Utilizing knowledge they gained through a sustainability education program presented by Pitt's Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, students at Pittsburgh's Manchester Academic Charter School won an award in the 2012 National Engineers Week Future City competition.
The Pittsburgh campus recycled more than 1 million pounds of materials during the 2015 RecycleMania challenge, good for 11th place overall in the annual collegiate recycling and waste-reduction competition. More>
In 2015, the University of Pittsburgh is listed for the fourth consecutive year in The Princeton Review's Guide to Green Colleges as one of the most environmentally responsible higher-education institutions in the United States and Canada. More>
Pitt placed first in Sustainable Pittsburgh's 2013-14 Green Workplace Challenge in the university category. The challenge was a yearlong competition among businesses, nonprofits, municipalities, and universities to track and measure improvements in managing resources involving energy, water, waste, and transportation. More>
Pitt's Blue, Gold & Green initiative applauds the thoughtful and meaningful contributions of donors who choose to invest in both education and the environment. More>
Five Pitt construction projects have received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council: the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, the Swanson School of Engineering Benedum Hall renovations, the Chevron Science Center addition, and the Thomas E. Starzl Biomedical Science Tower 12th-floor renovation.
Pitt is pursuing LEED certification for an additional nine current projects: Mark A. Nordenberg Hall, a freshman residence that opened in fall 2013; a Salk Hall addition; renovations to labs, classrooms, and offices in Benedum Hall; a Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) addition; GSPH renovations; a Clapp Hall renovation; a nuclear physics renovation in the Mid-Campus Complex; a new Sustainable Office/Classroom Building at Pitt's Greensburg campus; and a new Johnstown campus School of Nursing building.
LEED certification is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings.
In 2015, Sierra magazine again named Pitt as one of "America's Cool Schools' for its commitment to environmentalism. Pitt ranks 77th out of 153 participating schools, up from 97th in 2014. More>
As one of the biggest steps Pitt has made toward reducing its carbon footprint, the Carrillo Street Steam Plant seems deceptively subtle. The low-slung building behind Trees Hall on the University's Upper Campus houses six towering, high-efficiency boilders, connected to most of Pitt's and UPMC's buildings in Oakland via a tangle of pipes, tubes, and mammoth water purifiers—a roughly $33 million system that stands as one of the cleanest university heating plants in the United States. More>
Motivated by the economic plight of women in her native Kenya and by the deforestation of her once-lush homeland as a result of timber raiders and poor crop management, Pitt alumnus Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011) launched the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization that spread across Africa, helping to reinvigorate forests and empower women by paying them to plant trees. Maathai was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.
The transformation of Oakland's Schenley Plaza from a parking lot into a vibrant, green public space won the Silver Award in the Environmentally Sustainable Project Category during the 2009 International Awards for Liveable Communities held in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Pitt's Office of Facilities Management contributed to the plaza's conceptual design and managed the construction process. More>
The Allegheny County Health Department has twice named Pitt as an Enviro-Star Award Recipient. The award recognizes the University's efforts in emissions reduction, energy conservation, recyling, and greening of the campus.
From the Pitt print shop's location in the caverns of the Cathedral of Learning basement, its connection to an idyllic forest is unapparent. But the University's in-house producer of magazines, conference programs, brochures, business cards, and a range of other goods recently committed to help protect those unseen arboreal expanses by officially joining a supply chain that starts with sustainable forestry.
A five-year certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) means that much of the University Marketing Communications (UMC)-run print shop's paper supply and final products fall under the global nonprofit's exhaustive monitoring of certified tree-dependent industries, from the logging site to the final product, in an effort to safeguard forests. More>