed to conserving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and integrating sustainability throughout its curriculum.
Oberlin College
Oberlin, Ohio
Starting in 2006, Oberlin adopted a policy that any new construction on the campus must meet the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED silver standard.
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon
To reduce waste, the school encourages two-sided photocopying, reusing envelopes for campus mail and using recycled supplies.
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
Penn State's Ecological Systems Laboratory is a natural water treatment facility that breaks down wastewater. The lab can clean 1,000 gallons of water a day.
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, California
Through its extensive recycling program, the school says it recycled 85 tons of cardboard, 137 tons of paper, 25,100 pounds of tin, 1,000 pounds of aluminum, 12,600 pounds of plastic, 27,300 pounds of glass, and 216 tons of green waste in 2005.
Tufts University
Medford, Massachusetts
Tufts says it created the first university environmental policy in 1990. The school implemented solar panels and a complete recycling program.
University of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
In 2007, UVM completed the construction of its student union, the Dudley H. Davis Center. It has 175 sensors placed throughout the building that provide data on the amount of energy used for electricity, water usage and heating. Those interested in how much energy is being consumed can view that information on a Website, which is constantly updated.
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Replacing toilets and urinals at the school’s bathrooms is conserving millions of gallons of water. Swapping 1,500 older toilets for newer ones saves about 30 million gallon of water a year, while installing 100 water free urinals saves 40 million gallons of water annually.
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
The university is committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020. To reach that goal, it is building more energy-efficient buildings, utilizing more renewable sources of energy and purchasing carbon offsets.
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