Green College Spotlight: University of Florida at Gainesville
The University of Florida is training the scientific, social, political, cultural and business leaders of the future, and it wants to be sure that they’re all going to go out into the world and make it a better place. That’s one of the reasons sustainability is such a big priority at this university of nearly 48,000 students in Gainesville.
UF’s guiding principles for sustainability cover a wide range of areas including teaching and research, energy conservation and climate change, land and resource management, waste reduction, transportation, stewardship and many more. The university’s commitment to becoming a model of sustainability has earned it a B+ on the College Sustainability Report Card and designation as a Campus Sustainability Leader.
In addition to signing the Presidents Climate Commitment, UF President Machen also set a goal of zero waste by 2015. UF lowers energy consumption through a variety of programs and initiatives including residence hall competitions and energy efficiency improvements on campus. The university is also holding its first carbon-neutral home football season this year.
All new construction on the UF campus must attain LEED silver certification, and two recent projects were awarded LEED gold – the newly renovated Library West and the Rinker School of Building Construction. A 2,600 square foot green roof was recently installed as part of a 32-building LEED-EB portfolio project.
Students, faculty and staff ride biodiesel-powered buses for free, and UF also has a car-sharing program. In the dining halls, students enjoy local dairy and produce from 70 Florida farms as well as cage-free eggs and shade-grown coffee. Both UF dining halls use reusable tableware and provide to-go containers made from 100% sugarcane.
With so many students, the University of Florida had its work cut out for it in becoming such a great example of sustainability on campus – but they’ve done an amazing job.
Link UF Sustainability + Green College Report Card
Related posts:
- Green College Spotlight: Brandeis University
- Green College Spotlight: University of Minnesota
- Green College Spotlight: Stanford University
- Green College Spotlight: Arizona State University at Tempe
- Green College Spotlight: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Consciousness, Green Living, Health, Science, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
