GREEN GRANTS
The University of Delaware’s Office of Sustainability is accepting application for the 2024 Green Grants program to support student sustainability projects. The Green Grants program was created in 2010 to support student initiatives and partnerships to advance the University’s goals to become a sustainable institution. The University of Delaware’s Green Grants program facilitates an increased level of student, staff, and faculty engagement to advance UD’s strategic plan to practice and enhance the principles of sustainability across operations, academics, student life, research and community engagement. Since the program’s launch, Green Grants has funded 24 sustainability projects on campus totaling more that $75,000. Previous successful projects include the planting of a native plant meadow on North Campus, the creation of a Green Roof on Colburn Hall, the development of recycled cement pavers, and bird deterrent window decals on Lewes Campus.
Graduate students and supervised undergraduate students are encouraged to apply. Projects should not exceed $5,000 but the Office is willing to consider projects that request more if they are exceptionally creative or innovative. The Green Grant application can be downloaded at https://sites.udel.edu/sustainability/greengrants/
DOWNLOAD APPLICATION FORM HERE and resubmit to the Office of Sustainability Green-Grants-Application-Form
Green Grants Spotlight: 2023 Award
In the United States alone, hundreds of millions of birds die every year from inadvertently flying into windows. At the University of Delaware’s Cannon Laboratory, located on the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes, students are familiar with these unfortunate window strikes, as birds will oftentimes find themselves accidentally flying into the building’s floor-to-ceiling reflective windows. Graduate students, Hayden Boettcher and Justin Guider, were awarded a $5,000 Green Grant from the Office of Sustainability, as well as funds from the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment to purchase window fritting circular-shaped decals which will help reduce the reflective properties of the windows and reduce the likelihood of a bird collisions.
Green Grants Spotlight: 2022 Award
Undergraduate researcher K.J. Olsen and Dr. Monique Head from the Department of Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering were awarded 2022 Green Grant funds for their project “Net-zero concrete using recycled materials.” Their project aimed to address the sustainability of non-structural concrete used as pavers in a sidewalk or walkway construction project on campus. Through the Green Grants funding, the Office of Sustainability helped purchase equipment that could mix the sustainable concrete from fully recycled materials, including recycled concrete, ground recycled plastic, and recycled steel slag as coarse aggregate material. This unique concrete mix design is a potential way to collect and dispose of the waste in a useful and sustainable way. The broader impact of this project will reduce the carbon footprint that concrete creates and recycle waste plastic. The finished pavers will be installed in front of DuPont Hall to showcase our shared commitment to a sustainable UD!
