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Tours

1. CSU Virtual Sustainablity Tour

   Visit few of CSU's sustainable features in buildings and around campus.

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   1. Guggenheim Hall

      Guggenheim Hall was originally erected in 1910 but renovated in 2003 to align with green building standards. The classrooms were the first on any university campus to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Commercial Interiors certification. The renovation and design was led by a class of graduate students and utilized sustainable concepts such as recycled carpeting, non-toxic paints, ultra-low-flow plumbing fixtures, energy-efficient lighting, and even a solar-powered clock.

       

   2. The Oval

      At the heart of campus, the Oval is surrounded by American elm trees dating back to the 1880s and 1920s. In 2011, CSU was recognized as a Tree Campus USA, and has since been designated a Level II accredited arboreta by ArbNet. In 2020, to celebrate the university’s sesquicentennial, the university is planting 150 trees around campus.

       

   3. TILT (The Institute for Teaching and Learning)

      Built in 1928, the building originally housed CSU's first dedicated, stand-alone Library and later served as home to the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance. Repurposed in 2009, it became home to The Institute for Learning and Teaching, still has the original structural walls, floor, and roof, but with a new, more energy efficient HVAC system, toilets, and other appliances to reduce energy and water use. Since 2018, TILT is also home to the Student Disability Center.

   4. Engineering Building

      In June 2009, in partnership with the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office, CSU installed its first solar photovoltaic panels on the Engineering building on main campus. The 108 panel, 18.9 kW solar PV array, produces more than 25,000 kWh per year and reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of the building by 19 metric tons per year.

   5. Transit Center

      As the first LEED Gold building on campus in 2007, the Campus Transit Center (located at the north end of the Lory Student Center) features recycled granite, concrete, and drywall during building construction, as well as diverted large amounts of construction waste through recycling and using salvaged construction materials.

   6. Aspen Grille - LSC

      The Aspen Grille, located inside the Lory Student Center is a student-run restaurant that practices sustainability through their support of local and sustainable food producers, utilizes energy-efficient grills, low-flow faucet aerators, and biodegradable cleaning products. The Aspen Grille is also a proud member of the Green Restaurant Association.

   7. SoGES (inside Johnson Hall)

      The School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) is an umbrella organization that encompasses environmental education and research across all colleges at the university. SoGES was established in 2008 to address the multiple challenges to global sustainability through broad-based research, curricular, and outreach initiatives, strengthening the university’s commitment to environmental and global sustainability.

   8. The Steam Plant

      The basement of the Steam Plant (and unfortunately not open to the public) is home to an 800 kW steam turbine that makes over 3,200,000 kWh of electricity while providing hot water and space heat for most on-campus buildings. Before steam is distributed throughout campus, pressure must be decreased – running it through a turbine helps to do that and provides CSU a good bit of “free” electricity by utilizing what would otherwise be wasted energy.

   9. Sherwood Forest

      At one point in history, the Sherwood Forest was home to every tree native to Colorado. While no longer the case, the forest provides multiple uses for the community including a research study space, picnic and recreation area, and those looking to simply connect with nature in the middle of CSU’s campus. In 2013, ASCSU added “Hug a Tree in Sherwood Forest” to the list of 70 things that every student at CSU should do before they graduate.

   10. Pollinator Friendly Gardens

       Located next to Clark A is one of many pollinator friendly gardens on campus. Plants and flowers such as catmint, beebalm, and black-eyed Susans are planted to provide a consistent food source and safe space for local pollinators to nest like butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and bees. Moreover, the university installed beehives outside the Durrell Center and the Horticulture Center, providing opportunities for the campus community to learn about the importance of bees and other pollinators and their impacts to our local landscape.

   11. CSU Greenhouse Wetlands

       Using nature and natural processes, this wetland provides bioremediation of excess water – often fertilizer heavy water run-off – before it re-enters the ground or into a storm drain. The Greenhouse also hosts many faculty and student research projects and grows 20 varieties of lettuce to be served at the Aspen Grille restaurant located on campus.

   12. Behavioral Sciences Building (BSB)

       Certified as LEED Gold in 2011, the Behavioral Science Building features two atriums filled with daylighting, a rooftop 15.75 kW solar PV array, water-efficient landscaping, and use of local materials for construction and finishes.

   13. Microbiology Building

       The Microbiology Student Lounge is one of many spaces for students to study. Additionally, students can go on the balcony and visit the rooftop garden. Green roofs provide multiple benefits, including a reduction in heating and cooling loads, reduce stormwater runoff, and filters pollutants out of the air. This Green Roof demonstration project was originally established in partnership with the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture to learn best practices and to identify resilient western alpine plant species.

   14. Chemistry Building

       The Chemistry Research building was certified as LEED Platinum in 2018, achieving the university’s highest scoring LEED building at that time. As a research building, the building contains 11 faculty labs with over 125 fume hoods, but is projected to achieve an energy costs savings of over 50% compared to other similar buildings due to strategies such as highly efficient mechanical systems and natural daylighting.

   15. Lake Street Parking Garage

       Certified as a LEED Gold facility, the Lake Street Parking Garaged opened in March 2010 on the site of an existing parking lot, featuring four floors and 900 parking stalls with a single-space parking guidance system, aimed to provide real-time information to the number and location of available spots inside the garage.   
       
       The garage contains two electric vehicle charging stations on campus, special spots reserved for low-emitting vehicles, as well as covered bicycled parking! Finally, the parking structure hosts a 133 kW solar PV array with 235 panels, providing energy and shading to vehicles.

        

   16. Aggie Village Apartments

       The Aggie Village Apartments is an apartment complex containing 3 apartment buildings (Walnut, Cottonwood and Lodgepole) offering a mix of studio to 4 bedroom apartments. Certified as LEED Gold in 2016, these apartments feature recycled pine beetle killed wood in the Lodgepole lobby, high solar reflectance index (SRI) asphalt roof shingles – helping to reduce the urban heat island effect, and a plains theme in the Cottonwood to represent the Folsom Point arrowheads discovered in this area.

   17. Summit Hall

       Summit Hall was the first residential hall at CSU to achieve LEED certification for existing buildings and operation maintenance. To achieve this Gold certification, Summit Hall purchased e-clothes (which help reduce chemicals used in the building for cleaning), implemented a purchasing policy, provided green cleaning training for environmental services staff, and installed aerators that help decrease water consumption.

   18. Academic Village

       Aspen Hall, one of three buildings of Academic Village, opened in Fall 2009, as CSU’s first LEED Gold residence hall. The building features a 12 kW solar PV array, 95% energy-efficient boilers for heating water, and an on-site thermal plant with an innovative system that makes ice at night when electric rates are lowest and then melts the ice during the day to cool the building.
       
       

       Within Academic Village, Ram’s Horn Dining Center features a pulper that reduces water use and creates a compostable by-product from all food and paper waste, which is composted at the Foothills campus, only 3 miles away from main campus.

   19. Student Recreation Center

       In 2011, the Student Recreation Center expanded its footprint. This renovation re-used more than 75% of existing structural walls, floors, and roofs. Through energy and water efficient design and operations, the utility bills did not go up after this addition of 90,000 square feet. The Rec Center utilizes 100% non-potable water for the landscaping, and the roof is host to over 1,700 solar PV panels.  

   20. Indoor Practice Facility

       Designed for use by multiple sports programs, the Indoor Practice Facility is a LEED Gold certified building and contains a 70-yard synthetic turf field, 4-lane synthetic sprint track, batting and golf cages, and basketball/ volleyball court. Sustainability features include natural daylighting, natural stormwater filtration through the vegetation, and water-conserving landscaping. Additionally, during construction, 93% of the construction waste was diverted from the landfill.

   21. Corbett Lobby & Foundry

       In 2018, part of the Corbett/Parmelee Residence Halls were renovated to combine and modernize the lobby and dining space. Achieving LEED Gold for Commercial Interior, the dining space known as The Foundry features a salad bar with salad grown at the Horticultural Center located on campus, a biodigester that uses micro-organisms to break down food waste on site, and locally sourced dining tables and chairs from a Denver manufacturer. 

        

   22. Laurel Village

       As part of Laurel Village, the multi-use Pavilion is CSU’s first LEED Platinum building and features a living wall, katabatic tower, bike repair room, Eco Leaders office space, and 24/7 study and social space. A 3D model and interactive touch screen educate visitors about the building’s sustainability features if you’d like to stop by.
       
       

       Laurel Village is also home to two residence halls, Alpine and Piñon, that house the College of Natural Sciences Learning Community, a community of 400 students with a passion in the sciences. Alpine and Piñon are both LEED certified Gold with daylighting in 75% of the lobby spaces, and outdoor “living” metal screens covered in vine to create private outdoors spaces to encourage outdoor studying, socializing, and overall connection to nature.

   23. Anderson Academic Center

       A LEED Gold certified facility, the academic and training center contains a state-of-the-art weight room, four private tutoring rooms, a general study hall with 30 computer workstations, and a multipurpose room for meetings. Trees provide building shade, glass is shielded from direct sun exposure, and efficient heating and cooling systems were installed to minimize operational costs.

   24. Research Innovation Center

       The Research Innovation Center earned LEED Gold by incorporating several sustainability features including: a hot-water preheating system, which allows the boiler exhaust to heat water for the building systems, an efficient building envelope design, which helps to reduce natural gas use of the building, and a 57 kW ground-mount solar PV array.

   25. Composting Facility

       In 2010, Housing and Dining Services purchased a large-scale in-vessel composter, affectionately named OSCAR, and has been composting 300,000 pounds every year of pre-consumer organic material from the dining centers and animal waste from equine operations into Class 1 compost for soil amendment used around campus.  
       
       In 2017, with funding provided by the University Facility Advisory Board, Facilities Management acquired the Windrow, another composting operation using long rows and aeration to generate compost. Located right next to Oscar, the Windrow produces around 400,000 pounds of food waste annually.

   26. Christman Field - Solar Plant

       A public-private partnership among CSU, Xcel Energy, Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, and Longroad Energy, this 5,300 kW solar PV array produces about 8,500,000 kWh every year, equal to about 30% of the electricity consumed on the CSU Foothills Campus. Located about 3 miles west of main campus, this site cover 30 acres and has more than 23,000 solar panels. CSU has 19 solar arrays across campus, for a total 6.7 MW of power. To learn more about solar PV at CSU, visit here.

   27. Powerhouse Energy Campus

       The Powerhouse Energy Campus history began in 1936 when it was the Fort Collins Municipal Power Plant. In 2014, with a major addition completed, the 100,000 square foot complex became LEED Platinum certified and is home to numerous research and policy centers, laboratories, and start-up organizations.