Princeton Review lists UND one of greenest schools

UND is one of the country’s greenest schools, according to the Princeton Review’s Guide to 311 Green Colleges-2011 Edition.

The Guide profiles 308 institutions of higher education in the United States and three in Canada that demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities, and career preparation. The Green Ratings measure how environmentally friendly the listed institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99; all of the listed schools scored in the 80th percentile or better.

“We’ve been really fortunate in getting grants, mostly from the state of North Dakota, to upgrade our infrastructure,” said Larry Zitzow, director of Facilities Management at UND and chair of the UND Council on Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability. “These ongoing improvements aim to reduce our carbon footprint and save utility dollars. It’s about a lot more than changing light bulbs.”

It’s also about local and regional collaboration.

“The City of Grand Forks has always been proud to be home to UND and enjoys its collaboration with UND in the area of sustainability which benefits all members of the community,” said Debra Pflughoeft-Hassett, the energy sustainability coordinator for the city of Grand Forks and an ex-officio member of UND’s Sustainability Council.

“There are no boundaries in our environment, and we share the responsibility for taking care of it,” Pflughoeft-Hassett said.

Among the most advanced sustainability enhancement are building projects, such as the complete overhaul and addition to the University’s College of Education and Human Development.

Princeton Review partnered with the United States Green Building Council, a national nonprofit organization best-known for developing the LEED green building certification program, to produce the Guide.

Criteria for Princeton Review’s Green Rating cover three areas:

• Whether the school’s students have a campus quality of life that is healthy and sustainable.
• How well the school is preparing its students for employment and citizenship in a world defined by environmental challenges.
• The school’s overall commitment to environmental issues.

At UND, the sustainability enhancements include systems for turning off lights automatically, shutting down air handlers when a building is unoccupied, and major changes in lighting systems to reduce electricity consumption.

“We’re becoming a very aggressive institution with respect to sustainability,” Zitzow said. “We’re making lots of changes and enhancing the campus.”

For more information, contact Larry Zitzow, director, Facilities Management, at 777-2591 or larry.zitzow@email.und.edu.