Assessing the impacts of UW’s Green Wall

On the southeast side of Gould Hall, the UW Green Wall project perches, providing a home for plants, birds and insects while helping to conserve water and reduce energy needs.

A team funded by a Green Seed Fund grant is studying the Green Wall to quantify the effects of the green wall. The research is documenting plant growth, bird and insect sightings, water use, the impact on the urban heat island effect and building energy performance.

New study helps increase sustainable practices in UW labs

A team from UW’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) used a Green Seed Fund Grant to increase sustainable practices in the department's 20 labs.

To better assess barriers to sustainability, project facilitators encouraged DEOHS labs to participate in UW’s Green Labs Certification program in the spring of 2014. That year, labs averaged a score of 45 percent on their Green Labs application – while other campus labs who took the application averaged a score of 73 percent.

Green Seed Fund project: Lighting for people

One of the 2015 Green Seed Fund teams aims to study the use of efficient lighting system in terms of both energy savings and user experience. Dr. Amy Kim, member of the proposal team looking at “Value-driven property-investing strategy for the UW campus,” has a strong background in quantifying energy savings for energy service projects. When she joined the University of Washington, she was interested in the methods UW used to save energy and the kind of environment these methods created. She joined Dr.