Team Grayskull

With the Olympics coming up in the next few months the United Nations Environmental Program is seeking ways to make the games more sustainable. They have been doing this for the past few years and every year they get a little more progressive in their tactics to make the games better. This year they are researching the area for green hotels, fuel efficient transportation, finding ways to lower emissions for peoples coming to see the games.

Beijing, which is the host city of this years games have been taking other steps to be sustainable after the games leave town also. They have been devolving an emissions lab that will be operating early next year. Other cities that are hosting the games in the future are also making similar changes to their city to fit the UNEP standards. This is another reason the games are helping out with awareness in sustainable design. The cities getting involved are Vancouver for the 2010 games and London for the 2012 games.

The UNEP has been monitoring the games environmental benefits and problems for years now and they feel that they are making good progress. With the help of the athletes voicing their concerns to not just make the games green but also to take this into every bodies lives. For more information on sports going green listen to our podcast and learn more. Also visit the EDRA website at www.edra.org and also visit the United Nations Environmental program at their website www.unep.org/sport_env/index.asp.

 Welcome to the third post for the Environmental Design Research Association.  This post is about how one college is changing the campus to go green.

Elmhurst college looks like one would expect it to for a college whose name means Elm Woods.  New building initiatives have given the college a chance to make the campus buildings as green as the lawns, hedges, and trees that are around them.

The facilities management department has been engaged in efforts for 30 years to minimize energy consumption, reduce air and water pollution and recylce waste.  Elmhurst college is pursuing LEED status on buildings as part of their commitment to sustainable design.  “If successful, we will be one of the very first colleges in Illinois to have a residence hall certified by LEED,” said Jill McWilliams, the assistant director of corporate and foundation relations.

The campus will become a model in stormwater management.  The goal is to decentralize the rain that falls to return back to the ground to become a resource for Salt Creek.  The college plans to surround part of the campus with a native prairie garden and woodland ecosystems.  In May, Elmhurst obtained a grant to install solar panels that can reduce water heating bills by 30 to 40 percent.

In the spirit of the original campus, this and other projects reach into the community- as educators and “green” leaders.  The new projects take into consideration the impact of development on natural resources, the health and well-being of the campus community and the environment of the city and beyond.

If you would like more information on green design for colleges, please visit  http://public.elmhurst.edu/news/archive/9016922.html or you can listen to the podcast.  Thank you for reading this entry!

 EDRA advances and disseminates behavior and design research toward improving understanding of the relationships between people and their environment.