Green Machines
University of Miami employees and students who drive hybrid vehicles are not only getting a break at the pump but also in the parking lot.
In a small “green” gesture that rewards the environmentally conscious and proves just how serious the University is about conservation, Parking and Transportation Services offers a 50 percent discount on parking permits for faculty, staff, and students who drive a hybrid vehicle. The discount applies to hybrids with federal mileage ratings of at least 29 miles per gallon.

Hybrid vehicles, also called hybrid-electric vehicles, work by integrating a gasoline engine, electric motor, and high-powered battery. The electric motor either drives the car under easy conditions or aids the gasoline engine under heavy demand. The battery provides power for the electric motor and, using a concept called regenerative braking, is recharged by harvesting energy that is usually wasted during braking or coasting.

 

Getting around in an electric cart. Read more here.

Greening Up
In other modes of transportation, UM is ‘greening’ up instead of gassing up. The University’s new Global Electric Motorcar (GEM) from DaimlerChrysler can reach a top speed of 25 miles per hour and can be driven on roadways with posted speed limits of up to 35 miles per hour.
GEMs provide clean, quiet, and low-cost transportation in locations such as planned communities and college and university campuses. If the testing of the vehicle proves successful, Parking and Transportation Services might acquire more of the cars to replace its current fleet of gas-operated golf carts.

 

Driving Green
Meanwhile, the automobile has become an obsolete method altogether for some UM employees. Information Technology’s Department of Telecommunications uses two Segway electric scooters to travel around the Coral Gables campus for project-related duties. “It’s more efficient than purchasing more vehicles, and we’re looking to get more,” says Stewart Seruya, assistant vice president of Telecommunications.

 

The Boys in Green
UM’s boys in blue have gone green. Five Segway scooters at the University of Miami Police Department allow officers to travel to places on campus that are inaccessible for police cruisers. The five Segways, outfitted with red and blue flashing lights and sirens, will augment the department’s bike patrols and will put officers into closer contact with the community they serve.

“When officers are riding around in their police cruisers, it’s a lot harder to interact with people,” says David A. Rivero, chief of the UM Police Department. “We want our officers to interact with students and employees, and the Segways will make it a lot easier to accomplish that.”

Models of Energy Efficiency
New buildings and practices cut energy usage
At 15 stories high, the Clinical Research Building is one of the largest structures ever built by the University of Miami. But when it comes to leaving an environmental footprint, the 350,000-square-foot facility is much smaller than other buildings its size.

Its double-paned, argon-filled glass windows stay cool even in the sweltering South Florida heat. Its white-sealed roof reflects sunlight, and its office lights turn themselves off when no one’s inside.

Home to important clinical trials and medical research, the $90 million facility is, in fact, a model for energy efficiency and sustainability—the first in a coming wave of environmentally friendly buildings that will employ “green” technologies. Among the building’s eco-friendly features:

• a raised floor system for better indoor air quality and energy efficiency;
• floor vents that reduce ductwork and improve air flow;
• carpet and other internal materials made from recycled and recyclable materials;
• a chilled water loop system for cooling.

Examples of UM’s energy efficiency aren’t limited to one structure, though. All of the buildings on the Miller School of Medicine campus have been retrofitted with low-mercury, high-efficiency lights.

 

Green in the Gables
The University also has incorporated energy-efficient practices in the buildings on its Coral Gables campus, using smaller electronic ballast fluorescent lighting fixtures that emit just as much light as larger bulbs but use far less energy. And an underground chilled water loop system provides air conditioning for about 80 percent of the buildings on the Coral Gables campus—a much more efficient process than providing individual cooling units for each building.

 

Shuttle Efficiency
Even the University’s Hurry ’Canes shuttles are looking to become more efficient—fuel wise, that is. Parking and Transportation Services is conducting a feasibility study on the use of biodiesel in the fleet. The plan calls for biodiesel, a clean-burning mixture of traditional diesel with fuel taken from products like corn and soybeans, to be tested in three new shuttles with the possibility of its use in the entire fleet. Biodiesel fuel is environmentally friendly, curbing pollution and limiting the greenhouse effect.