Earth Day Review of Sustainability Education Efforts and Practices at UC

If you’d like a rundown of sustainability efforts on campus, visit the University of Cincinnati’s

Sustainability Web site

, a service of the University Architects Office. There, you can read about ongoing and upcoming sustainability efforts.

Among the latest eco-efforts and education at UC are

• UC’s solar house: UC students from a variety of disciplines built an operating solar house in 2006-2007, and that house was displayed in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2007. Since, the house with its colorful siding has resided on McMicken Commons. Starting this spring quarter, a new group of UC students is reverse engineering that house in order to build an even better one.

• Innovative new course to learn some basic aspects of building energy auditing: This course, “Practical Aspects of Building and Energy Audits,” is being offered for only the second time ever this spring quarter. Students in the course not only learn to help the planet via participation in energy audits, they also help their career prospects.

• Graphic design student Emily Taylor was one of three national winners in a competition to design a reusable shopping bag. That bag is now on sale for $1.99 in over 600 JCPenney stores nationwide.

• Building energy savings equal economic savings: In the past four years, UC has reduced energy consumption by at least 13 percent in the academic buildings on its Uptown campus, avoiding more than $10 million in energy-related costs. This includes efforts wherein the university has updated 90 percent of all light fixtures on campus with 32-watt florescent lamps, and 75 percent of all residence hall rooms have been now equipped with micro-fridge Energy Star-rated appliances.

• View a listing of additional sustainable events leading up to Earth Day, including an April 20 farmer's market on campus and an April 22 presentation by nationally known architect Michael Reynolds, who specializes in revolutionary sustainable building design.

The above list is, in no way, exhaustive in regard to UC’s sustainability efforts. For more visit, UC’s

Sustainability homepage

.