Energy

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New Initiative Helps Students Explore Green Careers

When Chigoziri Ibechem attended her first planning commission meeting in downtown Merced last November, she had no idea where it might lead.

After the meeting, the psychology major from Los Angeles was greeted by the city of Merced’s principal planner, who noticed her enthusiasm for the city’s Local Transportation project. He invited her to apply for an internship program UC Merced’s sustainability office launched earlier this year to give students education and applied learning opportunities in sustainability-related careers.

Campus Named a Top-50 ‘Cool School’ for Sustainability

UC Merced checks in at No. 50 in the Sierra Club’s 2017 "Cool Schools" list, rising more than 30 spots from its previous position in the ranking of sustainable colleges and universities.

It’s the fifth Cool Schools appearance in the past six years for UC Merced, which is the only university in the nation to have all of its buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

Students Help Campus Earn Latest LEED Certification

Classroom and Office Building UC Merced’s Classroom and Office Building (COB) has achieved a silver rating from the LEED Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M) sustainability program, the campus’s first certification to come from the

New UC Solar Project Produces Both Heat and Power

Professor Roland Winston (standing) and postdoctoral researcher Lun Jiang work on a solar collector system.One of California’s greatest energy challenges is finding innovative ways to lower natural gas consumption to help reduce

Student Engineering Team Rewarded in International Competition

The federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recognized this year’s team of UC Merced engineering students for its design of a device that cools high-powered electronics aboard military aircraft.

In the yearlong Field-Reversible Thermal Conductor (RevCon) Challenge, hosted by DARPA and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the team of juniors and seniors took second place overall and won first-place honors for having the most comprehensive analysis.

Solar Power Purchase Positions Campus for Total Renewable Energy Use

The University of California, Merced, will get 75 percent of its power from renewable sources by the end of 2016, and is on its way to being 100 percent renewably powered by then.
 

Researchers Unveil Innovative Solar Cooling Project

Using solar thermal energy to power an air conditioning unit can be difficult and expensive. But a team of researchers at the University of California, Merced, have added a game-changing advance to the process that could make it much simpler, less costly and more effective.