Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss an innovative course offered as a partnership between the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) (Canada), the Prince George Chamber of Commerce (Canada) and local businesses: UNBC's third-year undergraduate/graduate course, carbon and energy management. Design/methodology/approach: The…

This article addresses the need to integrate experiential learning into environmental and sustainability curriculum and considers the challenges faced by academic institutions in providing relevant experiential learning opportunities at an appropriate scale. Through an experiential case study, this article illustrates how adopting a "hybrid…

Harnessing energy from the tides is a much-promoted but rarely realised way of generating electricity. This article examines some of the systems that are currently in use or under development, and outlines their economic, environmental and technical implications.

School districts in Canada are part of a growing international movement that puts strong emphasis on school design to serve the diverse needs and learning styles of students for the 21st century economy. Diverse, purposeful spaces for individual and group activities, "schools within schools," support for cross-disciplinary collaboration…

Although sustainability best practices for buildings are generally well understood, campuses face unique challenges because they are developed to support a diverse community with a variety of facilities. From academic facilities and labs to residences and sports facilities, all operate under one organizational umbrella. This can make it difficult…

Facing steep budget cuts and rising energy costs, many colleges are grappling with how to finance urgently needed, but capital intensive, energy efficiency upgrades on campus. One innovative approach, using return-oriented green revolving funds (GRFs), is a rapidly growing trend at colleges and universities. GRFs can invest in a variety of…

The Spring 2012 SQR: "Framing Campus Sustainability," features stories that frame the evolving concept of sustainability in higher education. Included in this issue are a snapshot of ratings-to-date, a focus on credits within the Operations (OP) category, and insights into how institutions are defining and interpreting the evolving…

Energy poverty is a key detriment to labor productivity, economic growth, and social well-being. This article presents a qualitative review of literature on the potential role of intelligent communication technology, web-based standards, and smart grid technology to alleviate energy costs and improve access to clean distributed energy in developed…

In 2008, APPA forwarded a Web-based survey on the author's behalf to all designated representatives of APPA member institutions. The purpose of the survey was to determine if institutional policies are an important criterion for an institution's sustainable building practices and the use of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED[R]).…

The article investigates the feasibility of district heating in a small town adjacent to a Kraft pulp mill in eastern Canada. A detailed heat demand analysis is performed for all buildings using a geographical information system and archived data provided by the municipality. The study shows that the entire space heating requirement of the town…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the preparation of a sustainability report and a large-scale energy-saving campaign with regards to their role for organizational learning (OL). Similar processes indicating OL were observed during the implementation of both projects. Along the lines of a theoretical framework of OL these processes…

Purpose: To explore the barriers and motivations to the construction of green buildings at the University of Waterloo (UW) by documenting and analysing the UW building process. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted 13 semi-structured in-depth interviews with key UW individuals as well as analyzing numerous internal reports in order to…

Michel Foucault's concept of power/knowledge is applied to an exploration of how managerial discourse affects the practice of public environmental education at a publicly owned electric utility. Emerging from interviews with people at SaskPower is a managerial discourse with a particularly instrumental approach to environmental education. The aim…

The city of Kitchener, Ontario, has installed a heat recovery loop in one indoor pool, all indoor swimming pools use pool covers, and two have solar heating. Energy is saved in two ice arenas by low-emissivity ceilings, and in the largest arena by a heat recovery system. (MLF)

An Ontario school board found the factors necessary for the establishment of an effective decentralized energy management program to be training, a program of reinforcement, and the development of an overall attitude that encourages involvement. (MLF)