Fifteen grants awarded for green projects
Alyx Mattison
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: News
NYU has awarded over $115,000 in Sustainability Fund Grants to 15 projects dedicated to furthering the university's greening efforts.
These efforts got their start last fall when NYU bought 118 million kilowatt hours of wind power, making it the number one university purchaser of wind energy. The purchase not only impacted NYU's energy use, but also the university's entire outlook on "green" living. It marked the launch of the school's Green Action Plan, led by the Environmental Sustainability Task Force.
"We decided to use that moment to think more long-term about our institutional commitment to sustainability and how best to organize ourselves to address this key challenge," said Lynne Brown, co-chair of the Task Force.
One of the Task Force's initiatives included soliciting project proposals from the NYU community. Last May, the Task Force chose 15 recipients and awarded them grants ranging from $1,000 to $40,000.
Some projects have already had successful premiers.
"The Green Apple Move-Out" is a project that plans to collect and recycle or donate student belongings discarded during move-out, such as bicycles, books, cell phones, clothes, computers, glasses and linens.
Project designers Jennie Tichenor, an administrator in the Faculty of Arts and Science, and Patricia Kiernan, NYU's recycling coordinator, did a test run last May at Weinstein Residence Hall and the NYU Law School residences and came out with 30,000 bags of donatable items. This year, with a significantly larger number of dormitories to collect from, they are hoping to get 300,000 bags.
In another project, NYU Wagner students Colin Leary and Sarah Wu will analyze the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design status of 12 NYU buildings, then plan renovations to update them within the next five to 10 years.
LEED, which involves certifying a building with a greenness rating, is a major current trend in architecture.
Linda Reiss, the Gallatin School of Individualized Study's assistant dean for administration, is fronting another LEED-centered project to renovate the Gallatin building at 715-719 Broadway according to green standards, making it the first potential LEED-certified building. The process will be thoroughly documented and displayed online.
Gallatin sophomore Julio Alvarez created a booklet entitled "Guide to Green Living," due to be published next fall. The guide will give tips, facts and resources concerning how to live the green dormitory life, and will be sent in the mail to all residents in the housing information packets.
According to Regina Syquia, assistant to Lynne Brown and manager of special projects, "the most attention-grabbing [project] has been the Bike to School project, led by Gallatin student Emily Allen."
Allen is supporting reduced fuel emissions by repairing abandoned bicycles, as well as reporting on the current use of bicycles on campus.
"Everything we do has an environmental consequence," Tichenor said. "It's just that simple."
The goal of the entire sustainability project is to create positive consequences, and it seems to have been well received by the NYU community. The project administration is planning on continuing the project, and will be asking for more project proposals and green ideas for next year.
"There was so much more interest than expected," said project administrator Jeremy Friedman. "We are looking forward to ramping it up even more."
Alyx Mattison is a contributing writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
These efforts got their start last fall when NYU bought 118 million kilowatt hours of wind power, making it the number one university purchaser of wind energy. The purchase not only impacted NYU's energy use, but also the university's entire outlook on "green" living. It marked the launch of the school's Green Action Plan, led by the Environmental Sustainability Task Force.
"We decided to use that moment to think more long-term about our institutional commitment to sustainability and how best to organize ourselves to address this key challenge," said Lynne Brown, co-chair of the Task Force.
One of the Task Force's initiatives included soliciting project proposals from the NYU community. Last May, the Task Force chose 15 recipients and awarded them grants ranging from $1,000 to $40,000.
Some projects have already had successful premiers.
"The Green Apple Move-Out" is a project that plans to collect and recycle or donate student belongings discarded during move-out, such as bicycles, books, cell phones, clothes, computers, glasses and linens.
Project designers Jennie Tichenor, an administrator in the Faculty of Arts and Science, and Patricia Kiernan, NYU's recycling coordinator, did a test run last May at Weinstein Residence Hall and the NYU Law School residences and came out with 30,000 bags of donatable items. This year, with a significantly larger number of dormitories to collect from, they are hoping to get 300,000 bags.
In another project, NYU Wagner students Colin Leary and Sarah Wu will analyze the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design status of 12 NYU buildings, then plan renovations to update them within the next five to 10 years.
LEED, which involves certifying a building with a greenness rating, is a major current trend in architecture.
Linda Reiss, the Gallatin School of Individualized Study's assistant dean for administration, is fronting another LEED-centered project to renovate the Gallatin building at 715-719 Broadway according to green standards, making it the first potential LEED-certified building. The process will be thoroughly documented and displayed online.
Gallatin sophomore Julio Alvarez created a booklet entitled "Guide to Green Living," due to be published next fall. The guide will give tips, facts and resources concerning how to live the green dormitory life, and will be sent in the mail to all residents in the housing information packets.
According to Regina Syquia, assistant to Lynne Brown and manager of special projects, "the most attention-grabbing [project] has been the Bike to School project, led by Gallatin student Emily Allen."
Allen is supporting reduced fuel emissions by repairing abandoned bicycles, as well as reporting on the current use of bicycles on campus.
"Everything we do has an environmental consequence," Tichenor said. "It's just that simple."
The goal of the entire sustainability project is to create positive consequences, and it seems to have been well received by the NYU community. The project administration is planning on continuing the project, and will be asking for more project proposals and green ideas for next year.
"There was so much more interest than expected," said project administrator Jeremy Friedman. "We are looking forward to ramping it up even more."
Alyx Mattison is a contributing writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
Be the first to comment on this story