Education Archives - Green Businesses

20 Universities That Encourage Green Living

1) Nanyang Technical University – School of Art, Design and Media - The architectural structure of this building maximizes interior daylight, makes smart use of lack of space and land in the local area, minimizes materials, and uses lower water and electricity uses. 2) Yale University – Kroon Hall - Kroon Hall at Yale University is made from 80% certified timber, 16% recycled content. Also, 34% of the purchased materials came from regional sources. As a result, there is an 81% reduction in annual potable water use, which saves an average 500k gallons of city water a year. They are also seeing a 61% reduction in energy use compared to a similar building and program. It features rooftop photovoltaic panel providing 25% of the building’s electricity. Half of the red oak paneling came from a forest in northern Connecticut that’s managed by the school itself. 3) Carnegie Mellon University – Gates and Hillman…

Companies That Do Sustainabililty Right Make it Mainstream, Not Niche

By Jeana Wirtenberg. Originally published on Businessweek. Twenty-five years ago, sustainability was not a part of standard business discourse. Today it is—and business schools helped make that happen. But we’re reaching the natural limits of what B-schools started. Only a wave of innovation in management education will help businesses get fast enough to meet customers’ needs in a hotter, flatter, more crowded world. The first step is to take sustainability out of its silo existence and make it part of the core business school curriculum. Sustainability can’t just be an orientation exercise, an elective course, an institute, or a specialty degree. It can’t be something that some students go deeply into, while some just get familiar with it. Unfortunately, that’s where we are now. In management education, sustainability departments have produced lots of specialists. The knowledge those departments have accumulated should be brought into the mainstream to reach stude…

SolarCity Launches Nonprofit, Donating Solar Systems to Schools Without Access to Electricity Across the Globe

Written by Jasper Dikmans From PVSolarReport.com SolarCity launches the Give Power Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at providing clean energy to communities across the globe. For every megawatt of residential solar power that SolarCity installs in 2014, the company will donate a solar power system and battery combination to a school without access to electricity. Initial recipients are expected to be in Haiti, Mali, Malawi, and Nepal. SolarCity (Nasdaq: SCTY) today launched the Give Power Foundation, a California nonprofit aimed at providing clean energy to communities across the globe. For every megawatt of residential solar power that SolarCity installs in 2014, the company will donate a solar power system and battery combination to a school without access to electricity. Initial recipients are expected to be in Haiti, Mali, Malawi, and Nepal. According to the company, approximately 291 million children attend primary schools that lack electricity globally, an…

Solar Car Drives 661 Miles On Sun Power

by Nino Marchetti of EarthTechling The world of college solar powered cars is getting busy these days. The University of Michigan, a top flight competitor in this space, just recently introduced its latest racer for the upcoming World Solar Challenge. While the Wolverines were doing this, Oregon State University (OSU) was out in Austin, Texas under a bright sun and 105 degree heat winning the 2013 Formula Sun Grand Prix – go Beavers! OSU’s entry, dubbed The Phoenix, won last week at this event by posting 193 laps, or 661 miles, around the Circuit of the Americas raceway on nothing but solar energy. Eleven teams from across North America competed in what’s said to be the “closest Formula Sun Grand Prix race in its 13-year history, a three-day race that featured 24 hours of racing time.” Runners up included Illinois State University, with 192 laps, and Iowa State University, with 191 laps. image via Oregon State University One thing which keeps this race friendl…

State Tells University: No More Solar For You!

by Pete Danko Earthtechling Amazingly, in 2013 in some parts of the United States, the challenge isn’t about getting governments to do more to help renewable energy flourish – it’s about getting them to stop putting roadblocks in the way. Check this out: According to a story in The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., Furman University has been installing solar energy on its Greenville campus, hoping to trim the pollution it causes and maybe save some money. “But Furman’s solar energy push has hit a wall,” the newspaper reports. “The university has reached a state limit that prevents it from installing more solar to heat and light campus buildings.” South Carolina, in its wisdom, limits nonresidential solar to 100 kilowatts. This is a net metering regulation that goes beyond protecting utilities’ ability to maintain a secure power supply; it’s about protecting a tired old business model. The good news here is that this story about Furman’s predicament seems to have wo…

Mayor Villaraigosa announces L.A. solar energy incentive plan based on UCLA Luskin research

flickr credit: powerhouse museum The City of LA to encourage businesses and residences to install their own solar panels. By Minnie Ho Originally published in UCLA Newsroom J.R. DeShazo, the director UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation, has long studied how governments can promote and help implement environmentally friendly energy policies. Now, his recent research on solar energy incentive programs, conducted with Luskin Center research project manager Ryan Matulka and other colleagues at UCLA, has become the basis for a new energy policy introduced by the city of Los Angeles. On Monday, March 15, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced an ambitious program to move the city's energy grid toward renewable energy sources over the next decade. Included in the plan is a provision — based in large part on the Luskin Center research — for a "feed-in tariff," which would encourage residents to install solar energy systems that are connected to the c…