Sustaining Success
The University of Delaware's newest bus, a 22-foot, 22-seat vehicle that runs on hydrogen, tooled around downtown Wilmington on Monday, Nov. 16, carrying some very important riders. U.S. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), U.S. Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.) and Wilmington Mayor James Baker sat inside chatting about various options for transport in the region.
"Does it smell like French fries?" Colin Sweeney is used to hearing that question when he tells people about his 1986 Mercedes SDL, which he has converted to run on cooking oil. His answer? "No, it actually smells kind of sweet."
Suggestions
Procurement
The University of Delaware has a history of purchasing energy efficient products and services; identifying innovative ways to minimize waste in contracts, and contributing to the development of environmentally-friendly products through research.
The University has purchased energy-efficient washing machines and partnered with Office Max to reduce the amount of packaging produced for deliveries to the campus. These efforts and others like them have reduced waste and cut costs while meeting performance expectations.
The University's Campaign for Responsible Purchasing seeks to increase the number of environmentally-preferable purchases by educating the University community on environmentally-friendly purchasing, expanding access to environmental products through the web-base buying tool, GREEN UDMART , and engaging major university vendors on the importance of environmentally-friendly products and services. The University's Green Purchasing Guidelines provide guidance on how to incorporate environmental considerations into purchasing decisions for faculty, staff and students. You can review the University's Green Purchasing Guidelines, or review Six Steps to Green Purchasing
Learn more about environmentally-friendly purchasing at: http://www.epa.gov/epp/
The University of Delaware has joined other colleges and universities in supporting these two sustainabiity initiatives:
Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future/Talloires Declaration: View a .pdf (20kb)
American University and Presidents Climate Commitment:
Visit the web site