Buildings and energy
Projects prioritize efficient envelopes, controls, heat recovery, renewable electricity and data-informed operation.
Transportation
Walking, cycling, transit, carpooling and gradual fleet electrification reduce commuting and campus travel emissions.
Resilience
Planning addresses heat, flooding, severe weather, continuity and support for people most affected by disruptions.
Where the emissions are
Most of Porter’s operational carbon is in heating fourteen buildings through a Wesconsin winter, so the work is unglamorous: better envelopes, heat recovery, controls that actually get tuned, and renewable electricity contracts. Each building’s energy use is metered and visible.
Planning for a changing climate
Resilience planning covers summer heat in older buildings without full air conditioning, flooding along the Porter River and the Millrace, winter storm continuity, and making sure that the people most affected by a disruption — commuters, residents in older halls, employees without remote options — are considered first.
In and around Porter Falls
Porter Falls sits on the Porter River, and the university's oldest sustainability commitments are about water: the Millrace restoration, the rain gardens between Founders Hall and the Union, and a stormwater plan shared with the city. The campus climate goal is carbon-neutral operations, and progress is posted publicly each year rather than announced once.
The practical details
Goal: Carbon-neutral campus operations. Reporting: Emissions and progress posted publicly each year. Focus areas: Buildings, transportation, resilience. These specifics can shift from term to term, so confirm anything time-sensitive — a deadline, an appointment, an eligibility rule — before you count on it.
If you have a question
This is handled by Office of Sustainability (Founders Union, Room 015). Call (715) 555-0240 or email sustainability@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or use MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If another office turns out to own the question, they will pass it along rather than send you back to the beginning.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.