News

Students at the University of Washington have teamed up on a startup that promises to turn slash piles of forest refuse into biochar, a crumbly charcoal-like product for farmers that helps their soil hold water and nutrients. Biochar is not technically a fertilizer, but often improves yield for farmers.

A few UW trucks may soon be leaving an aromatic trail of french fries and fried chicken in their wake if a few sustainably minded students get their way.

The Biodiesel Cooperative, led by a group of engineering students, is looking to convert a few thousand gallons of wasted cooking oil into biodiesel that could be used on campus in place of traditional fuel.

For the last three years a group of students has been volunteering to make a small corner of campus more attractive. They’re a student chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration, and their mission is to clear out invasive plants and replace them with native ones.

The group has been working in a small wooded area across from McCarty Hall, where a path leads from the residence halls to the tennis courts and ivy and blackberries grow rampant.

Join former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland as she speaks about sustainable development, increasing environmental awareness and good health as a basic human right in Our Common Future: Sustainable Development in a Deteriorating World.

What’s the coolest university in America? By one significant measure, it’s the University of Washington.
Sierra Magazine, the official publication of the Sierra Club, has named the University of Washington the top university in the country for its initiatives to operate sustainably and limit its contributions to global warming. This is the fourth year the UW has been among the top-ranked schools; it was fourth last year

How is the UW doing in fulfilling its pledges to be environmentally responsible and to make the University a more sustainable enterprise? The answer is now available at the new “sustainability dashboard.”

According to the data of one our partners IMN – Intra Mail Net, our Junk & Misaddressed Mail Reduction Initiatives for the University of Washington so far for 2011 have reduced or saved the following:

A new "utility dashboard" at UW Bothell tracks campus use of energy in real time. It's part of environmentally friendly campus improvements resulting from a campuswide evaluation of energy usage. Tony Guerrero, UWB vice chancellor for facilities, said energy improvements at Bothell equal removing 123 cars from the road every year. Here, Bothell students Edith Chan, left, and Marlene Manzo check the readouts.

The UW expects to reduce energy consumption and save about $700,000 in energy costs during its participation in the Department of Energy’s $178 million Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project. Now in the second year of the five-year project, the UW is installing “intelligent” electrical meters, water meters, and lighting controls in most UW Seattle buildings. To ensure reliable and secure communications, the UW Capital Projects Office and Facilities Services are partnering with UW-IT to provide an isolated, secure Facilities Network for the grid.