The nature of these undertakings varies greatly. From on-campus fellowships designed to implement campus-greening initiatives, to study-abroad courses in developing countries, educators have seized upon the flexibility provided by the less-structured summer months. Below, we have highlighted seven creative examples from different colleges and universities.

On Farm

Stirling College is offering two 5-week on-farm practicums on sustainable agriculture practices. From their website:

“The Summer Sustainable Agriculture Program, part of Sterling’s Summer Semester, is an intensive, on-farm practicum experience in which students to learn to “think and make decisions like farmers”.  Supported by our highly diverse farm, students have the opportunity to learn vegetable crop production and management as well as livestock management.  Our draft horse team enables students to learn the principles of “live power” – draft horse management and also hands on experience with driving the team in our fields.  Students spend each day working on our farm and learning how to make daily and weekly management decisions.  The program is a mixture of on-farm experience as well as classroom coursework in organic vegetable production, livestock management systems, agriculture power, farmstead arts, and permaculture.”

Hampshire College, too, is giving students the opportunity to get their hands dirty with their brand new summer program, which combines farm work with traditional classroom experiences. From their website:

“Faculty from across Hampshire’s curriculum will teach in the program. Broad areas of study will include food science, soil science, sustainable agriculture, culinary arts, nutrition and public health, botany, animal behavior, land use history, and food and justice. While the focus of the intensive summer session is academic and students will spend part of each weekday in a classroom or laboratory, students will get up early to milk cows and tend to other farm animals, working alongside Hampshire’s farm manager Leslie Cox. They will also learn about growing vegetables as they plant, till, and cultivate alongside Nancy Hanson, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) manager.”

On Campus

Beloit College is bringing the sustainability projects closer to home by funding student work greening the campus and local community. From their website:

“The Beloit College Sustainability Fellows Program gives students the opportunity to contribute their expertise to a campus- or community-based sustainability project.  This eight-week summer program offers internships and applied research experiences for continuing Beloit College students to engage in sustainability-related activities on campus and in the local community.  Each student will work at one site under the mentorship of a faculty member.  In addition to working full-time at their placement sites, students will participate in a weekly Sustainability Seminar and a weekly community-based learning workshop.”

Similarly, Indiana University is using its summer sustainability interns to help develop strategic sustainability projects to support the school’s longterm campus greening goals. From their website:

‘The IUB Summer Internship Program in Sustainability will run from mid-May through mid-August. Funding is available to support fourteen new sustainability-related internships.  Five of these interns work on ongoing IUOS projects.  The other ten will join four continuing interns, working collaboratively with IUOS and the Campus Sustainability Advisory Board on projects designed to meet the strategic goals of our seven working groups.  Students will be expected to work approximately twenty hours per week over the course of the summer and participate in a 1-credit summer seminar in sustainability taught by Director of Sustainability Bill Brown.”

Study Abroad

Northwestern University, on the other hand, is sending students overseas to learn from German partner school University of Bonn and gain a global perspective on the issues. From their website:

“This program will focus on German energy policy and initiatives in renewable, sustainable, sources of energy—wind, solar, biomass, geothermal—and energy conservation in a European and global context. This 5-week, two quarter credit program offers a unique interdisciplinary curriculum and an introduction to renewable energy policy and development as a response to today’s climate and energy challenges. Students will gain a broad perspective on cutting-edge energy policies and global actors (i.e. major research institutes, UN agencies, German ministries, NGOs, international organizations and private corporations) through lectures, discussions, a collaborative energy project with other program participants, and excursions to meet with leaders and researchers in renewable energies. Short study trips to Brussels and Berlin are included in the program.”

Arizona State University is also sending its students abroad, but instead of a cultural exchange, they’ve chosen to find a place for students to gain hands-on experience facilitating sustainable development in a 3rd world country, Ghana. From their website:

“This is more than a trip – it’s also a service to others. GlobalResolve is a social entrepreneurship program at ASU that creates sustainable economic development in poor communities by developing technological solutions to energy, health and water problems and helping to initiate startup ventures around the solution. A large part of the process is understanding community needs and resources. This is a working research trip to identify opportunities to help rural and urban communities in Ghana, Africa, and to understand the culture, history, economy and community life. The group will visit several villages and other points of interest including a rain forest, former slave castle and a game preserve to understand needs and resources of communities in order to help design solutions.”

For Rising High Schoolers

Among other offerings, University of Florida has a rather unique summer program that’s designed especially for pre-college students. From their website:

“The UF Young Entrepreneurs for Leadership & Sustainability summer program gives 36 college-bound high school students the opportunity to live, work, eat, and play on the campus of the University of Florida for five weeks each summer while learning about entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, being inspired to solve social problems, and practicing sustainability. We empower students to become leaders and changemakers.”

Hutchinson, Kan. (August 25, 2010) – Assistant Secretary Fernandez tours the EDA-funded Salt City Business Park in Hutchinson, Kansas; home to Siemens' nacelle manufacturing plant. Fernandez visited the region to discuss alternative energy strategies with local officials and announce a $2.4 million grant to Newton, Kansas.

The Economic Development Administration has recently switched to a quarterly review process for applications to some of its programs. The Public Works, Economic Adjustment and Global Climate Change Mitigation Incentive Fund investments applications are now be reviewed on a quarterly basis, and the next quarterly deadline for submitting EDA grant applications to these programs is June 10th, 2011.

EDA will continue to accept applications at any time, but will evaluate those applications in quarterly funding cycles. In order for an application to be considered in a given funding cycle it must be received by the deadline. The deadlines will generally fall approximately two to three weeks prior to the beginning of each quarter in the federal fiscal year.

Short-Term and Partnership Planning, Local Technical Assistance, and University Center investments will continue to be funded on their current schedules. Awards from supplemental appropriations will be awarded based on priorities and procedures published in the applicable federal funding opportunity notice.

For applicable programs on quarterly cycle, all applications received on or before June 10th will be considered, and applicants will be informed of their status within 20 days of the deadline. Any applications received after June 10th will be considered in the next quarter’s funding cycle on September 15, 2011.

You can find more information on EDA’s quarterly review process on the EDA’s website. Or, you can contact your local EDA office directly.

For more information about the EDA, find them on Twitter or Facebook.

In each location, delegates will brainstorm project ideas that address regional issues and ultimately engage more young people in the outdoors by removing barriers to participation. They will vote on the top ideas in each region and receive funding and training from the Outdoor Foundation to carry out these projects.

Outdoor Nation launched in June 2010 in New York’s Central Park when 500 young adults representing all 50 states gathered in what became the largest and most diverse summit to connect youth to the outdoors. The event sparked a youth-led movement that is empowering the Millennial generation to reconnect, redefine and rediscover America as an Outdoor Nation.

“After reading Richard Louv’s book, Nature Deficit Disorder, lots of people became concerned about how America’s youth was losing its connection to nature, but most of the focus was put on creating programs for toddlers, tikes and teeny-boppers—naturally leading us to think, “Hey, what about us!?”, said Stefanie Michaelson, an Outdoor Nation Youth Ambassador from Salt Lake City, Utah. “When we got together in New York and saw the commitment and passion of so many of our peers from across the country, we agreed that we wanted to lead this revolution on our own terms, for ourselves and the generations to follow.”

The delegates also resolved to take Outdoor Nation into the community by laying the groundwork for Outdoor Nation to host 1,300 youth leaders through the 2011 Outdoor Nation Summer Summits. There is an open selection process with a brief online application that can be accessed through OutdoorNation.org. Delegates must be between 18 and 28 years of age and must provide their own transportation to and from the Summit. Outdoor Nation will make arrangements for and cover the costs of food and lodging during the event.

Outdoor Nation named America’s State Parks its national partner and top cause for 2011. Faced with deep budget cuts and unprecedented park closures, America’s state parks have been identified by the Outdoor Nation community of ‘Outsiders’ as its top advocacy issue because of their unmatched importance in America’s outdoor recreation. America’s State Parks, with more than 7,000 sites and a record 740 Million visits in 2010, were founded more than a century ago to provide close-to-home access to nature for all citizens. In addition to record visitation, America’s State Parks hit significant milestones in 2010 related to both number of protected acres and economic contribution, which topped $23 billion.

“This summer we will bring Outdoor Nation into the states and communities to address the real issues that are keeping people inside, “ said Lindsay Bourgoine, Lead Outdoor Nation Ambassador. “Our community of Outsiders will actively champion important causes like America’s State Parks – engaging new communities and inspiring new leadership across all 50 states.”

Outdoor Nation wouldn’t have the appeal that it does with the Millennial generation if it was all work and no play. Tied to every Summit is a Summer Fun Day celebration held in a nearby park to highlight the incredible range of outdoor recreation opportunities—from kayaking to rock climbing to a family fun area—that are available to us close to home. These events are open to the community and are expected to attract thousands of local residents.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Outdoor Nation is an initiative of The Outdoor Foundation and was founded with initial support from The North Face, Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, REI Foundation, The Conservation Fund and the National Park Service.

The Outdoor Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and growing future generations of outdoor enthusiasts. Through groundbreaking research, action oriented convening and outreach and education programs, the Foundation works with partners to mobilize a major cultural shift that leads all Americans to the great outdoors. In 2010, the Foundation launched Outdoor Nation, a pioneering initiative that aims to empower youth to champion the outdoors on campuses and in communities across the United States.

For more information visit: http://www.outdoorfoundation.org and http://www.outdoornation.org.

On April 21, 2011, sixty elementary school kids from Dobbs Elementary School part of the Atlanta Public Schools and and God’s Little Angels Academy based in Lithonia GA, came to the OAC to learn about water conservation and to connect to nature by helping to install a rain garden, working to refurbish the frog pond, and learning about the insects that inhabit the OAC Forest.  The highlight for many of the students was the release of host of beatutiful butterflies as they worked with Ms. Evonne (affectionately called “The Bug Lady”)! This terrific Earth Day project was held at the Outdoor Activity Center (OAC) in partnership with NWF Earth Tomorrow of Atlanta,GA  Green for All of Oakland, CA and the Ludacris Foundation of Atlanta, GA.

The Earth Day event was pulled together in a very quick timeframe, and we appreciate evertything that was done to make this day meaningful for the kids and helpful for WAWA (West Atlanta Watershed Alliance) and the OAC (Outdoor Activity Center) as we try to raise the profile of both. Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam (best known for her role as “Rudy” on the Cosby Show), Radio Personality, Rasahan Ali, and Rapper Ludacris’ Mom, Roberta Shields were on hand to help the kids plant in the rain garden and connect to the natural world in new and special ways! Atlanta Falcons “Green” Starting Fullback Ovie Mughelli dropped by to catch a bit of the fun, and he pledged to come back to hold his “Recycle on the Run” event at the OAC for West Atlanta youth!

Photo courtesy West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA).

Check out the Green for All blog post with photos from the day.

So far, we’ve had a great Earth Month starting with the well-attended Urban Forestry Festival on April 2nd, the debut of “Storytime in the Forest” and Spring Break Activities for youth in the community, and a full day of activities for area girl scouts on April 16th! Add the service projects that we’ve already had and the upcoming environmental education outreach events planned for the rest of the month, and you’ve got a fantastic earth month for WAWA and the OAC!

I know that many events are happening, and encourage you to get as actively involved in your local community. Personally, it’s been a whirlwhind month of sustainable events and traveling to D.C. for NWF Young Leader Assembly & Powershift 2011, but I thought last week was pretty special as we work to build a sustainable community in West End Atlanta.

For more information, check out CBS Atlanta’s Web Article and Video on the event, along with a slideshow of pics from the day, or even more event photos taken by Green For All Videographer & Media Archivist, Ryan Dexter.

Imran Battla is a 2011 delegate to the NWF Young Leaders Assembly and Senior Program Manager of the Applied Mentorship Program for Sustainability based in Atlanta, GA.

First, let’s do the numbers: McDonald’s has over 32,478 restaurants in 60% of the world’s countries and recorded $24 billion in revenue last year. That’s more restaurants than any other company in the world, and $24 billion is…well, it’s a lot of money.

Moving beyond that extraordinary number of drive-thrus, global presence, and Fortune 150 revenue of McDonald’s, what’s more impressive is how quickly the company can change, particularly in response to the voices of consumers.

We can all agree the pace and aggressiveness with which McDonald’s addresses its own climate impacts and the much larger impacts of its suppliers will only accelerate if its consumers make it clear that climate action matters to them. Consumer choice doesn’t just have the potential to alter the direction of environmentally flavored ad campaigns; it can transform corporate decision-making and, yes, even corporate culture.

If you’re old enough to remember the consumer unrest around McDonald’s Styrofoam packaging in the late 1980’s, then you’ll appreciate the subsequent achievements the company has accomplished through its partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Here are the McDonald’s sustainability achievements that came out of its initial partnership with EDF:

• Switched from polystyrene foam “clamshells” to paper-based wraps for sandwich packaging, providing a 70-90% reduction in sandwich packaging volume, reducing landfill space consumed, energy used and pollutants released over the lifecycle of the package
• Converted to unbleached paper carry-out bags, coffee filters and Big Mac wraps
• Reduced paper use by 21% in napkins, and incorporated 30% post-consumer recycled content
• Asked suppliers to incorporate 35% post-consumer recycled content into all corrugated shipping boxes
• The company saves an estimated $6 million per year as a result of these packaging changes and in the decade following the partnership, McDonald’s eliminated over 300 million pounds of packaging, recycled one million tons of corrugated boxes, and reduced restaurant waste by 30%.

All of these changes were implemented in less than a two-year span.

The McDonald’s EDF partnership marched on through the 1990s, and by 2000, McDonald’s cut more than 510 million kilowatt-hours of electricity usage and 4,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions by installing energy-efficient lighting. That’s a good start, but what’s the latest?  What is McDonald’s doing now and how can we remind McDonald’s that consumers care deeply about its response to its impacts on global climate change?

If you’re wondering what McDonald’s is doing to address climate change in 2011 and what its future plans are, join Climate Counts and the Bard Center for Environmental Policy at noon on March 16 for a dialogue with Bob Langert, McDonald’s VP of Sustainability. If you care about changing McDonald’s from the ground up inside out, lend your voice to our Green Watching campaign where we’re sending e-mails and tweets to McDonald’s encouraging them to take more climate action and to be more actively engaged with fast-food consumers on corporate climate responsibility. Visit www.ClimateCounts.org to learn more.

As part of the Climate Counts Green Watching campaign and the Bard Center for Environmental Policy Campus to Corporation (C2C) webinar series, consumers will be asked to listen in and engage McDonald’s in a productive dialogue around their climate action.

About Climate Counts
Climate Counts is a non-profit campaign that scores companies annually on the basis of their voluntary action to reverse climate change. The Climate Counts Company Scorecard helps people vote with their dollars by making climate-conscious purchasing and investing choices that put pressure on the world’s most well-known companies to take the issue of climate change seriously. Launched with support from organics pioneer Stonyfield Farm, Climate Counts believes everyday consumers can be the most important activists in the fight against global warming. Climate Counts has currently evaluated nearly 150 companies in sixteen major consumer sectors. Climate Counts’ work has appeared in many of the world’s leading media outlets, among them the New York Times, National Public Radio, The Economist, BBC World Service, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, and the Harvard Business Review. The organization launched its free iPhone app and its voluntary Climate Counts Industry Innovators (i2) program in early 2010.

The author, Wyatt Taubman, modeling one of ThinkGreenLiveClean.com's new sustainable t-shirts

My name is Wyatt Taubman, I’m 24 years old, I’m a 2009 Environmental Studies graduate from the University of San Diego, and this is the story of ThinkGreenLiveClean.com, a rapidly growing environmental news website for young adults.

The creation of ThinkGreenLiveClean.com has taken me on a roller coaster of a journey that has had both many ups and many downs. One of the high peaks includes being invited by the Founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, to stay with him at his ranch retreat for a few days and one of the low troughs includes almost being sued by a multi-billion dollar corporation the first year into my endeavor.

It all began in 2007 with a simple bumper sticker brainstorming session that took place in Australia while studying abroad. ‘What better way to promote the environmental movement than with a really catchy bumper sticker?’, I thought. That idea lasted for about a month until my Mom purchased the URL ThinkGreenLiveClean.com for my 21^st birthday present…which, at the time, I must say I was not too ecstatic about… You bought me a URL? For my 21^st birthday? Are you serious? Shortly thereafter I realized that the present was actually a blessing in disguise because now I could use new media to promote the environmental movement. I quickly became neck deep in creating an environmental news blog for young adults that I did my best to  fill with optimism, beautiful imagery, and a fun and simple writing style, which, I believed, would help to inform and inspire our generation to action. There were other great environmental news blogs out there at the time like TreeHugger and Inhabitat, but as a junior in college their websites and articles weren’t grabbing my attention as I thought they should, and my friends agreed. By the end of my senior year, the most basic form of ThinkGreenLiveClean.com was complete.

Screenshot of ThinkGreenLiveClean.com

Most of my closest graduating friends got involved with the site as “contributing writers” — donating their time to spread environmental awareness to other like-minded individuals around the globe. Shortly thereafter I found myself giving presentations to other environmental studies classes at University of San Diego (USD) and more and more students began jumping on board.  It didn’t take long before I was being contacted by complete strangers interested in writing for ThinkGreenLiveClean.com. During this whole process I had the utmost support from my professors, and whenever I felt the need for advice their office doors were open.

As long as I can remember I’ve had a deeply rooted appreciation as well as concern for our planet. At USD I had many profound classes, influential professors, and idealistic friends, which, I believe, helped to propagate my desire to make our planet a better place. My education at USD didn’t directly prepare me for creating an environmental news website but it did give me the tools and necessary environmental background to pursue this ambition of mine.

Now ThinkGreenLiveClean.com has 20 writers throughout the U.S. and Canada, two interns, and hundreds of visitors a day. Our first contest — called the ‘Greenest Student College Challenge,’ which showcased the most ingenious green ideas emerging from college campuses around the world — was mentioned in dozens of news blogs and University websites throughout the U.S. and Canada, had hundreds of entries, and tens of thousands of visitors! Its success attracted another sponsor, Guayaki Yerba Mate, for our upcoming contest, which will kick off in late January when colleges are back in session for the Spring semester. Over $400 worth of gift certificates and prizes will be given away, so make sure to check back in late January or sign up for our newsletter now to receive notification when the contest goes live. We also just printed our first ThinkGreenLiveClean (TGLC) shirts, which are made of bamboo.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While at USD, I joined our campus sustainability club, but I was simply a member. I wasn’t actively pursuing a role as an environmental leader. However, now as the Founder of ThinkGreenLiveClean.com, all that has changed. My transition from member to leader was slow. As doors opened I simply walked through them. Now I’m embracing my managing role of ThinkGreenLiveClean.com and working directly with many awesome contributors. Together we hope to inspire the planet to Think Green and Live Clean!

© competetoreduce.org

This November, NWF co-sponsored (with the Alliance to Save Energy) the first national Lucid Design Group contest, the “Campus Conservation Nationals,”  among 40 U.S. campuses to reduce (in real time) energy usage in their residence halls.  Full information about the contest can be found at competetoreduce.org.

The contest ran for 20 days, and  Lucid Design Group placed monitoring systems in the dorms so that students could see their actual energy use – and could take steps to lower it – by dorm building.

Lucid Design develops dashboards that convert energy management into actual social networks.

During the 20 days, 120,000 students in these schools collectively reduced electricity consumption by 508,694 kilowatt-hours to save $50,209 and avoid putting 816,394 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

With a 25.8% reduction in electricity use, DePauw University was the top campus reducer. The school engaged in a wide variety of activities for promotion, marketing and motivating students, including having the Residential Assistants on each participating floor to create bulletin boards with energy-saving “Battle Tactics” to provide students with inspiration on ways to conserve. Humbolt University was the winner for water conservation, with a campus-wide reduction of 15.4%.

“Everyone who had the opportunity to participate should be commended for their individual enthusiasm and collective action in making the first-annual competition a huge success. Not only does this prove that behavior change can achieve significant savings, but we’ve taken another significant step toward creating cultures of conservation on campuses,” said Andrew de Coriolis, Public Programs Manager at Lucid.

Organizers are hopeful that getting 120,000 students from campuses from Kentucky to California and from Ohio to New York active in energy and water conservation will yield lasting results far beyond the 20 days of the contest. In addition to increasing awareness and understanding of energy and water conservation, the contest may have helped students change the longterm patterns for their water and electricity use. Research has confirmed that 21 days is the time it takes to create a new habit, so that by the end of the Campus Conservation Nationals, there is reason to hope that the new behaviors developed will have become a new part of the students’ daily lives.

That being said, here are 10 of the most unusual and innovate things that colleges have begun to experiment with, from the practical to the theoretical:

1. Biomass

While not as common as solar and geothermal installations, the use of biomass is quickly gaining popularity on some of the more Sustainability-minded campuses. Middlebury College, in Vermont is one such school. The Middlebury website explains the process this way:

Photo by Flickr user esagor, used with Creative Commons license.

Biomass gasification is much more complex and efficient than a household wood stove. Wood chips are superheated in a low oxygen chamber where they smolder and emit wood-gas. Oxygen is then introduced on the backside of the boiler causing the gas to ignite, producing heat (at temperatures of over 1100° F) to make steam that is distributed throughout campus for heating, cooling, hot water and cooking.

Exhaust from this process circulates through a cyclone separator, forcing larger particles to drop out. The exhaust then enters the bag house where it passes through a series of filters to remove fine particulate matter. The filtration system in Middlebury’s biomass plant is rated to remove 99.7 percent of particulates, so most of what one sees coming from the smoke stack is water vapor.

For more information about the different types and applications of biomass energy, check out this guide from the BioMass Energy Centre.

2. Algae

A second somewhat offbeat renewable energy source that more and more colleges and universities are experimenting with is algae. At the College of William and Mary, for example, launched a program this summer to grow and collect algae which, when harvested, is turned into biodiesel for use in vehicles and in oil-fired heating systems. From their website:

Photo by Flickr user AgriLife, used with Creative Commons license

Considered as a replacement for petroleum, an individual alga is basically a bag of oil supported by a skeleton or shell.

Algae are good candidates for use as biofuel because of their rapid growth rates, ability to take-up nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and some of these aquatic plants have as much as 50 percent oil content, depending on environmental factors.

Researchers at the school believe that the use of wild algae has a number of advantages over other biofuel approaches. For one thing, algae sequesters carbon. Some other biofuels, such as corn ethanol, have run into problems because they do the opposite. Another advantage is that algae can be grown in almost any climate, and can provide other ecosystem services such as water purification. For more information on algal fuels, check out oilgae.com.

3. Cows

For several years now, Green Mountain College has been purchasing a large portion of its electricity from a creative source  — energy created from burning methane from cow manure on Vermont dairy farms. The college’s website explains the unusual choice:

Photo by Flickr user publicenergy, used with Creative Commons license.

College officials were drawn to the idea that, unlike standard renewable energy certificates (also known as “green tags”), which simply ensure that renewable power is produced somewhere, Cow Power has the added benefit of being a regional program where students and employees can actually see the farms where the power is being generated and learn about the process.

Other air and water quality issues are also significant. Farm methane that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere is 20 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Additionally, the methane digestion process removes harmful pathogens from the manure making it much safer in the event of an accidental spill into a body of water.

For more information on Cow Power and methane biogas, check out the website for the Central Vermonth Public Service power company that provides Green Mountain’s energy.

4. Landfills

Cows aren’t the only source of methane for use as renewable energy, as Hudson Valley Community College knows well. The school has been using methane from a local landfill to help generate power for several years. The process is detailed on the school’s website:

Photo by Flickr user D'Arcy Norman, used with Creative Commons License.

Methane produced by the landfill, through the natural decomposition of wastes, is captured and transported via a 3,100-foot pipeline that is buried five-feet deep. The pipeline is located on the outskirts of campus, and traverses an open field. Landfill gas that is recovered with an adequate and efficient collection system is much safer and cleaner than either venting or flaring the gas, as is done currently.

The plant burns a combination of methane and natural gas to power the generators. When the methane levels decrease from the landfill, the facility will switch over to natural gas. The combustion process is clean and complete, and does not produce any odors.

Visit the EPA’s website to learn more about landfill methane sequestration.

5. Sunflowers

Students in Ohio’s Athens Alternative Education Project have partnered with Ohio University to develop yet another renewable biofuel, this one made from sunflower oil. Tyler Furr, an AAEP senior who has spent the last year working on the project, explained the idea to collegegreenmag.com in this way:

Photo by Flickr user Vitó, used with Creative Commons License.

“After planting and harvesting the sunflowers, we use a seed-press to squeeze the oil out of the seeds,” Furr said. “After that, we refine the oil in our processing facility which gives us the finished fuel.”

The finished product can be burned on its own or mixed with petroleum diesel to produce a cleaner-burning, environmentally healthier fuel. Additionally, the byproduct of the refining process, called seed cake, can be used as a feed concentrate for livestock.

To learn more about the project and about the applications for the sunflower bio-fuel, check out this article from the Columbus Dispatch.

6. Corn

As we mentioned above, the development of some forms of corn-based alternative fuel has run up against serious concerns. Corn ethanol, for example, has largely failed to live up to early expectations; California has declared that its carbon footprint is unsustainable, and questions are perennially raised as to the wisdom of burning a food source in a world where people are starving. However, some schools such as Pennsylvania State University have found a way to obtain energy by burning shelled corn, which according to Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology is more efficient and cost-effective. From the PennState website:

Photo by Flickr user Dey, used with Creative Commons License.

Burning shelled corn as a fuel can be a feasible way of dealing with the high prices of more conventional fuels such as fuel oil, propane, natural gas, coal, and firewood. Shelled corn is a fuel that can be produced within 180 days, compared to the millennia needed to produce fossil fuels.

Proponents tout shelled corn as a good alternative not only to corn ethanol, but also to traditional wood-burning heating units. Corn stoves burn 20 percent hotter than wood, and produce less ash and soot. They also do not require a traditional chimney system, but instead need only an exhaust vent, much like a vent for a clothes dryer. Click here to learn more.

7. Coffee Grounds

Sierra Nevada College has found another unlikely source of bio-fuel: spent coffee grounds. With 16 billion pounds of coffee being produced each year, coffee grounds are an abundant — and usually waste — by product.  An article on the American Chemical Society’s site explains why this waste product is actually a resource:

Photo by Flickr user stevendepolo, used with Creative Commons License.

Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight. That’s about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil.

To verify it, the scientists collected spent coffee grounds from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil. They then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 percent of the oil into biodiesel.

For more information, see this article in The Economist or read about a similar project by Missouri University.

8. Humans

Several universities in Texas are bringing the renewable energy problem even closer than your morning cup of coffee, and finding ways of using students themselves to generate electricity for their campuses. Texas State University and the University of North Texas have both begun experimenting with capturing the kinetic energy from their student exercise facilities. A recent article in the Texas Tribune explains:

Photo by Flickr user Nick Harris1, used with Creative Commons License.

Electricity produced by exercising students is fed back into the campus electrical grid. The concept of using exercise equipment to generate power is fairly new; ReRev, a Florida-based company that partnered with Texas State and North Texas, has been in business for less than two years.

A 30-minute workout produces 50 watt hours of electricity, though ReRev spokeswoman Beth Bennion said that estimate was “very rough.” That amount of energy could power a fluorescent light bulb for about three hours or a laptop for about one hour, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A student would have to exercise for about an hour and a half to keep a flat screen TV on for an hour.

Check out the ReRev website to learn more about the process.

9. Waves

Several companies have begun looking to the oceans to create renewable energy — the combined factors of little space available on land and constant sea breezes make offshore wind turbines an effective option. However, Oregon State University is taking ocean-power a step further, and harnessing the kinetic power of the waves themselves. An article by the National Science Foundation explains:

Photo by Flickr user silverxraven, used with Creative Commons License.

A float heaves up and down with the waves. Underneath the float is a magnet assembly, and as that magnet assembly heaves up and down, it creates a changing magnetic field. The coils in the spar experience that changing magnetic field and that induces voltage, and creates electricity.

The concept for a wave energy installation would be an array of these buoys. They would have a power takeoff cable going down to the sea floor, coming together at a central junction box. From that central junction box would be a sub-sea cable back to shore and onto the electrical grid.

To get a better understanding of how wave-generated energy works, check out this video at the National Science Foundation. To join the debate about how wave power may affect ecology and wildlife, head here to the discussion at debatepedia.

10. Lasers

Finally, in what might sound like something ripped from a science fiction novel, researchers at Osaka University in Japan have teamed up with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to attempt to create a satellite that will collect solar energy from space and beam it back to Earth via a powerful laser. A recent article on Treehugger.com explains:

Photo by Flickr user testone22, used with Creative Commons License.

The project seeks to put a prototype space-based power system in orbit — 22,400 mi (36,000 km) above the equator — with the goal of harnessing the sun’s energy to produce laser beams that would generate electricity or hydrogen on Earth through the intermediary of a terrestrial power station. The lasers — using plates built from a ceramic material containing chromium, which can absorb sunlight, and neodymium, which converts it into laser beams — outperformed earlier technologies four times over, demonstrating a solar-to-laser energy conversion efficiency of 42%.

The main advantage of using space-based power systems over terrestrial ones is that the former will not be subject to cloudy conditions or nighttime darkness, allowing them to collect solar energy 24 hours a day.

For more information on the project, check out this article at inhabitat.com or the JAXA website.

In 2008, University of Missouri in Columbia won the Chill Out award in Energy Efficiency for its intelligent and creative energy plan. Thanks to the plan, the University of Missouri managed to prevent global warming pollution emissions growth during a time of rapid expansion. Since the inception of its energy conservation program in 1990, campus space has grown by nearly 60 percent, but total campus energy use has been reduced by 19 percent, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 104,000 tons each year.

The student who submitted UM’s entry was Jason Fox. You can see the winning video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fox credits the recognition that University of Missouri received after winning Chill Out with helping them to stand out a year later, when they successfully applied for a grant of about $45,000 from the Rocky Mountain Institute to further develop energy-saving programs, expand the Building Dashboard program, and educate students on energy conservation.

Since then, University of Missouri has further established itself as a role model in environmentally-friendly use of energy. Currently, the MU power plant blends 10 percent fuel derived from recycled tires with coal — annually saving up to $300,000 in fuel costs — and by 2012 the plant will have installed a new boiler to burn 100 percent biomass fuel.

Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized MU’s power plant with a 2010 EPA Energy Star Combined Heat and Power Award – one of only three universities in the nation to receive the honor. MU has been working hard to achieve these accomplishments and honors for nearly a decade now, and one of the stepping stones along the way was the distinction of being recognized by National Wildlife Federation as a Chill Out 2008 Winner.

What could winning an award in this year’s Chill Out contest mean for your school? How would the increased profile and nationwide recognition affect the sustainability projects and initiatives you want to see implemented? 

Create a two-minute video today to tell us about what your campus is doing to be a Climate Action leader and find out!