Final Project

What size will your campus be (population);
The campus dorms can house up to 5000 students, however local students are encouraged to live at home. The campus is small with generally under 7000 students attending. The housing capabilities are kept small both for sustainibility purposes and also to ensure that dorms are being used and no energy used for heating/electricity goes to waste.


How will your staff and students get to and from campus (transportation and energy);
Where and how is their energy produced (energy resources);

The location of my campus is the most important to its ability to be sustainable. With half of its energy coming from renewable sources, Portland is a city leading the pack on energy. Most of the renewable energy comes from hydroelectric power, which is the main source of energy for our sustainable campus. We also have a solar powered sliding roof across the top of our dome that produces up to

Where will the food come from (food resources);
Much of the food is grown on rooftop gardens and over half of our menu is vegetarian/vegan friendly. In addition to this, students can choose to eat entirely Green Meals, (consisting of locally or campus grown produce, vegetarian and vegan options, and choosing to drink water). By doing this, there is an incentive to eat healthily and sustainably, and reducing the impact of our campuses food supply by supporting local farms and boycotting the meat industry. This in turn saves valuable water and reduces the reliance on an industry responsible for many emissions and water usage.
UGU partners with the local farm Meadow Acres which provides the campus with over 70 percent of the produce not grown on campus.
We do not serve beef on campus at all, and eggs and most of our chicken served in the dining hall are sourced from this farm. Our fish is sourced Oregon's mild climate means our rooftop gardens produce food the entire summer and the fall semester has ample opportunities to eat sustainably and earn Green Credits.


What is the source of water and how will you manage stormwater (water resources);
The hillside portion of the campus (classrooms and larger areas) provides a natural slope for water runoff to be collected. Additionally, many of the rooftops that do not have solar panels or glass ceilings have gardens and green rooftops. The sidewalks, bike paths, and roads that lead into the campus are made to absorb water into the ground below.

The aboveground dining hall and library roofs are set at a tilt for water to easily collect and run off the roof into cisterns.
Additionally our

How is waste dealt with (waste and recycling)?
Students are encouraged to participate in the "Green Credit" program that can get discounts on anything from use of the rentable electric bicycles to tuition. By bringing compost in a separated bin at the end of the week to the sustainability station, students can ensure their waste gets re used to grow vegetables and other crops in our gardens. Recyclables can also be brought in for credit. Students are encouraged to keep their trash under 100 lbs per month using the incentive program. We also have donation bins at the sustainibility station for any items that can still be used like clothing or old electronics, that will be circulated to local thrift stores.
Overall waste is reduced by our complete elimination of paper in 2019. Included in tuition costs is the school tablet which can be used from anything from note taking to emails, planning, and completing assignments. Paperless poster displays were installed on the walls and students can now create slideshows about their clubs and organizations and have them displayed electronically.



Is there any interesting architecture or community planning that would make you campus more sustainable (sustainable communities)?

The campus of Underground University is set up in such a way that the dorm are underground in a circular pattern. The middle of the open column is an entire ecosystem with wandering paths under trees and nice areas for studying. The roof of the middle dome can be opened and closed with a massive solar panel installed on the roof to help power the dorms below. The campus is advertised in a way that makes living underground enjoyable, and aims for its underground dorms to be a main attraction for attending this school. The main building sits at the top of a hill with much of the buildings being in the ground or inside of the hillside. This makes them not only easier to heat and power, but less power is used because the earth is natural insulation.

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/how-much-garbage-does-average-person-produce
https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=OR oregon energy