College is all about our future. It is where we can further our education to better our lives, our families lives and hopefully the world around us. So why shouldn't we expect to see the movement for sustainability to be in America’s colleges? After all, this is where we go to make our future better and that is exactly what the intended purpose of “going green” is all about.
The 2014 school year, students are going to notice cleaner air and quieter sounds as more and more U.S. college campuses, like the University of California, Irvine, are taking the lead in sustainability issues. The eighth-annual ranking report has been released just in time for the back to school rush and those first awkward freshman moments. “Cool Schools”, by the Sierra Club has named UC Irvine the greenest U.S. College. Any environmentally driven college student worth their “green” and with any school pride, will take this as a challenge to get their school ranking on the ninth annual “Cool Schools” list.
So what did UC Irvine do to get them at the top of this list? Well they earned 813 points because of their proven strength of impressive clean energy investments and their efficiency goals. Last year they were 3rd on the “Cool Schools” ranking list, so they didn't have far to reach Number One, but it did take some effort. That effort included participating in the 2015 Solar Decathlon sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the campus has installed three, count them, 1-2-3 on-site solar arrays as well as a 19-megawatt cogeneration plant.
Their cogeneration plant reuses heat that is generated by natural gas combustion and it is used for district heat and steam power. That gives US Irvine 40% energy efficiency which is impressive by 2020 goals. The campus is participating in the DOE’s 2015 solar home design competition too, which definitely in the right direction for making our world a better place. The school also has a water-recycling program which saves them over 200 million gallons annually. When you look at the state o California's current drought, which is probably going down in the history books as worse ever, that is no small feat.
With University of California, Irvine progress in going green, they are quickly becoming the first school of choice for students and their families that are environmentally conscious as well as educationally driven. What better place to invest in your future for financial sustainability as well as environmentally?
Any 4 year undergraduate college or university in the U.S. can participate in the Sierra Club’s ranking survey. The entrants are evaluated on things like their curriculum, efficiency, energy mix and transportation using a 0-1,000 point scale.
The 2014 competition was between 173 schools, which is only a fraction of the U.S. higher institutes of learning. However, that is a larger amount than the last 2 years, so the momentum is growing for more schools to show they can be and are green. Some of the stiff competition that UC Irvine beat out was Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and American University in our country's capital. They both had over 800 points as well with American University being considered a heavyweight contender.
So maybe the far east coast college or the far west college aren't your dream school? Here's a list of 20 colleges that made the “Cool Schools” list as ranked by the Sierra Club's survey:
1. University of California, Irvine
2. American University
3. Dickinson College
4. Loyla University, Chicago
5. Lewis & Clark College
6. Standford University
7. University of South Florida
8. Green Mountain College
9. University of Connecticut
10. Georgia Institute Of Technology
11. Colorado State University
12. George Washington University
13. University of Maryland, College Park
14. University of San Diego
15. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
16. Cornell University
17. University of California, San Diego
18. Middlebury College
19. Harvard University
20. Chatam University
Interested to see where your Alma Mater ranked? The 173 schools that participated are list here. When you make your next contribution to the booster club, ask what you can do to help the school get going green and make they can make the top 20 on next year's “Cool Schools” list.
(image source: uci.edu)