The Obama administration – and every parent with a child in college – is concerned about the ever-escalating cost of higher education. And for good reason. Tuition, room and board rose 37 percent for undergraduates at public colleges and 25 percent at private colleges (adjusted for inflation) from 2000 to 2010, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The use of on-campus solar power has increased 450% in the last three years. American colleges now have 137 MW of installed solar energy, said the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), which has created a database of hundreds of campus solar PV
The Sierra Club has ranked the most environmentally friendly colleges and universities in the United States, with tiny Green Mountain College in Vermont heading the list because it produces much of its electricity from burning biomass and cow manure. Other schools in the top ten include Stanford University, which has launched a $225 million Global Climate and
A growing number of U.S. colleges and universities supported green initiatives during the last year despite declining endowments, according to a report released by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.
Twenty-six of 332 schools evaluated in the College Sustainability Report Card received the highest-possible grade of A-minus through sustainable management of campus operations and endowment practices.
Now in its fourth year, the College Sustainability Report Card evaluates schools in nine categories, including climate change and energy, food and recycling, and green building.