University of California, Irvine
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

UCI is engaged in multiple sustainability partnerships with the local community including joint projects, community-based initiatives, public education, and outreach. These partnerships involve diverse sustainability topic areas including renewable and green energy, urban forestry and community gardening, environmental engineering and water quality, and habitat restoration and management.

- The Irvine Smart Grid Demonstration Project developed in partnership with Southern California Edison and green energy industry leaders that will use the Irvine campus and neighboring off-campus areas as a living laboratory to demonstrate community-wide sustainable energy production, energy storage, and smart energy distribution.

- The Amonix High Concentration Photovoltaic power generation research project involves installation of utility-scale solar energy arrays on the UCI campus in partnership with a local renewable energy manufacturer, and the California Public Utilities Commission.

- The Hydrogen Fueling Station at UCI was the first in Orange County to provide fuel for fuel cell vehicles and resulted from a partnership between UCI's National Fuel Cell Research Center and Air Products. Funding for the third-generation station was provided by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, U.S. Department of Energy, Toyota, Honda and BMW.

- The Fountain Valley biogas generation and fuel cell project was developed through a partnership between UCI and the Orange County Sanitation District to develop a demonstration project featuring a waste-to-biofuel digester that provides hydrogen fuel that powers an on-site fuel cell. Other collaborators include FuelCell Energy and Air Products.

- The ZevNet zero-emission vehicle community car sharing program for transit commuters at the Irvine Transportation Center was developed through a partnership between UCI, City of Irvine, and Toyota Motors.

- UCI Shadetree Partnership On-campus Native Tree Nursery developed through a partnership between UCI, Irvine Ranch Water District and the non-profit Shadetree Foundation.

- UCI Community Volunteer Tree Planting Program has resulted in the planting of several thousand shade trees in the campus vicinity through community volunteers.

- UCI Community Garden is an on-campus community garden program that provides garden plots to UCI affiliates. and local community members.

- UCI is a founding member and active leader in the regional 37,000 acre Nature Reserve of Orange County (NROC) ecological reserve, working with multiple public and private partners in the management and restoration of this large habitat resource.

- UCI’s Urban Water Research Center is working with numerous public and private sector community partners in water quality and water resource management including local water districts, local government, and local K-12 school programs.

- UCI’s Engineers without Borders works with rural communities in developing countries to implement water supply, water quality, sanitation and other environmental engineering projects to promote sustainability and self-reliance