SUSTAINABILITY NEWS from the UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA
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A Note On College Green This year there has been a terrific alignment of two exciting initiatives with critical importance to how Penn is shaping its future - the Penn Connects campus development plan, and the Climate Action Plan. Penn Connects was launched in 2006, the Climate Action Plan was released in 2009, and I believe history will record that it was 2011 when certain aspirations and actions of both projects merged in bold ways that advance Penn as a beautiful, compact, pedestrian-oriented campus that is green both in our landscape and our operations. With Penn Connects, the University committed to the design of high-performance buildings using the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program as a guide. These principals were further embodied in the Climate Action Plan, which established LEED Silver Certification as a minimum standard for new construction and major renovations. As a result, in this past year we have either opened or broken ground on an array of new buildings that are achieving LEED® standards.
The vision of Penn Connects is to link the University to the City and the City to the University, a linkage that is also being achieved through our carbon reduction efforts. With the help of the Penn Green Campus Partnership, the University supported an initiative by Mayor Nutter to make Philadelphia the greenest city in America. This past week we sponsored a pilot program to distribute more than 300 trees, for free, to Penn employees who reside in the city. By creating this canopy in partnership with Parks and Recreation, we are helping Philadelphia reach its goal of planting 300,000 new trees. As you read through this edition of On College Green, I invite you to learn more about the myriad of ways, large and small, that Penn’s campus planning and carbon reduction strategies are improving our campus and city for generations to come. |
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FEATURED STORIES |
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LEARNING SUSTAINABILITY | ||||||||||||||||
CONSERVING ENERGY | ||||||||||||||||
MINIMIZING WASTE | ||||||||||||||||
DESIGNING GREEN | ||||||||||||||||
REDUCING EMISSIONS | ||||||||||||||||
LEADING THE GREEN | ||||||||||||||||
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HOLDING A GREEN EVENT? ADD IT TO OUR CALENDAR! ![]() Email event info to sustainability@upenn.edu |
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WEDAPR6 |
Mike Granoff of Better Place 6:00pm - 8:00pm Steinhardt Hall (Penn Hillel), 2nd Floor Auditorium 2011 Philomathean Annual Oration: Dr. Jared Diamond |
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THUAPR7 |
Penn International Sustainability Association (PISA) Sustainability Symposium 12:00pm - 3:00pm Presentation & Lecture at Steinhardt-Dietrich Hall, Room 209 3:00pm - 4:00pm Roundtable Discussion at Huntsman Hall Room 418 |
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FRIAPR8 |
Greenfest 12:00pm - 4:00pm Wynn Commons Recycle Bin Giveaway for Off-Campus Students Engineers Without Borders Silent Auction Benefit |
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SATAPR9 |
Shred for a Cause 9:00am - 12:00pm Parkway Lot on 39th & Market Streets United By Blue Schuylkill River Cleanup |
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SUNAPR10 |
Year of Water Spring Symposium: The Blue Frontier 1:00pm - 4:00pm Penn Museum |
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VIEW MORE GREEN CAMPUS PARTNERSHIP EVENTS | ||||||||||||||||
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Creating Canopy: Free Trees for University Homeowners As the first institution to take part in Philadelphia’s Creating Canopy program, the University of Pennsylvania partnered with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department last week to distribute over 300 free trees to faculty and staff homeowners in the city to plant on their property. The “Creating Canopy with Penn” program was created to support Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s Greenworks campaign, which calls for planting 300,000 new trees in the city by 2015, and Penn’s Climate Action Plan, which establishes a target of planting 1,700 trees on campus by 2015... READ MORE |
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Wrapping Up RecycleMania, Penn Reaches 28% Through the eight-week national waste reduction competition between over 600 colleges and universities, Penn recycled approximately 28 percent of its waste, falling just short of its 30 percent goal for RecycleMania 2011. Despite fluctuating rates over the past eight weeks, it is obvious when looking at the bigger picture that Penn has made significant progress in reducing waste over the past few years. The campus recycling rate has increased steadily since 2008, when Penn posted an 18 percent rate in its first year of participation in the national competition, and Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Dan Garofalo believes there is still plenty of room for improvement across campus... READ MORE |
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Steinberg Conference Center Steps Up Sustainability Initiatives Over the last year, Steinberg Conference Center, home to Wharton’s Executive Education program and managed by Aramark, has implemented a portfolio of sustainability initiatives that have increased recycling, reduced waste, lowered carbon emissions, saved energy and improved occupant experience... READ MORE |
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Pulitzer Prize Winner Dr. Jared Diamond Talks Water Tonight at Irvine Auditorium The Philomathean Society and the Provost's Year of Water will host Dr. Jared Diamond, Professor of Physiology and Geography at the University of California Los Angeles, at the 2011 Philomathean Annual Oration tonight at 7:00pm in Irvine Auditorium. The talk, entitled Washed Up: The Role of Water in the Collapse of Civilizations, will examine the ruined cities, temples, and statues of history's great, vanished societies, in light of the similar types of environmental problems that beset us today... READ MORE |
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"Green Week" Events Hosted by Green Campus Partnership Student Association The Green Campus Partnership Student Association, a collaborative of student sustainability groups across campus, is hosting "Green Week" through Saturday, April 9. The week’s events will showcase the wide range of opportunities available to students interested in getting involved with Penn’s environmental sustainability efforts. Among the student groups in attendance will be the Penn Eco-Reps, Penn Environmental Group, Penn Garden, Penn Solar, and Penn Engineers Without Borders. Recruitment for 2011-2012 Penn Eco-Reps will take place throughout the week. Green Week will culminate with the Penn Environmental Group’s Spring 2011 “Greenfest” on Friday, April 8, and a United By Blue River Cleanup event on Saturday, April 9. Visit the Green Campus Partnership website for a full event schedule. |
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Inn at Penn Awarded State Grant for Lighting and Temperature Control System Following a recently completed a multi-million dollar renovation designed to modernize the property’s 238 guest rooms and suites, The Hilton Inn at Penn was awarded a $100,000 energy improvement grant from the State of Pennsylvania to support the installation of the Evolve® guestroom lighting and temperature control system. The Inn at Penn will become one of the first Philadelphia hotels to use the new system, which is expected to reduce its energy consumption by between 30 and 45% percent annually... READ MORE |
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Penn Athletics Shoots for Zero Waste Over the past two years, the Department of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics (DRIA) and the Green Campus Partnership have collaborated to successfully integrate sustainable practices into the daily operations and long-standing traditions of Penn Athletics. The latest effort was a “zero-waste” game, held on Saturday, February 26, as the Men’s Basketball team faced off against Ivy League rival Cornell... READ MORE |
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Battery Recycling Expands to SAS Buildings Not sure what to do with your used alkaline batteries? Bring them to one of the new battery recycling bins located in several buildings across campus. In an effort to support the University’s e-waste recycling efforts, the School of Arts and Sciences has identified nine buildings to house the new battery bins. Click here to view a map of the new alkaline battery recycling locations. |
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Purchasing Programs to Reduce Your Office Waste Penn Purchasing Services, together with Telrose and Office Depot, has announced a series of important new initiatives for University offices that will help reduce, reuse, recycle, and make progress toward Penn's Climate Action Plan goals... READ MORE |
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Morris Arboretum Horticulture Center Certified LEED Platinum The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded Platinum Level LEED Certification, the highest rating of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its new $13 million Horticulture Center at Bloomfield Farm, across the street from the Arboretum's public garden. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. The Horticulture Center marks the first new building to be built on the Morris Arboretum property since its founding in the early 1900s. It’s the first LEED Platinum certified building for the University of Pennsylvania, and only the second in the state of Pennsylvania... READ MORE |
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Music Building Certified LEED Gold The recently renovated and expanded Music Building of the School of Arts and Sciences has become the first LEED Gold building on the Penn campus. Originally designed to meet the requirements of LEED Silver at the beginning of design, the project exceeded these targets, achieving multiple goals for sustainable design, construction and operation. Key factors behind the Gold certification included close monitoring of construction activities, the selection of green materials and products, and the University's commitment to carry on sustainable practices after the completion of construction... READ MORE |
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Joe's Cafe Certified LEED Gold for Commercial Interiors Joe's Café, a new eatery located on the ground floor of the Wharton School's Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, has been awarded with LEED Gold certification for Commercial Interiors for its sustainable food-service practices, recycling, composting, and chemical-free cleaning methods. The Café—Penn’s first sustainable commercial interior—replaces a smaller café that closed in 2009. It was designed by Voith & Mactavish Architects, LLP... READ MORE |
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Take the 2011 Penn Transit Survey Let Penn Transit know your thoughts about its services by taking the quick and easy 2011 Penn Transit Survey. Your feedback will assist Penn Transit in improving services for those who ride Penn buses and shuttles, as well as Penn Accessible Transit (PAT) and the Loop through University City (LUCY). After participating in the survey, be sure to enter for a chance to win gift certificates worth $100 at the Penn Computer Connection, $50 at Penne Restaurant and $25 at the Penn Bookstore. CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY |
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Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari MEBD'11 After working for five years as an architect and environmental consultant in his hometown of Tehran, Mostapha enrolled at Penn in September 2010 as one of ten students in the new Master in Environmental Building Design (MEBD) program within the School of Design. He was recognized for the best national thesis in architecture and urban design and the best bachelor thesis in the field of energy conservation in buildings while earning his B.S. in Architecture from the University of Tehran before receiving his Master in Architecture from Shahid Beheshti University in 2008. Mostapha recently served as a Teaching Assistant in Mark Alan Hughes’ Sustainability in Action course, where he led a group of students in studies of Philadelphia’s LEED certified buildings and zoning code. Mostapha’s current work as an MEBD candidate focuses on integration of building simulation in architectural design, the practice of analyzing how a building will interact with its surrounding environment in an effort to create the most efficient design possible. His architectural experiences in Tehran, combined with his building simulation studies at Penn, provide a unique perspective into environmental building design that connects the past, present, and future. |
In each issue of Red & Blue On College Green, we recognize a member of the Penn community for his or her environmental sustainability efforts on campus. If you know someone at Penn who is "leading the green," send us an email at: sustainability@upenn.edu | ||||||||||||||
© 2010-2011 University of Pennsylvania | Penn Green Campus Partnership, 3101 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 |