![Matt Windsor](/reporter/media/k2/users/1.jpg)
![Matt Windsor](/reporter/media/k2/users/1.jpg)
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UAB Sustainability wins national recognition and support for saving energy and money
The Green Labs and Rheaply programs at UAB have earned a Department of Energy Better Practice Awards honor — one of only two universities to receive the award. Another recognition brings pro bono consulting on electrification of Blazer Express.
3-peat on ice: UAB takes crown — again — in global Freezer ChallengeResearchers across campus partnered with UAB Sustainability to save nearly 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and earn highest honors in the International Laboratory Freezer Challenge for the third year in a row. Find out how they did it.Chill out and defrost this summer with Green LabsUAB labs can get free freezer maintenance and any Blazer can pick up a few recycled ice packs — perfect for keeping lunches cool — thanks to the university’s research sustainability efforts.9 years running: UAB again honored as Tree Campus USAFor the eighth year, UAB is recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation for its work to nurture more than 4,400 healthy trees and engage students and employees in conservation. UAB also was honored for the fourth time with a Tree Campus Healthcare designation, which recognizes health institutions that make a mission-aligned impact on community wellness through tree education, investment and community engagement.
What’s new with the planet’s greenest university research enterprise?UAB’s Green Labs program has grown 700% in six years and now has more than 150 participating labs. New this year: sterilizer streamlining, freezer loans, Styrofoam baling and a vast cache of glass.Why I am a Green Lab: Scientists speak upScientists participating in the UAB Green Labs program explain why they take part, the biggest changes they made and how it has affected their labs.Explore UAB’s off-grid Sustainable Community Oct. 1Want to explore a corner of campus that’s entirely off the electrical grid? Join UAB Sustainability for free tours of the UAB Sustainable Community 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 1. Located at the corner of 11th Avenue South and 17th Street, the community features the UAB Solar House, which is powered by an adjacent microgrid, plus a monarch butterfly waystation.
Faculty, student interest drives expansion of sustainability curriculumThis summer, more faculty than ever took part in the Red Mountain Project, a UAB Sustainability initiative demonstrating how to incorporate the topic into new or existing courses. Students want to know more about sustainability, participants say, and their cohort offered “a base of people to connect with and brainstorm ideas.”8 years running: UAB again honored as Tree Campus USAFor the eighth year, UAB is recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation for its work to nurture more than 4,400 healthy trees and engage students and employees in conservation.
Did you hear the buzz? UAB is now a Bee Campus USAFor its work to promote bee conservation and growth on campus, UAB has been named a Bee Campus USA by Bee City USA, which recognizes, supports and encourages pollinator conservation in towns, cities and counties across the country.
Student governments, faculty senate pledge support for ‘20 by 2025’ sustainability goalUAB aims to generate 20 percent of its electrical energy from renewable resources and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2025, and student and faculty governance groups are supporting the initiative.
New beehive at UAB Gardens means more pollinators on campusRoyalty has come to campus in the form of two queen honeybees and their subjects — about 40,000 worker bees, and a second monarch waystation has been installed outside Honors Hall.
Academic, medical campuses again receive honor for commitment to healthy treesFor the seventh year, UAB is recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation for its work to nurture more than 4,400 healthy trees and engage students and employees in conservation.
New butterfly habitat will help UAB do its part to restore Alabama’s native ecosystemCome next summer, migrating monarch butterflies will flutter onto campus, to a new meadow that will provide nutrition and protection for the insect fighting to survive its annual migration period.
Solar House mural highlights campus commitment to sustainabilityThe newest project from UAB’s Bloom Studio is brightening up campus — this time from the Solar House and Sustainable Neighborhood at the corner of 11th Avenue South and 17th Street.
UAB on track to lead world in sustainable lab operations by years’ endThe three-year-old Green Labs program, once a cohort of just 18, anticipates 120 UAB labs will have My Green Lab certification by December — the largest number of any organization, academic or otherwise, worldwide.
What the novel coronavirus is teaching us about building smart citiesIt’s predicted that 68% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. As urban areas trend toward tech use and digitization, the coronavirus pandemic is revealing both potential pitfalls and opportunities for growth, says human rights scholar Tina Kempin Reuter, Ph.D.
10 campus photos that show spring has sprung despite coronavirusIt’s officially springtime at UAB, and new growth is blossoming from Sterne Library, to Collat, to the residence halls.
New growth: UAB’s Tree Campus honors expand to medical centerFor the sixth year, UAB is recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation for its work to nurture more than 4,400 healthy trees and engage students and employees in conservation.
6 tips to help your unit host sustainable events on campusWant that office event you’re planning to have a big personality while leaving a small environmental footprint? These recommendations from UAB Sustainability can help you make adjustments to ensure your events are as green as possible.
9 items you can recycle easily on campusWhen the wrong items are discarded in recycling bins, the whole lot could get sent to the landfill. Let’s work together to make sure that doesn’t happen.
How green is your office?The Green Office Program can help employees identify opportunities to reduce energy consumption and waste and be better stewards of fiscal and environmental resources on campus.
Employees create sustainability network across campusPeggy Biga and Shantay Williams, two of more than 70 Sustainability Ambassadors, channel their passion for green practices into positive change within their units.
Gillezeau leveraging her expertise, UAB’s influence to create a more sustainable worldMelody Gillezeau, project manager for sustainable project development, wants UAB to set new standards to inspire Birmingham and beyond.
Campus gets the royal tree-tmentUAB, with its more than 4,400 trees, is being recognized as a Tree Campus USA for its work to promote healthy trees and conservation among students and employees.
Concerned about your commute? Get tips to simplify it Jan. 23Join UAB’s TRIP Lab for an information session with CommuteSmart 2-3:30 p.m. Jan. 23 in Hill Student Center 314.
Consider the UAB Tree Fund for your holiday philanthropyStill deciding how to give back this year? The UAB Tree Fund helps maintain tree diversity, replace damaged or diseased trees and add to the overall tree population on campus.
New strategic plan to make UAB sustainability powerhouse by 2025An emphasis on community engagement, clean energy, grounds and waste management and more will help ensure UAB is an even better steward of financial and environmental resources and institutional role model.
Sign up to be a sustainability ambassador by Nov. 5Passionate about recycling, clean commutes and renewable energy? Join UAB Sustainability’s Ambassadors program and help ensure your campus unit has an investment in and exposure to sustainability efforts across UAB.
Energy savings could rise substantially as Bevill labs go greenThe list sounds simple: Wear recyclable gloves. Unplug lab equipment. Defrost freezers. Use recyclable batteries. But if you have most all the labs in a major UAB research facility checking those boxes at once, it could mean big savings — in energy and dollars.
Permit required to access new employee-only EV charging stationsEmployees who want to use one of the 16 newly opened electric car-charging stations can obtain a special permit from UAB Parking and Transportation.
18 new electric car-charging sites coming to campusUAB has partnered with Alabama Power Co. to install employee-only electric vehicle-charging stations — adding to the eight public-access ones that already exist on campus.
Pollinator garden puts the ‘bee’ in UABPlants that attract bees, birds and butterflies are beautiful and necessary for sustaining native ecosystems.
Blazer Home invests in UAB employees and neighborsA new incentive to buy and renovate homes in the Five Points, Glen Iris and Titusville communities helps the university, its employees and neighbors.
4 ways to be sustainable during Earth MonthUAB Sustainability wants to help employees be greener with events throughout Earth Month dedicated to helping UAB faculty and staff become their most sustainable selves.
Meet 8 faculty making the campus and world more sustainableUAB’s Red Mountain Project enables faculty to help students understand how sustainability connects to the world around them.
UAB again honored as Tree Campus USACelebrate Arbor Day and UAB’s dedication to Alabama’s native trees 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 23 on the Sterne Library Plaza. See eight new redbud trees planted on the library grounds and take home free tree seedlings.
And the winner is... Express Lot No. 4The Cahaba River Society conferred its 2018 Watershed Conservation Development Award on UAB for its Express Parking Lot, which was designed and constructed to reduce stormwater runoff and reduce water pollution.
How green is your lab?Eighteen research labs are the inaugural cohort of UAB’s Green Labs initiative, a plan to reduce energy consumption in more than 2,000 UAB labs. Apply to be a part of it.
Campus earns national honor for leadership in sustainabilityUAB is a living laboratory for “modeling green practices” says the U.S. Department of Education in naming it a Green Ribbon school.