MSOE is committed to building a sustainable future and creating awareness on a local, national and global level. From the green projects on campus to the curriculum in the classrooms, MSOE seeks to reduce its carbon footprint and increase environmental awareness.
Students graduate with the knowledge and ability to engineer a brighter future — to design eco-friendly buildings, build more efficient engines, and harness the power of solar energy and other renewable fuel sources. This page serves to highlight those efforts, and will be continually updated with new and improved projects.
- In 2010, MSOE was named one of the country's most environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review. The education services company selected MSOE for inclusion in "The Princeton Review's Guide to 286 Green Colleges." The guide is based on a survey of hundreds of colleges nationwide and profiles the nation's most eco-friendly campuses. Read more...
- The solar panels on the roof of the Campus Center building generate renewable energy that is sold to WE Energies. These green power partnerships help reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide.
- The sculpture garden atop the Grohmann Museum is more than an extension of the Man at Work art collection. The roof is a Green Roof — an energy-saving and environmentally friendly alternative to a conventional rooftop. The plant and grass-covered roof keeps the building cooler in the summer, saves energy and extends the useful life of the roof. Rainwater is also trapped in the plantings, reducing the amount of storm water runoff that enters the city's sewer system.
- The Center for Sustainability was established in March 2009 and works to sustain, improve and promote renewable energy projects on campus and throughout Milwaukee and Wisconsin. The Center for Sustainability is part of the Applied Technology Center. The Center collaborates with other universities and industry leaders on green building studies and environmental projects such as minimizing waste and improving energy efficiency, among others.
- MSOE has joined the EPA and other top universities in the Green Power partnership, which highlights the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors.
- MSOE has implemented single-stream recycling on campus, which allows us to collect all plastic, glass, aluminum, clean cardboard and newsprint in one bin for recycling. This mixed product is then taken to a central plant where it is sorted and recycled. The convenience of single-stream
greatly increases participation and recovery, and also allows for
efficient fleet utilization and route optimization. We have also established a dedicated paper recycling and shredding stream to help protect MSOE students and employees and to comply with all state and federal privacy laws.
Students, faculty and staff can find out more about recycleable materials, recycling locations on campus, pick up schedules and more on the Campus Intranet
(login may be required).
- MSOE has partnered with Growing Power for composting our biodegradable dining products used by Food Service Inc. on campus. We have established a dedicated compostable stream for the collection of biodegradable plates, cups and soup bowls used in Skylight Cafe.
- The MSOE Pervious Parking Lot (located on North Broadway, next to the APC Building) slows and removes pollutants in overland runoff from a large parking lot. A pervious, or porous, parking lot allows water to flow through it into the ground below. Before the project was constructed, the runoff flowed directly into a combined sewer. By holding back runoff, MSOE is helping to reduce the amount and frequency of sewer overflows.
- Several student organizations on campus focus their activities on helping the environment, including the Ecology Club, Emerging Green Builders, Ducks Unlimited, Engineers Without Borders and more.
