“To instill the spirit of conservation”: A decade with the Office of Sustainability

On the Office of Sustainability’s 11th birthday, looking back to the first decade—and forward to the next. By Marek Makowski Fifteen years ago, the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus was covered in statistics about recycled tons …

UW–Madison rolls out electric-powered mowers

In 2020, the UW–Madison Physical Plant allocated $3.2 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to be spent in fiscal year 2021. Ellen Agnew, the Building & Grounds Superintendent, had recently purchased battery-powered hedgers …

New UW–Madison campus sustainability map goes live

The new UW–Madison campus sustainability map enables viewers to explore sustainability initiatives from the comfort of their computer. The map, which was built using Google Maps, includes over 300 features organized across ten layers. The …

Thinking Outside the Box: UW-Madison Green Fund Supports Improved Cardboard Recycling System for University Housing Buildings

If you had to guess the consumer material that causes the biggest sustainability headaches, what would you pick? For most, the answer would probably be plastic, and for good reason.  Plastic is literally everywhere: on …

The Royal Flush: Sending less water and money down the drain

In 2017, University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student Johnny Uelmen applied for the Green Fund—a program of the Office of Sustainability that awards money to student-developed projects that reduce the environmental impact and operating costs of …