Case Western Reserve University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Through CWRU's Great Lakes Energy Institute, Faculty & Students have developed a microgrid on South Campus campus to research the most effective ways to create resilient infrastructure while reducing dependence and strain on the electric grid. This work goes hand in hand with the research in distributed energy resources and battery storage. Research also includes forecasting and modeling energy markets and demand response/load management.

Public engagement opportunities are provided to students who are interested or concerned about climate change.
For example, the CWRU Culture Change for Climate Change (CC4CC) Group hosted a focus group in June 2023, during which students/participants were asked a range of questions such as, "how has global warming affected your community?". Student's perspectives and opinions on the influence of climate change on local community contributed to CWRU research project.
See https://community.case.edu/cwrucan/home/ for more details.
See https://thedaily.case.edu/seeking-climate-change-focus-group-participants/ for more details.

"Culture Change for Climate Change" (CC4CC) was funded through a strategic investment by the University's Office of the Provost in 2020. One of eight campus-based "Seed" ideas, the primary goal of CC4CC was to harmonize and scale climate action at and by CWRU.
The CC4CC strives to build connections and collaborations across campus and with our neighboring communities.
This collaborative project Supports capacity building for student group collaboration on and off campus around climate topics.

See https://case.edu/sustainability/campus/climate-action-plan for more details.
See https://case.edu/sustainability/climate-action-network for more details.

Students in Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CWRU are encouraged to become LEED Green Associate by attending the training webinar instructed by USGBC Faculty member. The Department will pay for training to support student's professional development.
https://case.edu/sustainability/campus/green-building

Through CWRU's Great Lakes Energy Institute, Faculty & Students are performing research on battery storage, energy modeling, and building energy management. More specifically, the research explores how buildings on South Campus with decentralized batteries & renewable energy sources can power themselves and other buildings more effectively. The electrical and chemical engineering departments are primarily involved in these efforts.

Students can explore CWRU's Energy/Utility data on Energy Cap, a utility consumption information platform offered by CWRU.

The Office of Energy & Sustainability is working to create a culture of energy conservation on campus. Students are actively engaged in sustainaility initiatives like the annual residence hall energy contest, Climate Action Week, the CWRU Climate Action Network, the sustainability ambassador program, Lab Freezer Challenge, etc.
https://case.edu/sustainability/campus/energy

Students participate in research conducted by The Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension (SDLE) Research Center in CWRU's School of Engineering. The SDLE recently received grant money and is conducting research on the degradation of solar energy devices and materials. Furthermore, the SDLE researchers & students analyze data from 130 on-campus fixed-panel solar modules to improve the ability to predict the effect of weather on solar technology.

CWRU has a Farm Food Program that utilizes the on-campus greenhouse. University Farm administration, dining vendor Bon Appetit, and University faculty developed a program that allows students to study local food production on campus. Through this Program, students and faculty have incorporated sustainable food production into degree program curricula and capstone projects. (https://case.edu/farm/farm-food-program)

Undergraduate students participated in a project to catalog tree species found on campus. The results were used to inform the university’s integrated tree management program.

The university’s Office of Procurement and Distribution uses sustainable operating practices as well as encourages the selection of environmentally friendly vendors and suppliers.
The office also support sustainability of local community development. See https://thedaily.case.edu/cwrus-second-annual-black-business-expo-to-be-held-today-in-tinkham-veale-university-ballroom/?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thedaily_universitynews for more details.

Sustainability Ambassadors are the Office of Energy & Sustainability's student outreach arm. Students work on teams assigned to different sustainability-related topic areas.
Ambassadors lead transportation surveys and extensive commuting survey for CWRU campus, organize our annual energy contest, hold Annual Arbor Day events and complete the annual application to be a Tree Campus USA school, help organize our Sustainability Office events like the Green Bag Lunch series, help green Greek life and many additional initiatives and projects.

https://case.edu/sustainability/campus/sustainability-ambassadors
https://case.edu/sustainability/campus/transportation

A compost program was developed in 2011 at the University Farm. Quality soil is generated by taking grass clippings, food waste, leaves, and other materials from across campus in 96 gallon bins and brought to the farm. The process is incorporated into a curriculum where students learn proper composting and applications of compost. One application is to use the compost as a soil amendment in campus gardens & plantings. (https://case.edu/farm/farm-food-program)
CWRU's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers courses for students to understand sustainability in relation to waste. For example, ECIV 362. Solid and Hazardous Waste Management. 3 Units. Origin and characterization of solid and hazardous waste. Solid and hazardous waste regulations. Methods of solid and hazardous waste disposal. Waste management planning. Landfill siting and design considerations. Site Conceptual Models for remediation of contaminated sites. Technologies used for soil and groundwater remediation at solid and hazardous waste sites. (https://bulletin.case.edu/course-descriptions/eciv/)

CWRU's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers courses including lectures and lab sessions for students to understand sustainability in relation to water. A few representative courses are listed below. 1) ECIV 361. Water Resources Engineering. 3 Units. Water doctrine, probabilistic analysis of hydrologic data, common and rare event analysis, flood forecasting and control, reservoir design, hydrologic routing, synthetic streamflow generation, hydroelectric power, water resource quality, water resources planning. 2) ECIV 363. Environmental Engineering Green Stormwater Infrastructure. 3 Units. This course will introduce students to the concepts of green infrastructure planning and design, impacts on the water cycle, water treatment mechanisms occurring within green infrastructure practices, regulatory drivers, and co-benefits and potential negative impacts on society or the environment. Students will examine case studies and develop concept plans for green infrastructure. 3) ECIV 368. Environmental Engineering. 3 Units. Principle and practice of environmental engineering. Water and waste water engineering unit operations and processes including related topics from industrial waste disposal, air pollution and environmental health. This course satisfies the GER Disciplinary Communication requirement only in combination with ECIV 260. Counts as a Disciplinary Communication course. (https://bulletin.case.edu/course-descriptions/eciv/)
A water conservation program was developed by the University Farm. For the indoor growing areas, we are constantly making improvements to our irrigation systems. Our growing tables are currently being outfitted with a variety of water-delivery systems that operate on timers. These help control and limit the waste associated with overhead hand-watering. We have also expanded the use of our existing rainwater-harvesting system with the goal of collecting and using all of the rainwater from our greenhouse gutter system. (https://case.edu/farm/farm-food-program)