Note that some posts may be missing images because of changes to The Chronicle's Web site. Our apologies — Lawrence Biemiller and Scott Carlson

Peter W. Bardaglio (September 2008)

Pond Scum and Other Miracles of Science

Code Green for Higher Education?

Spending Endowment Money to Benefit All

Niles Barnes (November 2008)

Are American Colleges Living Labs for Renewable-Energy Use?

An Organic...

Chilis (Alix Ingber photos)

July is payoff time at the Sweet Briar Community Garden. The tomatoes and peppers that we have been patiently tending are beginning to ripen, cucumbers and green beans abound, and all sorts of goodies signal the transition from spring greens to full summer delights. Squash bugs demolished my beautiful zucchini, but we do a lot of sharing at the garden, so I'm not feeling deprived. One gardener has been leaving piles of beautiful cucumbers in the pavilion for others to enjoy.

Those who planted their okra early are beginning to harvest them, and the edamame are also starting to...

Rachel Ray, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and the Food Channel have had their effect on the eating habits of college students, helping inspire a push for local and organic food at colleges across the country. An article from the Associated Press notes that trend—and adds that more students are interested in cooking for themselves.

Student tastes have become more diverse, more sophisticated, and more international, the article says, if Sodexo's list of top campus foods for 2009 is any indication: It includes Vietnamese pho, mini-samosas, goat-cheese salad, and chicken mole. (A potential downside, from the local-food perspective: The more diverse the food options a college offers, the tougher it is to get a large proportion of the ingredients locally.)

Beyond the dining-hall doors, more...

Students at three Florida colleges are helping to collect 40,000 bottles, 40,000 cans, and 1,700 tires for a couple who are building an off-the-grid house out of recycled materials, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

The $300,000, 3,000-square-foot house will rely on solar panels for its electricity and will use methane from its sewage system to power kitchen appliances. Cisterns will collect rainwater, which will be used several ways—including to irrigate an indoor vegetable garden. The owners, Michael and...

U. of Rochester students take advantage of a study area they helped design. (U. of Rochester photos)

One of the most popular articles The Chronicle has run in recent years was "An Anthropologist in the Library," which focused on the University of Rochester's renovation of a library's student area. Students helped design the space under the guidance of an anthropologist.

On a recent trip to Rochester, I stopped by the university to see Susan Gibbons, the dean of the library who oversaw the renovation, which was finished last fall. It's a...

The Sidney J. Watson Arena uses 17 percent less power than a conventional ice arena would. (Bowdoin College photos)

Despite all the refrigeration equipment needed to cover its floor with a 90-by-200-foot sheet of ice, Bowdoin College's new Sidney J. Watson Arena has earned LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, becoming the first LEED-certified new ice arena in the U.S.

The $20-million, 70,520-square-foot facility takes advantage of energy-saving technology that uses 17 percent less energy than would a conventional ice arena,

In my first post, I discussed why facilities professionals at colleges and universities need to be front and center in the sustainability process. Since approximately 80 percent of a college’s emissions are the result of physical-plant activities, the facilities manager’s role is crucial as a resource and expert on campus utilities, planning, and project management.

So how can facilities managers best serve the sustainability process? Facilities managers have what sustainability professionals need -- an organized and segmented list of campus projects with cost estimates. Not only do facilities managers have the list, but they also have knowledge and experience with project execution and sequencing that others do not. Assembling a project list is both an art and a science. Most assessments contain...

A rocker designed by two Louisiana State U. students tied for second place in this year's Chair Affair. (Chronicle photographs by Lawrence Biemiller)

Washington — Maybe you never thought about buying cardboard furniture for your living room, not even after Frank Gehry came out with a line of it (his corrugated Wiggle Chair retails for $985, by the way, while his cardboard dinner table goes for — are you sitting? — $2,730). But...

Because of changes to The Chronicle's Web site, Buildings & Grounds has a new location, as well as a new look. But we will continue to provide the same daily coverage of campus architecture, facilities, and sustainability news.

Buildings & Grounds is now a feature of a new Facilities page within the site's Administration section. To make finding us easy, you might want to bookmark either the Buildings & Grounds page itself (http://chronicle.com/blog/Buildings-Grounds/4/) or the Facilities page (http://chronicle.com/topic/Facilities/117/).

Note that, for now, our database of new buildings and renovation projects is missing. It is among several features of The Chronicle's Web site that are due to be restored once other changes to the...

Students at Santa Clara University who are hard at work building a solar house have issued a David Letterman-style video invitation to California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to pay the house a visit. Their Refract House — one of 20 solar houses entered in this October's Solar Decathlon on the Mall in Washington — is a joint effort by Santa Clara students and students at the California College of the Arts.

The decathlon, held every two years, is sponsored by the U.S....