Press & Media

Lane Sustainability Achievements Featured in Utility News

“Business Currents,” a newsletter published by the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB), features an article titled “Lane Community College embodies sustainability” in its current issue. The article explains show Lane has used its Greenpower grants form EWEB to support energy efficiency and other sustainability on campus.

Lane Community College Embodies Sustainability

Original article Link: http://www.eweb.org/bc/march2015/lcc

Since Lane Community College's founding 1964, the college has emerged over the past five decades as a leader in innovation in both its operations and its curriculum, including efforts to use energy wisely and sustainably. So when the Eugene Water & Electric Board offered a renewable energy program, it made good sense for the college to support the program.

"EWEB's Greenpower program aligns perfectly with the college's core values," said Anna Scott, Lane's energy analyst. "The college now pledges 12% of its energy use to EWEB Greenpower."

Bold Ideas Can Come From Anywhere

Opportunities abound with every project. What prevents them is not seeing them. You have to see the opportunities, connect the dots and pursue with vigor.

By Jon Wiener, AIA
Originally Published on srgpartnership.com : October 24, 2014

What began as a dream to build a net zero energy building as a teaching tool for LCC’s prestigious energy management program converged with the City of Eugene’s desire to revitalize a struggling urban neighborhood. What resulted is a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Our integrated solution, joining education, urban planning, architecture, and engineering, has created a living/learning center, high performing educational laboratory, and $50 million in new urban development.

Entire article: Partnership-Synergies_SRG_Partnership20141028.pdf10/28/2014
Original article Link: http://www.srgpartnership.com/blog/2014/10/partnership-and-synergies/

Suffolk County Community College's Big Plans for a New Building

Suffolk County Community College President Dr. Shaun McKay, at left, is joined by Nicholas Palumbo, Executive Director College Sustainability Programs, center, and Roger Ebbage, at right, Director of the Northwest Energy Education Institute at Lane Community College, Eugene Oregon as they survey a plan and the site where Suffolk’s new two-story, 33,792- square-foot Renewable Energy and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Center will be built on the College’s  Michael J. Grant Campus in Brentwood.

Ebbage made the Energy Management Program at Oregon's Lane Community College a national model and has been a technical advisor on a number of national and international curriculum development projects. Ebbage visited Suffolk as preparations are underway to program curricula and classes for Suffolk’s new building that will be the first of its kind in the state community college system. Ebbage’s visit was paid for by the American Association of Community Colleges.

"The College's approach is far-reaching and will set Suffolk County apart from others in the state," McKay said and added that the center would help meet "the workforce needs of area businesses by increasing the pool of workers that are skilled in renewable energy systems and energy management, among other professions.”

The new facility will house laboratories and classrooms to teach installation, maintenance and repair of solar, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal and other green power technologies, according to Suffolk County Community College President Dr. Shaun L. McKay who said plans call for the building to be solar-powered with geothermal heating and would contain a prototype solar house on rails that could be used indoors or rolled outside to test various renewable energy materials.

Construction on the new building will commence when anticipated corrective state legislation is passed reinstating state funding that was inadvertently left out of the New York State budget. 

NWEEI assists in SEED Mentoring Program

AACC’s SEED Center Mentor Connect program pairs best-in-class green colleges with “mentee” colleges in an effort to build and expand programs that prepare students for careers in clean energy and sustainability-related fields. The benefits of peer mentoring are well-documented, but this project (documented in SEED's new report: Mentor Connect Project: Connecting Colleges for Sustainability Skill Building), marks the first time the concept has been applied on a national scale to green and sustainability programs at community colleges. With 470 community colleges pursuing sustainability in some form, and with many struggling to define the curricular opportunities, this kind of technical assistance can be an effective way to replicate the most innovative community college practices.

Lane Reference in SEED report below!

SEED_Lane_Mentorship.pdf02/27/2014

High Country News: Sustainability Studies Guide

HCN's Annual Issue on the Future

Sustainability Studies Guide | Special Pull-Out Section

By Emilene Ostlind
Originally Published on hnc.org : January 20, 2014

Selected hightlight from article.

At a time when human and natural systems are colliding with increasingly disastrous results, thousands of students, from Bellingham to Albuquerque, Los Angeles to Missoula, are turning to academic programs focused on building communities that protect — rather than degrade — the planet, while encouraging prosperity and social justice. They are cutting waste, producing healthy local food, designing energy-generating buildings and reducing consumption of fuels and other resources. Between study and class time, many also participate in clubs, organize educational and local events, and work to green their campuses. Here, we’ve collected some of the West’s most innovative programs. Our list is far from comprehensive, but it shows the range of opportunities for scholars hoping to reshape society for the sake of future generations.

OREGON

Sustainability is a core value of the strategic plan at Lane Community College (lanecc.edu/sustainability) in Eugene, Ore. The college’s Institute for Sustainable Practices administers two-year degrees in fields like energy management and water conservation technology. And the college has ambitious campus sustainability initiatives, including LEED gold or platinum certification for new buildings, low-water landscaping certified as wildlife hab- itat by the National Wildlife Federation, and a program that gives prizes to campus administrative and academic offices that meet waste-reduction and energy-saving goals. Lane Community College also has a student-run Learning Garden that supplies produce for the campus and hosts an annual apple cider-pressing party.

Entire article: highcountrynews_ClipJan2014v46no1.pdf01/28/2014
Original article Link: http://www.hcn.org/issues/46.1