by Sarah McNair

View of the solar array located at the APUS Finance Center currently under construction.

APUS has undertaken many green building projects, such as energy efficiency retrofits and a brand new Academic Center that boasts efficient lighting, HVAC, landscaping, and 99 solar panels.  (The Academic Center is still in the LEED Certification process.)  The newest green building is the university’s Finance Center, which sits just behind the Academic Center in Charles Town, WV.  The Center will be approximately 105,000 square feet and built to LEED Gold standards.  Construction has already begun, transforming the existing abandoned warehouse into a green masterpiece. 

The most impressive aspect of this new building is the amount of solar energy it will utilize.  Over 1,600 solar panels will be installed in the parking lot that will also act as a canopy for parking.  The expected annual output of these panels is a whopping 480,000 kilowatt hours!  Approximately 60 percent of the Center’s energy use will be supplied by the solar panels, offsetting approximately 350 tons of carbon each year.  Based on historic utility rate increases in the area, the solar array is anticipated to save the university some $9,000,000 in energy costs over the course of the system’s lifetime. 

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In January, the American Public University System (APUS) submitted its Progress Report to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).  The Progress Report is intended to update the ACUPCC on the schools’ progress since submitting its Climate Action Plan (CAP) in 2009.   

There are a few notable highlights from the Progress Report that are worth sharing. 

• Buildings:  Since APUS submitted its CAP report to ACUPCC in 2009, the university system has completed and occupied a new building situated on a brownfields site and built to LEED Gold standards.  (The building is currently in the LEED certification process and not yet certified with a LEED rating.)  The 45,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Academic Center features solar panels on the roof, significant natural light throughout the building, a highly efficient HVAC system, motion and heat sensor lighting, and native landscaping.  The outer façade of the building is reminiscent of the surrounding historic buildings of downtown Charles Town.  The university system is currently constructing another green building behind the new Academic Center.  Expected to be completed later this year, one of the highlights of that building is a solar array of 1600 solar panels which doubles as a covered parking lot and will provide plugs for electric vehicles for public use. 
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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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