Buildings & Grounds

Students interested in green building and sustainable design can take a LEED Green Associate training course on campus next Wednesday, October 26. LeadingGREEN is offering the evening training course in Loew Hall room 102 from 6-10 p.m. The course is $300 ($200 for current full time students) and satisfies the eligibility requirements to take the LEED Green Associate exam, which is seperately administed by the US Green Building Council. 

To register for the course and for more information, visit leadinggreen.com/uwseattle

I recently attended the Just Sustainability conference at Seattle University, and had the opportunity to attend a breakout session with Stacy Smedley, sustainability director for Skanska Construction.

Join UW Sustainability for an exciting Green Bag presentation with Skanska Construction's Director of Sustainability Stacy Smedley. She will talk about Skanska's current sustainability initiatives and LEED standards for construction, as well as highlighting some of their current projects at UW.

The talk will be held in Parrington Hall, Room 309, on Friday, September 16th from 11 a.m. to noon. Bring your lunch and join the discussion!

The Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) will be regularly featuring alumni, project leaders and other students who help the CSF make a difference on campus. Today's spotlight is on Dan Hintz, who is project lead for the Kincaid Ravine Restoration.

UW Graduation Year: 2016
Major: Master of Environmental Horticulture
Hometown: Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Favorite Outdoor Activity: Downhill skiing

It’s time to think twice about your carpet.

For well over 100 years, carpet has been the single most popular choice for American floors, but not without its drawbacks. Producing carpet requires the use of a host of harmful chemicals, and each year landfills acquire millions of tons of carpet that will take thousands of years to decompose.

Tucked behind an assortment of trees along UW’s Stevens Way is a garden unknown to many. The UW Medicinal Herb Garden is home to about 1,000 plants from around the world, spread out across seven plots, and provides a relaxing escape from the surrounding campus.

The garden hasn't always been as richly populated as it is today. There's one man in particular who has doubled the plant collection over the last 20 years. 

Over six million gallons of water is used to sustain the assortment of trees and flowers in the Washington Park Arboretum, much of it along Azalea Way, the main pathway through the Arboretum. But a group of UW students, staff and faculty are hoping to significantly reduce the amount of water used.   

By Mishu Pham-Whipple

There are thousands of light bulbs on campus, which use energy and regularly burn out or fail. The UW's maintenance electricians are addressing both issues with a program to upgrade campus lights to LED bulbs, which are more efficient and longer-lasting than traditional lights.

The team recently swapped out more than 200 lights on the IMA's squash and racquetball courts, which will reduce power consumption by 78%. Kane and Meaney halls have also gotten LED upgrades. 

Reducing water usage for a building the size of the UW Tower is no easy task. It took the Tower's operations staff nearly a year to replace every toilet and urinal in the tower with new, low-flush units, but it was well worth it. The project is estimated to save up to 37 million gallons of water over the next 15 years.