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UPEI wins award from U.S.-based Sustainable Endowments Institute
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The University of Prince Edward Island has been awarded a Sustainability Innovator Award from the U.S.-based Sustainable Endowments Institute for its advancement of sustainability initiatives.
UPEI won the award for its work to create an academic environmental studies program and to implement “greening the campus” initiatives across all sectors of the university. It was only the second university in Canada--after the University of British Columbia--to follow a campus-wide sustainability strategy.
From 2005 to 2007, UPEI employed a director of environmental studies and sustainability, Dr. Almut Beringer, who led the university’s academic environmental studies program and implemented a pan-university “greening the campus” initiative. Through this initiative, research and development projects linked interdisciplinary Environmental Studies teaching and learning with student advocacy for campus sustainability.
This led to the creation of an Office of Sustainability and Energy Management in August of 2007, headed by manager David Taylor. UPEI’s campus-wide, multidisciplinary academic program is now being further developed and led by Dr. Darren Bardati, Director of Environmental Studies. Taylor and Bardati work closely with the active student–run Environmental Society to move sustainability forward on campus.
A campus sustainability audit and annual reporting, combined with energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction, and innovative transportation, food and governance initiatives, among others, are aimed at building a culture of sustainability through a comprehensive sustainability strategy for the university. The university’s sustainability strategy also established strategic alliances off-campus.
UPEI’s campus master plan, adopted in 2006, identifies “greening the campus” as a guiding principle. “Green” initiatives taken at UPEI include the use of 100 per cent recycled paper, retrofitting of older buildings to reduce energy use, purchase of its first-ever hybrid vehicle, conscious reduction of electrical energy consumption by turning off lights and equipment, geothermal heating and cooling in the New Residence, and incorporating environmentally friendly building methods, materials and equipment in new construction.
Through research and education, the Sustainable Endowments Institute advances sustainability in campus operations and endowment practices. The Sustainability Innovator Awards are part of the Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card 2009, which evaluates campus and endowment sustainability activities at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2005 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Institute is a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
UPEI won the award for its work to create an academic environmental studies program and to implement “greening the campus” initiatives across all sectors of the university. It was only the second university in Canada--after the University of British Columbia--to follow a campus-wide sustainability strategy.
From 2005 to 2007, UPEI employed a director of environmental studies and sustainability, Dr. Almut Beringer, who led the university’s academic environmental studies program and implemented a pan-university “greening the campus” initiative. Through this initiative, research and development projects linked interdisciplinary Environmental Studies teaching and learning with student advocacy for campus sustainability.
This led to the creation of an Office of Sustainability and Energy Management in August of 2007, headed by manager David Taylor. UPEI’s campus-wide, multidisciplinary academic program is now being further developed and led by Dr. Darren Bardati, Director of Environmental Studies. Taylor and Bardati work closely with the active student–run Environmental Society to move sustainability forward on campus.
A campus sustainability audit and annual reporting, combined with energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction, and innovative transportation, food and governance initiatives, among others, are aimed at building a culture of sustainability through a comprehensive sustainability strategy for the university. The university’s sustainability strategy also established strategic alliances off-campus.
UPEI’s campus master plan, adopted in 2006, identifies “greening the campus” as a guiding principle. “Green” initiatives taken at UPEI include the use of 100 per cent recycled paper, retrofitting of older buildings to reduce energy use, purchase of its first-ever hybrid vehicle, conscious reduction of electrical energy consumption by turning off lights and equipment, geothermal heating and cooling in the New Residence, and incorporating environmentally friendly building methods, materials and equipment in new construction.
Through research and education, the Sustainable Endowments Institute advances sustainability in campus operations and endowment practices. The Sustainability Innovator Awards are part of the Institute’s College Sustainability Report Card 2009, which evaluates campus and endowment sustainability activities at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2005 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Institute is a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
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