“A dynamic and evolving community at the University of Alaska Fairbanks – committed to the tenets of sustainability – demonstrating what can be achieved to ensure an enduring future for the people of the circumpolar north.” (Jack Hebert, CEO CCHRC).

The UAF Sustainable Village will be a demonstration for environmentally sustainable technologies in a residential setting and provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities. Students will collect and disseminate information about sustainable building techniques and help others live in a more sustainable ways. To achieve its mission the village will:

• Provide a safe living environment involving students in a sustainable building and community approach to living.
• Create a living laboratory for students and faculty to conduct experiments with sustainable design, alternative energy sources, new technologies, and ways of living.
• Serve as a location to provide outreach to the public by providing tours of the house and monitoring its energy use.
• Create a “home” and enhance sense of identity for UAF students involved in environmental or sustainability programs.
• Provide a location for workshops, seminars, and demonstrations on how to live and play sustainably.

The UAF Sustainable Village is located on the UAF lower campus, east and adjacent to the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, which is located at 1000 Fairbanks Street. See a map of the location here.

Benefits to students living in the Village:

• Sense of community
• Civic action opportunities
• Growing your own food
• Resume building
• Participation in and design of student research projects
• Engagement in sustainability best practices
• UAF sustainability culture building
• Living in new, innovative student-designed housing
• Interaction with “smart” home
• Reduction of personal carbon footprint
• Being a pioneer resident of the Village
• Serving as national model for sustainable living

The Sustainable Village is open to all UAF students who are sophomores through graduate level.

This is a new program and we are looking for highly motivated and committed students to be the pioneers of this program. These are general guidelines and may not be inclusive of all requirements. We reserve the right to add additional requirements as the project develops.

1. I will minimize the waste I generate by using or making available to others for reuse items I no longer need, and by recycling as much as can be done properly (mixed paper, plastic, glass, food waste, batteries etc.).
2. I will promote indoor air quality and limit environmental degradation by using "green" cleaning supplies (www.goodguide.com).
3. I will consume local and/or organic produce whenever possible.
4. I will reduce my personal carbon footprint by carpooling and using alternative transportation and mass transit whenever possible.
5. I will conserve water and energy (electricity and heat).
6. I will participate in the studies and experiments ongoing within the Village, such as the energy and water market (see below for description of energy and water market). The UAF bookstore will be asked to order clothes drying racks upon request.
7. I will enroll in the Sustainable Living Seminar during my first semester living in the Village.
8. I will participate in mandatory community meetings (could be weekly or bi-weekly).
9. I will participate in one of the community committees and complete an annual service-learning component (see list of potential committee and service learning opportunities below).
10. I understand that violating UAF and Residence Life policies and procedures and the UAF Sustainable Village Agreement could result in penalties, sanctions and relocation from the Sustainability Village or loss of housing eligibility.

Please follow the UAF Residence Life housing application process. Indicate that you want to live in the Sustainable Village on these forms. Residents of the Sustainable Village will not have to be on the UAF Meal Plan, and preference is given to students who sign a 12-month contract (single occupancy, $700/month).

☑ UAF Residence Life, single student housing application process

☑ UAF Residence Life application fee of $350

Include these forms with your Residence Life application:

☑ Sustainable Village Application (signed and dated)

☑ Sustainable Village Agreement (signed and dated) 

Selection is based on application and an interview with the Sustainable Village Committee. Sustainable Village residents will be active participants in the development of the project’s goals and objectives.

Be prepared to join and participate in this evolving community. You will have your own bedroom, live in a home with 4 people total. Each home has one shared bathroom. There are a total of four homes in the Village; each has the same configuration as yours.

You will be expected to participate in community activities such as house meetings, Village meetings, a community garden, community rideshare, and other sustainability programs. The details of these expectations are explained in the Sustainable Village Agreement document that is part of the application packet. Be prepared to reflect on and talk about your experiences; be open to change.

Michele Hebert, Sustainability Director: mahebert@alaska.edu or 907-388-6085.

See CCHRC youtube videos from the construction of the Village.

Visit the CCHRC Sustainable Village website.

What constitutes a “Sustainable Community”: 

The Government of the United Kingdom defines a sustainable community in its 2003 Sustainable Communities Plan: "Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all."

For this competition, teams of students were given a set of site plans, arctic building science resources and competition guidelines. They were asked to use these resources to design a living community with a target number of student housing units. 

The timeline began with registration on August 15, 2011. Students interested in participating had to identify a professional mentor and team members. For credit, students needed to identify a faculty member in their academic home and attend the sustainable design seminar course. Information provided by Michele Hebert, sustainability director, at mahebert@alaska.edu.

The UAF Sustainable Village Design Competition was an opportunity to engage university students in designing a cluster of small student housing units that will be cost effective, resource responsible, energy efficient and community focused. Through this competition, the goal was for students to learn and apply lessons of sustainable design and construction. The Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) considered all good ideas generated in the competition for incorporation in the final design.  

This development will serve as a living laboratory for building science and community. The Sustainable Village at UAF represents the latest evolution of our shared goals with CCHRC in contributing to a more sustainable built environment at the UAF campus and elsewhere in the circumpolar north.

The results of the 2011 UAF Sustainable Village Student Design Competition were announced Saturday Oct. 21 at the award ceremony, which took place at the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). Chancellor Brian Rogers was on hand to highlights the accomplishments of student and provide awards to the first, second and third place winners. The winning five-student team, Circle Vision, will work with from CCHRC to plan the new type of student housing which will be constructed at UAF in the summer of 2012. The team included Maura Sateriale, a mechanical engineering graduate student, Garrett Evridge, an economics major, Erik Williams and Lyle Axelarris, civil engineering majors and Skye Sturm, a working architect working on a degree in natural resources. Click to view the winning community design and house design posters. Read more from the News-Miner: UAF students make proposals for sustainable student housing.

In the fall of 2011, Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) announced that they had completed a "winter work day" at the site of the future sustainable campus village. CCHRC writes in their Facebook photo album, entitled "The Making of the UAF Sustainable Village," that " CCHRC and UAF start clearing the site for the UAF Sustainable Village...in the snow. All lumber and mulch created today stays on site to be used for pathways and other purposes. CCHRC staff are joined by UAF students who recently won a design contest and earned a spot on the design team."

The Sustainable Village was recently featured in the Daily News-Miner and Alaska Journal of Commerce. The designs from the winning five-student team were discussed by the president of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). Check out this YouTube video on laying the gravel pad for the village from CCHRC.