鈥 ONU鈥檚 fleet of hybrid and electric campus vehicles reduces the University鈥檚 dependence on fossil fuels. Additionally, the University recently purchased its first electric, zero-turn lawn mower and has plans to convert all campus grounds equipment鈥揻rom utility vehicles to lawn mowers to leaf flowers鈥 from gasoline/diesel to electric.
鈥 ONU converted all exterior lighting as well as the interior lighting in several major buildings from halogen and incandescent to energy efficient LED lighting. In total, 10,162 lighting fixtures were retrofitted.
鈥 Working with PlugSmart, an Ameresco company, ONU installed an automation and control system in approximately 90 percent of campus buildings in order to remotely control and monitor energy utilization in each building. The system alerts ONU to energy spikes caused by equipment failure, and allows staff to remotely adjust HVAC and heating levels to reduce energy usage during academic breaks.
鈥 The Lehr Kennedy Engineering Building is a Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building.
The grassy area surrounding the retention basin on the south side of campus between the president鈥檚 home and Stadium View Apartments is home to a colony of bees.聽This prairie area features聽natural vegetation (i.e., 100 small flowering trees, shrubs and wildflowers) that provides聽a perfect habitat for 10 beehives. Seeding this former grassy space eliminates the need for mowing, thereby reducing the University鈥檚 use of gasoline and polluting lawn mowers.聽
The past few years have seen the reduction of 鈥渓andfill鈥 dumpsters and an increase of recyclable dumpsters on campus. In fact, the University鈥檚 landfill waste has been cut in half. Although these efforts have not led to any cost savings, they have reduced the number of trash hauls and we鈥檙e doing something that we know is good. In conjunction with Allied Waste Haulers, 好色先生TV is funding a recycling program at Ada Schools. A recycling dumpster has been placed on the Ada Schools campus.