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Sustainability

13 Campus Sustainability Projects Funded

May 29, 2020

The NC State Sustainability Fund has awarded $162,000 in grants to 13 sustainability projects on campus. 

The Fund, which is generated by a $2.50 per semester student fee, is managed by a student-run Advisory Board that reviews grant proposals from the campus community twice annually. Grants are awarded to sustainability projects that have high student impact and help the university advance sustainability.

The projects selected for funding during the 2020-2021 academic year are:

  • NC State’s inaugural Energy Week of events that increase the visibility of the university’s energy use, research and opportunity to shape a clean energy future.
  • Cooking kitchen at the NC State Agroecology Education Farm that will host classes and workshops about fruits, vegetables and healthy cooking. 
  • Expansion of paper towel composting into more NC State residence halls. 
  • Development of low-cost, high-resolution air quality monitoring on NC State’s campus.
  • Infrastructure for increasing compost collection at Wilson College of Textiles.
  • Expansion of NC State’s Compost Facility and Research Cooperative to increase capacity for processing compostable material from campus.
  • Additional installation of shower timers or water flow meters in West Campus residence halls. Already timers are in Bragaw Residence Hall, where a pilot program resulted in a 20% decrease in water consumption.
  • A new outdoor amenity called SolarSpace where students can charge electronics and learn about renewable energy.
  • A sustainability-themed event for new students during NC State’s Welcome Week.
  • Installation of new water bottle refilling stations in the NC State University Libraries.
  • Outreach and education about sustainable laundry practices in NC State residence halls.
  • Development of a campus waste station kiosk that helps users more accurately sort waste into composting, recycling or landfill containers.
  • Increased education about and use of reusable cups and bottles at Wilson College of Textiles, which will install two water bottle refilling stations and promote use of fewer disposable options.

These grants are in addition to $1,000 FastTrack grants that were awarded in December. Since the first Sustainability Fund grant was awarded in 2014, the Fund has awarded more than $875,000 to 81 projects.