The Education Center is the first building on a UNC campus, the first state-owned building in North Carolina and the state’s first public museum and outreach center to earn LEED platinum status.
Chris Martin, Jr., right, director of the UNC Energy Management reacts to the announcement that Morrison Residence Hall won the first-ever EPA National Building Competition. At left is Maura Beard, EPA spokesperson.
Alexander Julian is all smiles as his vision of Carolina's Commencement gown is modeled by, from left, his son Will and senior class leaders Justin Tyler and Chelsea Phillips.
Claire Lorch, left, and volunteer Diane Webster prepare for the distribution of harvest from the Carolina Campus Community Garden.
The Old Well and its lush surroundings are tended year round by the grounds crew.

UNC celebrates Earth Day year round

To celebrate Earth Day, we’re recycling some of UNC’s most important sustainability stories over the past year. If you missed them the first time around, check out the ways the Carolina community is dedicated to a greener future.

Students, staff celebrate Morrison’s win in National Building Competition

In an event playing off the TV show “The Biggest Loser,” Morrison Residence Hall was named the winner of the first-ever National Building Competition. The contest, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program, challenged teams from 14 buildings across the country to measure their energy use and “work off the waste.”

Botanical Garden’s Education Center is N.C.’s first state-owned platinum building

The North Carolina Botanical Garden’s Education Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has earned the highest level awarded for green buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program recently awarded the building platinum certification. LEED is the nationally accepted certification program for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

UNC-Chapel Hill to end coal use by May 2020

With the national director of the Sierra Club’s coal campaign on hand to endorse the decision, Chancellor Holden Thorp announced May 4, 2010, that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will end its use of coal in the next decade.

Inspiration, green go together at UNC

*Kirk Pelland retired from grounds services at the end of 2010, after publication of this story.

“We are trying to build and maintain a campus landscape that inspires the kids who are out there in the middle of it creating their futures,” says Kirk Pelland, director of grounds services. He smiles with the pride a farmer has for his fruitful crop, a homeowner for his prize lawn. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

UNC, Orange County launch joint landfill methane gas project

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Orange County will start the first phase of their joint project to convert methane gas from the county landfill into electricity. “The landfill gas project is a very important part of UNC’s near-term strategies for carbon reduction,” Chancellor Holden Thorp said. “In collaboration with Orange County, this project will enable UNC to use a locally available fuel which would otherwise be wasted.”

New True Blue Gowns are also truly green

Award-winning colorist and fashion designer Alexander Julian – Chapel Hill native and UNC alumnus – was determined that his son, Will, was not going to graduate in May 2011 wearing an aqua gown.

Growing goodwill

A longing for the simpler times of her childhood is part of the reason Diane Webster, a social research specialist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, has regularly volunteered during the spring and summer in the Carolina Campus Community Garden.