Environmental
Sustainability 
environmental commitment
Programs
As a public institution of higher education, the University of Alcalá (UAH) is firmly committed to sustainable development. To help meet this goal, various programs are being developed to promote environmental awareness and responsibility, as well as timely prevention and finding solutions to environmental conflicts. As part of these programs the UAH fosters action and specific measures to prevent, reduce and eliminate any negative environmental impact that could result from university activities, which also includes communication and dissemination policies to involve all members of the university community in these different strategies.
- Environment
- Environmental Policy Statement. The University of Alcalá and its social commitment
- Environmental Quality Program
- Comprehensive Sustainability Plan
- Guide to good environmental practices
- Environmental Participation and Analysis Office (Ecocampus)
- Ecocampus Report
In 2002, the Conference of Spanish University Presidents created the Environment Quality and Sustainable Development Working Group, with the UAH taking active part from the beginning. One year later, the UAH Governing Body approved an Environmental Policy Statement, which enshrined the University’s commitment to promoting the sustainable use of resources and to developing exacting environmental management as a quality indicator. This environmental policy is being developed through an Environmental Quality Program, whose actions involve the entire University community and which has converted the UAH into Spain’s most “sustainable” university according to the international index GREENMETRIC, the only such index that analyzes the environmental policies of higher education institutions worldwide.
- Energy
- All energy consumed by the UAH comes from renewable energy sources, as certified by the National Energy Commission
- University of Alcalá Carbon Footprint Report
- Summary of studies conducted on the University of Alcalá’s campuses. Prepared by Natural Gas Fenosa
- Report on thermographic study of UAH buildings. Natural Gas Fenosa
- Energy and environmental audit of the University of Alcalá’s public eco-lighting Reduction Programme for electrical energy consumption in computer equipment
- Spain's first solar energy recharge point for electronic vehicles, located on the campus. Fotolinera (solar charging station)
- Award for Best Geothermal Installation in the Madrid region’s Industry and Services Sector
- Campus of International Excellence in Smart Energy: Bioenergy & Smart Cities
- Energy saving measures
All the energy consumed at the University of Alcalá comes from renewable energy sources, as certified by the National Energy Commission. This is the latest in a series of measures which have been implemented to achieve the highest level of energy efficiency possible. Environment-related studies and action plans have been a constant in UAH policy, which is why the university has received several awards. The Geothermic Installation in the Multipurpose Building, for instance, is considered the best of its kind in the Madrid Region.
- Water
- Sustainability practices of water use for watering the campuses and botanical Garden
- Excellence Award from the International Water Association (Prize for Excellence in Sustainable Water Management) for the 'Consolider Tragua' project for purified urban wastewater reuse
- Headquarters of the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, IMDEA
In order to achieve greater efficiency in water consumption for irrigating the 300 acres of the university’s campus and its Botanical Garden, for many years existing have been used. Nevertheless, in order to offset the water deficit of the summer months, we implement a series of sustainable practices to optimize our resources.
The UAH Guide to Good Environmental Practice sets out recommendations for the proper use of this scarce resource by the university community.
The UAH is home to the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies, IMDEA Water, an initiative of the Madrid Regional Government that performs excellent research work regarding water use. A good number of our own teaching staff work at the Institute alongside other scientists, all under the leadership of a UAH full professor and facing up to the challenge of responsible water management in the 21st century. - Recycling
- Integral Nonhazardous Waste Management:
- Integral Urban Waste Management Project in the Residential Village (CRUSA)
- Container siting on the City Campus
- Container siting on the External Campus
- Integral Hazardous Waste Management:
- Collection of batteries, accumulators and mobile phones
- Management of used toner and ink cartridge collection
- Electrical and Electronic Waste
- Management of laboratory waste (chemical and biohazardous)
- National Reference Center concerning Persistent Organic Pollutants
- ‘Terracycle’ project for collecting used writing material
- Agreement between the UAH and the ‘Ambilamp’ Association for the recycling of lamps
UAH policy places a priority on prevention and increasing awareness of the importance of recycling, recovering, and reusing waste generated in our own institution. To this end, the UAH is developing an integrated management project for non-hazardous waste, as well as a management program for waste regarded as hazardous on account of its high level of contaminants and used in the everyday activities of the university, for example, batteries, accumulators, old ink cartridges, electronic and electrical waste, as well as chemical and biomedical waste from laboratories. The UAH collaborates with the National Reference Center for Persistent Organic Contaminants, whose mission is to coordinate the action taken in implementation of the National Stockholm Agreement Application Plan, which aims to create a transparent and participative system for eliminating persistent organic contaminants.
- Integral Nonhazardous Waste Management:
- Transport
- “Bike It” sustainable mobility program
- On campus mobility
- Plan for on campus traffic improvement and safety
- Fotolinera (Solar Charging Station)
- "University Mobile Sustainability Caravan"
Transport is one of the areas that contributes most to atmospheric emissions. For this reason the UAH has taken initiatives aimed at reducing its impact. The Plan for On-Campus Safety and Traffic Improvement includes specific measures to reduce speed and restrict times for the use of motor vehicles on campus. In addition, infrastructures and the equipment needed for getting around safely by bicycle have been created and/or improved, and there is a free mini-train service for traveling around the campus.
Moreover, in 2011 the UAH set up on its campus the first Photovoltaic Station in Spain, which charges electric cars fueled by solar panels that produce clean energy from a renewable source. The station can fully charge the batteries of four cars and five electric bicycles. - Teaching
- Degree
- University Masters
- Doctoral Programs
- Posgraduate Diplomas
As a public higher education institution, the UAH generates environment-related scientific and technological knowledge and innovation. At the same time, it encourages all its students to develop their critical thinking regarding the interpretation of environmental phenomenon and to strengthen their commitment to society and the natural world. The University offers an undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences, considered among the best in Spain since 2011 according to the El Mundo newspaper’s Top 50 Degrees List, as well as twenty postgraduate environmental science programs.
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