Sustainability
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News and Events
Ohio State makes strides with 2nd Solar Decathlon house
Columbus Business First
December 2, 2011
A solar house is designed to showcase a lifestyle – how to live comfortably in a nice house that produces as much energy as it uses. Enter the 2011 Encore house designed and built by engineering, architecture, construction and other students at Ohio State University. It was OSU’s second time competing in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, held each year in Washington, D.C.
http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2011/12/02/osu-makes-strides-with-creation-of.html
OARDC's Yebo Li receives University Innovator Award
Yebo Li, a biosystems engineer with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, has received Ohio State's 2011 Early Career Innovator of the Year Award for his work on the development and commercialization of bio-based energy and industrial products. Now in its second year, the university's Innovator of the Year program was started to support and stimulate entrepreneurial activity among Ohio State scientists.
-- > Read more
Ohio State’s solar-powered enCORE House featured in Architect magazine
Ohio State’s student-designed and -built solar powered entry in the 2011 Solar Decathlon international competition, enCORE House, is featured in the November issue of Architect magazine, the publication of the American Institute of Architecture. enCORE House appears on pages 78-79:
http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=88373
OSU geothermal project moving ahead
The Columbus Dispatch
November 8, 2011
The five Ohio State University high-rises that will be receiving geothermal heating and cooling systems are scheduled to reopen on time, despite a snag in the South Campus well drilling that prompted the university to negotiate for a new subcontractor. http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-eteam/2011/11/ohio-state-geothermal.html
Ohio State Competes in EPA Gameday Recycling Challenge Nov. 5
-- During the Nov. 5 Ohio State vs. Indiana football game, Ohio State will participate in the EPA Gameday Challenge (http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/wastewise/challenge/gameday/index.htm) where universities compete to see which can recycle the most football stadium waste. Fans attending the game will need to continue composting and recycling in order to win the title and beat 90 other participating schools, including Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Toledo, Akron and Ohio University. Schools will be judged in several categories including least amount of waste generated per attendee, greatest greenhouse gas reductions, and highest recycling rate.
Since 2007, Ohio State fans have been recycling and reducing the amount of trash generated at football games – diverting hundreds of tons of trash away from landfills. This year, the university asked fans to take their recycling efforts to the next level, and participate in the new Zero Waste initiative. There are no trash cans in the stadium and fans are asked to either recycle or compost their waste.
Green Buckeyes—Officially
-- New certification program helps offices let everyone know they’re doing their part for the environment.
Wandering through the Digital Union’s offices on the third floor of the Science and Engineering Library, it’s theoretically possible to miss the fact that it’s quite the environmentally friendly outfit. Until, that is, you start looking for a trash can.
It’s that way of thinking - that environmentally friendly culture - that has led to the DU becoming Ohio State’s first office to earn official “Green Buckeye” certification.
http://oncampus.osu.edu/2011/10/green-buckeyes-%e2%80%94-officially/
Zero Waste at Ohio Stadium recognized by national publication
Ohio State has been recognized by Waste and Recycling News for cleaning up Ohio Stadium "in a big way." Considering the storied OSU-Michigan football rivalry, the Michigan-based publication had mixed feelings about saying anything positive about Ohio State but, after a writer with WR spent a day with the zero waste program for the Colorado game, they could not resist. Read the flattering reviews of the OSU program, and view pictures, by using the following links:
-- > Editorial (with Editorial cartoon); timeline; video and photo gallery
Coca-Cola Sustainability Grants available
The Office of Student Life is offering the Student Sustainability Grant for student-led initiatives to support Ohio State goals to reduce greenhouse gases, conserve resources, and promote sustainability. Seed funding of $500-$30,000 is available to undergraduate, graduate and professional students or student groups for projects that directly contribute to reduced environmental impacts on campus. Completed applications are due Monday (11/28).
-- > Contact: Kai Landis, mailto:landis.81@osu.edu
Ohio State recognized for revolutionizing campus bicycling culture
The League of American Bicyclists named Ohio State University as a Bicycle Friendly University (BFU), one of just 26 nationwide and the only in Ohio. The Bicycle Friendly University designation recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bicycle-friendly campus for students and visitors.
The organization noted that Ohio State invested more than $2 million over the last three years to connect the campus to the city’s bicycle infrastructure system, construct new bike facilities and parking; and for launching Yay Bikes, a new bicycle education and safety program. The organization recognized Columbus as a Bicycle Friendly Community in 2009.
-- > http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica
Buckeye Bullet a fitting Fast 50 theme
photo by Janet Adams, Business First
The Buckeye Bullet team recently set the world record in 2010 for the fastest lithium ion battery-powered vehicle traveling on land. The Buckeye Bullet 2.5 was clocked at 308 mph in the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, one of the flattest places on Earth. The team, left row, from back: Matt Little, Dustin Rose, Cary Bork, Conor Bruce, LingChang Wang and Simon Kalouche. Right row, from back: Evan Maley, driver Roger Schroer, Luke Kelm, RJ Kromer, Team Leader David Cooke, Matt Gettings, Evan Hucek, Austin Krohn and Josh Terrell.
This year’s Columbus Business First Fast 50 photo shoot took place behind COSI, with its view of the Scioto River and the Columbus skyline.
The Buckeye Bullet program at Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research started in 2001, when a group of students set out to build the fastest electric vehicle on Earth. They had reason to believe the feat was possible. Work on the Buckeye Bullet 3, guided by center Director Giorgio Rizzoni, has begun. The goal: To break the 400 mph barrier, something just nine land vehicles in history have done. Corporate partners have played a major role in the program’s success.
http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2011/10/14/buckeye-bullet-a-fitting-fast-50-theme.html
Fiksel addresses Environment and Security
-- The
conference home page for the 12th annual conference of the National Council on
Science and the Environment, “Environment & Security,” to be held in
Washington D.C. Jan. 18-20, 2012, includes a feature article on Environment
and Security co-authored by Alan Hecht of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and Joseph Fiksel of Ohio State.
The keynote speaker for the event is Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and leader of the 1987 United Nations Commission that established the classic definition of “sustainable development.”
-- > Read more: http://www.environmentandsecurity.org/
Ohio companies discover 'lean & clean' opportunities
Sega leads expanded President’s and Provost’s Council on Sustainability
-- Underscoring the importance of sustainability and energy issues at Ohio State, Dr. Ronald M. Sega, Vice President and Enterprise Executive for Energy and the Environment, chaired the initial meeting of the newly recast President’s and Provost’s Council on Sustainability, on June 22. The Council is an assembly of Ohio State vice presidents and designees invited by Pres. Gee to provide leadership and guidance as the university moves toward achieving carbon neutrality.
-- > Read more: http://iee.osu.edu
More News & Events
Do Something Great
Zero Waste at Ohio Stadium
Out to save the world
Professor William J. Mitsch runs Ohio State's Wetland Research Park
Buckeye Footprint
OSU now has an interactive dashboard that exemplifies the energy usage of current buildings including OSU's new Union building.
-- > Check out OSU's energy consumption
Faces of Sustainability
Faces of Sustainability
Eric Schacht
Graduate Student
Major: Electrical Engineering
-- Eric Schacht, a second year masters student in electrical engineering, felt he needed that extra edge to the college experience so he joined the ChallengeX Team at the OSU Center for Automotive Research, where he helped to build and test a diesel-electric hybrid vehicle. Schacht became Team Leader of the next project, EcoCAR, and was eager to design an even more sustainable vehicle, one that would challenge even the industry’s goals for sustainability. This design not only was more sustainable, but most of all advocated educating and inspiring the future engineers of the automotive industry. Schacht hopes that the success of EcoCAR will lead the way in challenging all to break out of the thought that it can’t be done and look towards what has and will be done to make transportation around the world more sustainable.