26 CONNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE • FALL 2016 www.CTGreenGuide.com
UConn builds,
acts green
A
t the state's flagship university, 2015 was a
pretty green year.
To start, UConn attained LEED Silver cer-
tifications for three major construction projects and
kicked off a five-year LED replacement program that's
already saved over $73,000.
Among the projects that attained LEED Silver were the
Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center — a
$40 million practice facility adjacent to Gampel Pavilion;
the Wilfred B. Young Building, which houses classrooms
and offices in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natu-
ral Resources; and the Bousfield Psychology Building.
UConn has 23 LEED-certified facilities at its main campus
in Storrs, encompassing more than 2 million square feet.
The school also installed low-flow water fixtures and
aerators in all student residence halls and apartments
— a part of its commitment to achieve net zero energy
and water growth that's saved as much as 100,000 gal-
lons of water per day.
The relamping program has already tackled 31 build-
ings. Among them is Gampel Pavilion, which held its
first LED-powered event in 2015. The new lighting sys-
tem allows for strobe effects, color changes and other
effects not previously possible at the arena.
In addition to its green construction efforts, in 2015,
UConn also launched a bicycle-sharing program and
the Green Campus Academic Network (GCAN), which
has built on-campus demonstration projects like rain
gardens and air-monitoring stations.
The creation of GCAN ultimately led to a trip for a
dozen students and six faculty and staff to the United
Nations' 21st annual climate change conference in Paris
late last year, where participating countries set the most
ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals in history.
University of Connecticut
PROJECT ELEMENTS: Facility-wide; energy & climate
change; water; material management; innovation
START DATE: Jan. 2015
COMPLETION DATE: Dec. 2015
UConn student
volunteers
promote recycling
at a UConn
basketball "green
game day."
PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED
CATEGORY: Universities
GreenCircle Sustainability Awards 2016
