IES Blog

Every year, The Princeton Review issues ranking lists for colleges and universities. Everything from ‘Best Career Services’ to ‘Top Party School’ (this list always gets quite the online buzz).

And for the past two years, The Princeton Review has added a ‘Guide to Green Colleges.’

The second annual Green Colleges guide was compiled in response to growing interest among students and families in how universities are making their campuses and curricula more sustainable.

“College-bound students are increasingly interested in sustainability issues,” said Robert Franek, Senior VP, Publishing, The Princeton Review. “Among 8,200 college applicants who participated in our spring 2011 ‘College Hopes & Worries Survey,’ nearly 7 out of 10 (69%) told us that having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend the school.”

Each profile within the guide features “Green Facts,” showcasing the school’s recycling, use of renewable energy, and conservation programs.

Nationwide, there is a growing interest in sustainability among teenagers, and this is translated in their desire to attend a university that offers not only excellent curriculum, but a focus on the future. At a time when getting into a university, any university, is becoming more competitive, it’s interesting to see the shift in thinking as students look to apply to schools.

As universities continue to jump into sustainability and offer more design courses and majors in these growing fields, it will be interesting to see how the ‘Guide to Green Colleges’ evolves. Maybe one day it will be the most talked about ranking from The Princeton Review every year. Although there will always be the party list…

In case you missed it, IES is offering colleges and universities around the globe free Academic Licenses for our early stage analysis tool VE-Gaia. This is an ideal opportunity for educators to embed sustainable analysis into their curriculum. Any institution offering Architectural or Sustainable Design courses will find this tool invaluable, as students continue to look to sustainable design as a career choice.

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Tags:Academic, careers, education, Environment, IES, students, Sustainability, VE-Gaia

Apparently VE-Gaia was named after the Greek goddess of the earth rather than James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis but I am using this tenuous link to talk about him in an IES blog anyway.

Gaia was the name that William Golding, the author, suggested for Lovelock’s hypothesis that life on earth has a regulatory effect on the Earth’s environment that acts to sustain life. The Gaia hypothesis was readily accepted by the environmental community but was not so readily accepted by the scientific community, including Richard Dawkins.

To my shame I only really knew of Lovelock through his Gaia hypothesis, and the fact that he upset many of his environmentalist fans on his pro nuclear power stance, but I saw an interesting programme on BBC 4 about him this week. He has had an amazing career as an independent scientist with his lab being the converted barn at his home in Cornwall. The program highlighted his work at NASA where he proposed using the atmosphere on Mars to determine whether there was life on the planet. It turned out that Mars has a relatively inert atmosphere of mostly CO2 with very little oxygen, methane, or hydrogen - very different to that of the Earth where there is life.

Lovelock’s invention of the electron capture device allowed very small levels of chemicals to be detected in the atmosphere, including CFCs. He took a trip by ship down to the Antarctic to measure CFC’s across the earth and then wrote a paper in the journal Nature that showed that CFCs were not being broken down in the atmosphere. After hearing a lecture on the subject of Lovelock’s results, Frank Rowland and Mario Molina embarked on research that resulted in the first published paper that suggested a link between stratospheric CFCs and ozone depletion in 1974, and later shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work.

Lovelock also invented the Microwave oven and has been published in the journal Nature so many times it would make any academic green with envy.

You can still find the programme information, ‘Beautiful minds’, on the BBC Website, amd a video clip can be found here.

Like Lovelock, Thomas Midgley, Jr. was another very talented scientist that was celebrated for his discoveries and patents. His legacy is somewhat different to Lovelock’s though. Midgley was the scientist that developed the ‘lead’ additive in petrol. He was also on the team that developed the use of CFCs as a refrigerant. Perhaps luckily for him he died in 1944 before anybody discovered the effect his discoveries had on the atmosphere.

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Tags:Academic, Environment, Environmentalists, IES, Sustainability, VE-Gaia

eSim, IBPSA-Canada’s biennial conference, brings together professionals, academics and students interested in building performance simulation. Being held, in Winnipeg, Canada on May 19 and 20, this year’s conference will focus on recent developments for modelling the physical processes relevant to buildings, methods for modelling whole-building performance (including integrated resource management, renewable energy sources and combined heat, cool and power generation) and the use of building simulation tools in code compliance and incentive programs.

IES is happy to have been asked to be a part of the conference, as performance modelling becomes an ever-important part of the design process. Not just a software developer, but also a respected International consultancy, IES is trying to tackle the big problems of sustainable building design, focusing on analysis of a design throughout the entire process.

One of our consultants will be showcasing the IES Virtual Environment as part of the Software Demo Sessions. Much like technical presentations, these special demo sessions will be presented in front of a live audience during the show.  We’ll be covering the latest step-by-step workflow interface capabilities and LEED developments in our software.

A quick overview of us for those less familiar – IES provides advanced performance analysis for all types of sustainable strategies and LEED evaluation for existing buildings, new construction and core and shell projects, among others. Its software and consulting services help design teams to integrate ‘green’ design strategies throughout all stages of the design process and beyond to create low-energy sustainable buildings. IES Consulting is also a BIM GSA contract holder.

If you won’t be at eSim this year and are interested in a demo of the Virtual Environment either in-person or via web conferencing, we would be happy to arrange one at your convenience. We run regular weekly web demo sessions.  Please register online at http://www.iesve.com/Software/Web-Demo

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Tags:Academic, BIM, Building, Environment, Renewables

The “Green Movement” has become a trend greatly driven by the youth of the world.  They are demanding that the environmental crisis that has arisen be taken seriously and responsibility taken where needed.  A world where colleges and universities were ranked by academics, quality of life and cafeteria food has taken a backseat to the environmental initiatives being pledged.  Whether the interest is for new energy source means, more sustainable dormitories, or better options for bicycle users; universities across the US are aiming stepping up to show their responsibility to prospective student and their parents. 

Colleges across the board, both Ivy League and state has begun their push for a sustainable world.  The 2010 Imperative has been created to propose a challenge to all colleges and universities to reach carbon-neutral by 2010.  The program, although challenging, is meant to enlighten people to the possibility of a threshold in atmospheric carbon, in which, if reached will be irreversible according to many climatologists.  The 2010 Imperative calls for combinations of designed LEED accredited buildings, on-site renewable power, and education through all disciplinarians across campus.

To find out more about the 2010 Imperative, or adopt it, please click here.

IES has joined forces with this leading environmental movement to offer all schools signed up to the 2010 Imperative a free full <Virtual Environment> software licence suitable for use across a network. Worth thousands of dollars, eligible schools should contact Lindsay Kinnally in our Boston office for more information on this offer and associated training and support offers: Tel: +1 617 426 1890, Email: lindsay.kinnally@iesve.com

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Tags:Academic, Environment, Renewables, Sustainability