NYU Supports Sustainable Projects with $75,000
New York University’s Sustainability Task Force last week announced its recipients.
The task force, now in its fourth year, received more than 50 submissions and awarded $75,000 in grant monies to 14 projects.
"This third cycle of grants to students, faculty, and staff really span the breadth of possible topics and environmental issues,” said Jeremy Friedman, NYU’s manager of Sustainable Initiatives. “The projects will help the university reduce environmental impacts, engage the community, and advance applied research and educational goals,” he said.
The projects include:
- The creation of the “Center for the Sustainable Built Environment” at NYU’s Schack Institute for Real Estate to provide a multi-disciplinary platform to advance sustainable development research and practice in the real estate and construction industries;
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“Ride Down Memory Lane” the creation of a MP3 self-guided bike tour to educate participants on the history of NYU and promote environmentalism by including historical locations;
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“Kimmel Herbalmania: Edibles for All” which will use different spaces within the Kimmel Center for Student Life to grow edible plants in containers, collaborating with the university's catering office and chefs to educate on how to use the plants in nutritious and appetizing ways; and
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“French Fry Oil into Biodiesel Fuel,” is designed to evaluate the NYU Dining Halls’ current recycling of used fryer oil to determine the optimum combination of services and environmental performance from the available vendors, and then educating NYU’s student body about the biodiesel conversion process.
Each proposal was evaluated on its likely impact on the campus environmental footprint, its ability to be self-sustaining or institutionalized after initial funding, and its feasibility and potential for successful implementation.
The establishment of the Sustainability Fund is part of NYU’s Green Action Plan, which was announced by Michael Alfano, NYU’s executive vice president, in October 2006 with the goal of reducing NYU’s impacts on the environment and saving energy. At that time, the university announced the purchase of 118,000,000 KWh of wind energy, the largest of any university in the United States or any institution in New York City.