{"id":1027,"date":"2019-03-25T15:48:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T19:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2019-03-28T16:17:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T20:17:36","slug":"sustainability-by-the-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/spring-2019\/sustainability-by-the-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability by the Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sustainability efforts at º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½, including multimillion-dollar upgrades to steam heat and lighting systems, have resulted in energy and cost savings and reduced environmental impacts. º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ was selected as a 2018 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, Postsecondary Sustainability Awardee.<\/p>\n

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89B<\/span>Reduction in BTUs of steam heat used per year<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
26M<\/span>Reduction in pounds of CO2 emissions per year<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
11M<\/span>Kilowatt hours of energy saved per year<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
8\u201310%<\/span>Savings in energy costs and reduced carbon emissions per year<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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30%<\/span>Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
11<\/span>LEED-certified buildings<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
1M<\/span>Square feet of LEED-certified building space<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
1M<\/span>Plastic bottles kept from landfills by hydration stations*<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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\n
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20,800<\/span>Pounds of compostable waste diverted from landfill<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
1,900<\/span>Exterior lights replaced with efficient LED lamps and fixtures<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
2,600<\/span>Gallons of waste cooking oil converted to biodiesel (in 2016)<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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30<\/span>Degree programs (undergraduate and graduate) that include sustainability as a learning outcome<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
1000<\/span>Gallons of gasoline saved by electric vehicle charging stations<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
50M<\/span>Grants received for research and projects related to energy, sustainability, and climate (2013\u201317)<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
\n

Solar Energy Initiative<\/h1>\n

The South Kingstown Solar Consortium\u2019s (º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½, South Kingstown, and Narragansett) three solar fields will produce renewable energy and economic benefits from selling energy back to the R.I. electrical grid. Projected benefits:<\/p>\n

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$1.2M<\/span>Net metering credit savings º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ will receive<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
750<\/span>Homes can be powered by the energy our solar fields produce<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
1,500<\/span>Cars\u2019 fossil fuel consumption will be offset by our solar project<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
48K MWhr<\/span>of electricity delivered to the R.I. energy grid per year<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Other Initiatives<\/h1>\n
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  • The Cupanion Fill It Forward program is encouraging and rewarding bottle refills to reduce plastic use and waste.<\/li>\n
  • Improved campus shuttle system and RIPTA bus service are reducing the number of single-occupancy vehicles on campus.<\/li>\n
  • A 2-mile extension will connect the O\u2019Neill Bike Path to the Kingston Campus, making local bike commuting easier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u2014Dave Lavallee<\/em><\/p>\n

    *Five-year total as of March 2018. Most data reported is since 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ was selected as a 2018 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School, Postsecondary Sustainability Awardee thanks to sustainability efforts across campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2019","architecture-green-scene"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1027"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1641,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1027\/revisions\/1641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}