Purpose: This study aims to provide an example of how higher education institutions (HEIs) can use a successful campus infrastructure project to fund a student- and faculty-led, community-success platform that advances the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach: The authors applied conceptual models for systems thinking…

Purpose: Energy consumption and renewable energy sources are included in the goals for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) agenda, and target buildings are the biggest electricity consumers. In turn, Netzero energy buildings (NZEB) contribute to achieve SDG7 goals. This paper aims to identify which Brazilian higher education…

Background: Despite the increasing square footage of green buildings worldwide, green building expertise remains largely in the domain of building industry professionals. However, the performance of and advocacy for green buildings would benefit from a green building literate general public. Green building education is an expanding frontier for…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relevance and use of the concept "reverse salient" in ambitious infrastructural change. Thomas Hughes, in his seminal study of socio-technical system building, observed that the elimination of "reverse salients", i.e. subsystems that because of their limited performance…

The buildings in which we teach management and decision analysis are ideal labs for advancing sustainability in management education, experiential learning, and integrated performance measurement. Utilizing building-based learning and design competition, student teams can learn about aspects of sustainability while proposing investments into the…

The present paper deals with a wide range of issues related to the environmental quality in learning spaces, such as thermal and visual comfort, as well as energy efficiency. All of these issues fall under the umbrella of the UN Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Upon reviewing publications of past studies, interviews were…

School buildings across America are crumbling. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), 54 percent of U.S. school districts need to update or completely replace multiple building systems in their schools. As a result of decades of underfunding school infrastructure, national spending for K-12 school buildings…

Award-winning Green Preschools in Bali, Berkeley and Hong Kong were selected to explore the characteristics of Green Schools using measures developed by educators (Environmental Rating Scale for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood (ERS-SDEC)) and architects (simplified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) development).…

Purpose: Approximately 700 colleges and universities have committed to climate neutrality, which will require significant reductions in energy consumption. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of an Annual Energy Challenge in curtailing electricity use by changing consumption behaviors at one liberal arts college.…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to design a renovation plan for a university campus building (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) with the aim to achieve nearly zero energy performance, ensuring a low specific demand (lower than 44 kWh/m[superscript 2]) and a high level of on-site renewable generation (equivalent to more than…

This study examined building occupants' responses associated with an occupant-based energy-efficiency pilot in a university building. The influence of occupants' values and norms as well as effects of two educational message frames (descriptive vs. moral norms cues) on program support were tested. Occupants' personal moral norm to conserve energy…

Purpose: This paper aims to propose an energy efficiency plan (with technical and behavioural improvement measures) for a Portuguese higher education building--the Teaching Building of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC). Design/methodology/approach: The study was developed in the context of both the "Green…

Purpose: The paper aims to deliver a general review of the methods used to pursue the concept of a "sustainable university". Design/methodology/approach: The research was Internet based, and it included research papers, books, conference proceedings, technical reports and Internet Web sites. The review was divided in two main parts:…

Purpose: Universidad San Francisco de Quito, USFQ, completed an assessment study to understand its performance in sustainability in 2012. This study aims to recognize the limitations of applying a North American rating system considering relevant criteria to a South American university and to emphasize the importance and lack of benchmarks…

A Green school is energy efficient, higher performing school that can be environmentally beneficial. Importance of Green school lies in the environmental friendliness value it upholds. Service learning has emanated out of philosophies of progressiveness and pragmatism. Service learning enables students to grow and learn through active…