"With the cost-competitive solar power generated by our SunPower systems, the university will control electricity costs and reduce our carbon footprint," said Willem van der Pol, interim associate vice president for facilities management at CSUF, in a statement. "CSUF has supported sustainability in our operations for more than two decades, and we are proud to support the long-term health of our students, staff and community by increasing our reliance on solar power."

SunPower is building solar carports on two CSUF parking structures as well as a parking lot. At all three sites, the company will install its high-efficiency, direct-current solar panels, the world’s first solar panels to achieve a Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver designation. All of the systems are expected to be operational by the end of 2016, and CSUF will own the renewable-energy credits associated with the systems.

“It is extremely rewarding to enable our higher-education institutions to achieve significant operational savings while inspiring students with the great potential of solar power," said Howard Wenger, SunPower president, business units, in a statement.

When operational, the solar power generated by the system will be equivalent to the energy used by 501 average American homes in one year, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates. SunPower estimates that one year of solar energy produced by the CSUF system could power more than 2,000 electric vehicles for 30 years, according to a statement by the firm.

This project is the latest in a 20-plus-year history of CSUF instituting efficient and sustainable practices. The campus installed its first 1-megawatt solar power system in 2012 and has constructed several LEED-certified buildings. Lighting efficiency is regularly upgraded, and low-flow fixtures and irrigation meters have also been installed across the campus. In addition to the university’s energy-smart, tri-generation plant, bio-swales were built to retain rainwater, and turf was replaced with drought-tolerant plants.
 

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Earlier this month, San Francisco-based Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute released a report, titled “Impacts of the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program,” with London-headquartered Trucost, an environmental data and research company. The report highlights the business benefits for those who undertook the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard, and it offers a framework for measuring the value of the certification.

Cradle to Cradle certification focuses on material health, material reutilization, renewable energy water stewardship and social fairness. The certification requires looking at the raw material of a product, whether it has two, 10 or 20 components, and determining if it is a healthy product to use, especially in schools where children makeup the majority of occupants.

The study assesses the business, environmental and social impacts of 10 companies — AGC Glass Europe, Aveda, Construction Specialties, Desso, Ecover, Mosa, Puma, Shaw Industries, Steelcase and Van Houtum — that have undertook the Cradle to Cradle Certification Program. Benefits that the businesses saw include reduced costs, improved product value, new revenue streams and avoided risks. The study shows the structural cost reduction through reusing product material and increasing resource efficiency.

The newly developed framework was based on best practice assessment techniques, ranging from traditional quantitative and qualitative methods, such as lifecycle analysis, to more advanced natural capital valuation assessment that quantifies the business, environmental and social impacts of products.

The EcoWorx Tile from Shaw Industries, a carpet manufacturer based in Dalton, Ga., was a prime example. The report shows that the energy efficiency measures and the switch to renewables initiated in the Cradle to Cradle-certified version of the product, compared to the uncertified version previously manufactured, cut the environmental cost of making carpet tiles by more than half. The water and energy savings for the total production carried out in 2012 equaled a cost savings of $2.5 million.

“Approximately 65 percent of Shaw’s sales are from Cradle to Cradle-certified products. Our goal is to design all our products to Cradle to Cradle protocols by 2030,” said Paul Murray, vice president of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs for Shaw Industries, in a statement. “Our company, our customers and our communities benefit from this rigorous, holistic approach, which includes designing with the end in mind and maintaining an extensive take-back program that has resulted in Shaw recycling more than 700 million pounds of carpet since 2006.”

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