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Clean Air-Cool Planet is the Northeast's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming.
 Read about our current partners’ leadership efforts: Profiles in progress: College of the Atlantic Eastern CT State University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Roger Williams University Saint Joseph College
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University of Connecticut Profile The University of Connecticut was founded as the Storrs Agricultural School in 1881 and has gradually evolved into Connecticut’s land grant, flagship, public research university spanning 4,100 acres at several locations across the state. More than 16,000 undergraduates attend the main campus of the University while about 4,500 attend one of the five regional campuses. In addition, 7,500 graduate and professional students are enrolled in the University’s many advanced degree programs, including students enrolled at the law school in Hartford and the combined medical and dental school at the UConn Health Center in Farmington. Students attending the University of Connecticut have numerous opportunities to address environmental issues in their coursework. In addition to an endowed chair and major in Environmental Engineering, UConn offers a major and in Environmental Science through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and many majors related to environmental management through the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. In addition, freshmen can enroll in a “First Year Experience” course on environmental sustainability offered each spring. Prominent environmental centers and institutes include the Center for Environmental Science and Engineering, the Center for Land Use Education and Research, the founding state chapter of the Non-Point Source Education of Municipal Officials (NEMO) program, the Institute of Water Resources, as well as the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program, headquartered at UConn’s Avery Point campus. Environmental responsibility and sustainability have played increasingly large roles at the University. The Office of Environmental Policy (OEP) was created in 2002 to focus on and pursue excellence in environmental performance, emphasizing sustainability initiatives ranging from climate change to water conservation and green building, and more recently adding a regulatory compliance oversight function with three full-time staff analysts. The director of the OEP reports to the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the University and communicates frequently with several key administrators, faculty, staff and students who have been appointed by the President and Provost to serve on the Environmental Policy Advisory Council (EPAC). The EPAC provides the University community with a focal point for dialogue on these issues, and has been integral to the successful planning and implementation of environmental sustainability initiatives at UConn.
Past Initiatives Using the CA-CP software, UConn conducted a greenhouse gas inventory in 2005 to assess where emissions were greatest and what actions could be taken to reduce such emissions. UConn’s state-of-the-art Cogeneration Facility opened in February 2006, replacing several oil-fired utility boilers and enabling the University to meet its own energy needs at the main campus. This facility simultaneously produces both electricity (nearly 25 MW capacity) and steam for centralized heating and cooling. By burning a cleaner natural gas, and with a net fuel efficiency of more than 80%, the Cogen Facility reduces our reliance on off-site energy and cuts climate-changing CO2 emissions by 30,000 tons per year vs. fossil-fuel burning power plants on the regional grid. For the past two years, a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) giveaway has been co-sponsored by UConn and Connecticut Light & Power. Each year, 3000 free CFLs were distributed to incoming freshmen in hopes that these bulbs, which are five times more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, would be used by the students throughout their UConn careers. Made possible by the recent installation of utility sub-meters in dormitories and other buildings across campus, in the fall 0f 2006, the OEP sponsored UConn’s first-ever Water & Energy Conservation Contest at the south residence halls. The event raised awareness about the amount of water and energy being consumed in the dorms and created incentives to conserve. Real-time data from the sub-meters was available to students, allowing them to accurately track their progress. In 2004, UConn demonstrated its commitment to green building when it became one of a small number of universities nationwide to adopt its own campus sustainable design guidelines (SDGs). These SDGs apply to all construction and renovation projects including $1.3 billion worth of capital improvement projects scheduled to occur by 2015.
Current Initiatives In 2003, UConn’s president signed the Climate Change Action Plan pledge, thus beginning a more concentrated effort to quantify and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from campus operations and activities. The UConn Biofuels Consortium, an active team of students and faculty from multiple academic disciplines, was formed in 2004 and works together to optimize biofuel production. From a biodiesel lab in the Chemical Engineering department, members of this group also refine processes for converting waste cooking oil from University dining facilities into biodiesel fuel to be used in campus shuttle buses. Popular campus outreach events in 2004 and 2006 featured free french toast sticks and displays of alternatively-fueled vehicles (including a biodiesel bus). The consortium also serves as a regional educational resource for others attempting to begin similar programs by hosting workshops that address different issues surrounding the use of biofuels. In late-2006, UConn completed construction of the 165,000 sq. ft., $48 million Burton Family Football Complex and Mark R. Shenkman Training Center, which should soon be the first LEED-certified athletic facilities in the NCAA. Energy conservation features incorporated into the Burton/Shenkman facilities include infrared radiant heating, heat recovery units, energy efficient lighting, occupancy sensors, window glazing, and use of locally-manufactured, recycled and renewable building materials. Fleet fuel efficiency is currently being examined and a “Preferred Vehicle Purchasing List” was issued early in 2006 to assist departments in purchasing vehicles with competitive fuel efficiency. A “No-idling” statement was endorsed and issued university-wide to reduce emissions from idling vehicles. There are several active student groups that work in conjunction with the OEP and various departments and offices on campus to educate and raise awareness about environmental issues. Such groups include the 300-member EcoHusky student group, the environmental science club known as Earth to UConn, and the Soil & Water Conservation Society.
Future Initiatives
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