{"id":24134,"date":"2025-12-02T08:52:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T13:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/?p=24134"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:15:07","slug":"campus-climate-lab-projects-fall-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/2025\/12\/02\/campus-climate-lab-projects-fall-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"BU Campus Climate Lab Projects for Fall 2025 Focus on Reducing Waste, Making Campus Buildings and Operations More Sustainable"},"content":{"rendered":"

This fall, Boston University’s Campus Climate Lab<\/a> (CCL) awarded funding for three new and three continuing student-led projects focused on waste reduction and sustainable buildings and operations. CCL research projects promote sustainability and climate action with real-world impact by supporting BU students and faculty in developing solutions that support the University Climate Action Plan<\/a> using the campus as a living laboratory.<\/p>\n

Since the program’s start in 2020, CCL research projects have worked toward<\/span> decarbonizing BU’s campus, improving the sustainability of its buildings and operations, and reducing waste and scope 3 emissions. Research can be grounded in any discipline and explore various climate and sustainability topics, including resiliency, climate-related health impacts, related equity and justice issues, and Greater Boston’s climate action efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The recent fall 2025 awardees include 15 students, four faculty, and five staff members. The participants’ affiliations span BU’s Metropolitan College (MET), College of Engineering (ENG), College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), College of Fine Arts (CFA), and College of Communication (COM).<\/p>\n

Explore<\/a> current and past CCL projects and apply for the next round of funding this summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CCL is led by BU Sustainability<\/a>, in collaboration with the Institute for Global Sustainability<\/a> (IGS) and the Office of Research<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Campus Climate Lab by the Numbers | Fall 2025<\/h3>\n

\"Donut<\/p>\n

\n

Fall Project Goals<\/h3>\n

Buildings and Operations<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Roadmap for Green Lab Certification<\/strong>: Evaluate key aspects of My Green Lab certification for labs across the university to recommend sustainability metrics, incentives, and training. (Team members from MET, ENG, and CAS)

    <\/li>\n
  • Analysis of Energy Efficiency & Decarbonization Options for the Charles River and Medical Campuses for 20 Large Buildings<\/strong>: Develop an energy efficiency and decarbonization plan for BU’s major buildings, which account for more than 35 percent of its direct greenhouse gas emissions<\/span>. (Team members from ENG)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Reducing Waste<\/h4>\n
      \n
    • NEW<\/strong>: Plastic Reuse, Filament Conversion at BU<\/strong>: Expand existing systems for processing plastic waste on campus to create reusable 3D-printing filament for BU Labs. (Team members from CAS, ENG, and Robotics & Autonomous Systems Teaching and Innovation Center\/RASTIC)

      <\/li>\n
    • NEW<\/strong>: Recycling Waste PLA<\/strong>: Scale up systems that recycle Polylactic Acid (PLA) waste generated by 3D printers in BU’s makerspaces, which account for over a quarter-ton of PLA waste each year, to reduce the need for new materials<\/span>. (Team members from ENG and RASTIC)

      <\/li>\n
    • NEW<\/strong>: Laundry Water Treatment for Sustainable Irrigation at BU<\/strong>: Test BU dorm laundry water filtration methods to examine which one best improves the water quality for reuse and supports healthy plant growth. (Team members from CAS)\u00a0

      <\/li>\n
    • Art Studio Standard Operating Procedure and Reduction Project \u2013 Darkroom Sustainability Module<\/strong>: Develop new protocols to reduce chemical usage, properly dispose of waste, and reduce the environmental impact of BU\u2019s darkrooms. (Team members from CAS, COM, and CFA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This fall, Boston University’s Campus Climate Lab (CCL) awarded funding for three new and three continuing student-led projects focused on waste reduction and sustainable buildings and operations. CCL research projects promote sustainability and climate action with real-world impact by supporting BU students and faculty in developing solutions that support the University Climate Action Plan using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15764,"featured_media":24195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[712,4,332],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24134"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24230,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24134\/revisions\/24230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/igs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}