by Sarah McNair

Renewable power is quickly becoming an important option to fuel the world’s electricity demands.  Nonrenewable sources, such as coal, natural gas, oil, and nuclear energy, pollute our air and water and destroy natural habitats for plants and animals.  Renewable energy sources have less of a negative impact on the environment and include hydroelectric, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and electricity from municipal solid waste.  In the United States, the majority of our electricity is powered by coal, followed by nuclear, natural gas, and oil.  Less than 9% of our electricity is generated from renewable sources.

In an effort to encourage organizations and businesses to utilize renewable energy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created the voluntary Green Power Partnership (GPP) for universities, non-profit, private, and public organizations.  Aside from the obvious benefit of environmental preservation, organizations in the GPP receive expert advice on green power, tools and resources, credibility, and publicity.  Green power percentage requirements are proportionate to the organization’s annual electricity use, with smaller organizations starting at a minimum of 20% and larger organizations beginning at 3%.  There are many participants whose energy comes from over 100% renewable sources.

The top 20 colleges and universities in the GPP have collectively purchased enough green energy to power over 120,000 homes for an entire year.  The majority of these higher education institutions use wind and solar energy.  Included in this list are the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Utah, Oregon State University, Drexel University, Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, the University of Phoenix, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Maryland.

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by Beth Gray

As colleges and universities have taken up the cause of environmentalism and sustainability on their campuses, many are using green building as a means toward achieving reduced carbon emissions.  In November 2010, American Public University System (APUS) completed construction of a 45,000 square foot state-of-the-art Academic Center which is anticipated to achieve the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Gold certification.  (To see a video from the ribbon cutting ceremony for the building, click here.)  While it is too soon to know for sure how much of an impact the newest building on APUS’ campus will have on the school’s carbon emissions, there is great hope (and precedent) that it will have a positive impact.

Green buildings and buildings that are LEED certified are becoming increasingly prevalent on college and university campuses.  In September 2010, The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations received LEED Silver certification, becoming the thirty-fifth LEED certified project at Harvard.  The University of Washington is home to thirteen LEED certified building projects, including The Benjamin D. Hall Interdisciplinary Research Building which is the first on the West Coast, second in higher education, and eleventh in the country to receive the USGBC’s Gold CS Pilot Certification.  Arizona State University has just completed its SkySong Center which received LEED Silver Certification and was also awarded an Award of Merit from the Valley Forward Association for its green building standards.  Emory University boasts nearly 2 million square feet of LEED-certified building space.

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by Beth Gray

David Lloyd (Director of the Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Land Revitalization at US EPA), Shelly Poticha (Director, Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, US HUD), Charles Town Mayor Peggy Smith, APUS Provost Dr. Frank McCluskey, APUS President and CEO Dr. Wallace E. Boston, and Bryna Helfer (Director of Public Engagement for Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood) cut the ribbon to officially open the new environmentally-friendly Academic Center.

This morning American Public University System (APUS) held the ribbon cutting event for its fifteenth building in downtown Charles Town, West Virginia.  The building is a 45,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly building which is anticipated to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification. 

 The building is constructed on a site designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a brownfields, a site which, due to previous uses, may contain various contaminants.  The site on which APUS chose to construct its building was previously used as an industrial scrap yard; various contaminants were found in the soil at the site including lead and petroleum products.  The contaminants were removed from the soil prior to construction.  In total, the university system removed 36 tons of soil from the property before beginning the construction process.

The building features state-of-the-art technologies which will make it highly energy efficient.  For example, the windows are double-paned with argon gas between the panes which reflect ultraviolets and keep them from naturally heating the building.  The building has been designed to maximize the natural light that is allowed to enter the building so that less purchased electricity will be required to light offices.  Additionally, dual sensor light fixtures have been installed which sense movement as well as heat; within ten minutes of sensing neither, the lights will turn themselves off.

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by Beth Gray

Last week, several American Public University System (APUS) staff members from the school’s Instructional Design and Development office and the Office of the President presented at the 16th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning in Orlando, Florida.  The Sloan Consortium (often called simply “Sloan-C”) “is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of education.” More than 1,400 individuals attended (some virtually via Sloan’s live streaming feature) this year’s conference.  Attendees included representatives from other fully online institutions, ground-based colleges and universities, and schools with blended programs. 

The presentation, titled “Going Green Online,” detailed the ways in which APUS has capitalized on its online format to make significant progress in mitigating its carbon footprint.  The theme for this year’s conference was “The Power of Online Learning: Stimulating New Possibilities” and the group discussed the ways in which online universities can make a tremendous impact in combating climate change, a practice that is still relatively new to the online learning community.  To date, APUS is the only fully online school to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.  Stressing the effectiveness of online instruction in helping to reduce a school’s carbon footprint, the presenting group provided best practices to help interested schools of all formats (online, blended, or on-ground) get started with their own sustainability programs.  The unique session topic was well-attended and was a great fit for the conference theme of “stimulating new possibilities.”

by Beth Gray

The growing concern over climate change has led many companies to consider how to alter their own practices in order to mitigate their carbon emissions.  Several large corporations have taken significant steps toward assessing and taking steps to lessen their environmental impact.  Walmart, for example, has a very well-developed sustainability initiative and has a page on their corporate website devoted to tracking how the company is doing in its attempt to have a less negative impact on the environment.  General Electric also has a sustainability initiative and publishes an annual sustainability report to track the company’s progress in achieving a greener future.  Nearly 700 institutions of higher education (including American Public University System) have also pledged to assess their carbon footprints through signing the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and take dramatic measures toward eventually achieving carbon neutrality.  Read the rest of this entry »