🏆 A Sustainability Cup Dorm Competition Event as part of the 18th annual Notre Dame Energy Week 🏆 The global energy crisis affects us in many ways, from energy shortages and pollution to climate change. Fossil fuel-based energy production and traditional air conditioning systems are two of the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Since most energy production still relies heavily on fossil fuels, finding ways to produce energy more efficiently, reduce energy consumption, and recover waste heat is crucial. Join Notre Dame’s solar club, SunRise ND, as the Dorini Family Professor for Energy Studies, Tengfeir Luo, presents three examples of how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to design and optimize materials that address these energy challenges. These include AI-driven improvements in thermoelectric materials for recovering waste heat, the discovery of gas separation membranes for more efficient energy production, and the use of quantum computing to design energy-efficient windows. These examples highlight AI's promising role in tackling global energy challenges. Biography Tengfei Luo is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Leading the MÖNSTER Lab (MOlecular/Nano-Scale Transport & Energy Research Laboratory) at Notre Dame, Luo’s research interests include engineering materials with tailored thermal properties, thermal management of electronics, improving efficiency of energy devices, designing molecules and systems for water desalination, high-sensitivity bio-sensing, and additive manufacturing. Vintage ND Energy shirts will be given out at this event while they last.   Originally published at energy.nd.edu.

Sign up to take a guided tour of "green" spaces on campus and learn about the sustainability initiatives happening at Notre Dame. Only 20 spots are available, so don't wait to register! Registrations over 20 participants will be waitlisted and contacted if a spot becomes available. Register today with this link. This event is open to the public and weather-permitting.

As part of the annual St. Francis Week celebration, Global Day of Action, an initiative of Notre Dame Global, will take place on Wednesday, October 2. To celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, members and friends of the Notre Dame community around the world will be responding to Laudato Si's call to care for our common home with local action. The theme for this year’s Global Day of Action focuses on conscious consumption. We are encouraging everyone to consider how we can reduce waste in our everyday lives and be more thoughtful about how we consume, whether that means reducing energy consumption, reusing and repurposing materials and relying less on single-use items, consuming less resource-intensive foods, purchasing and consuming fewer materials, or donating unwanted goods and food. Staff and students at our global locations are invited to host an event such as an environmental service project, hosting a plant-forward feast, a litter clean-up, a seminar, a group reflection, or a prayer service to gather people in our local community together to act on and reflect on our role in caring for our common home. Even if you can't participate on Wednesday, October 2, we encourage the Notre Dame family to participate any day during St. Francis Week 2024 (September 30 - October 4.) Are you hosting a Global Day of Action event and want us to share it? Submit your event here!

In honor of St. Francis Week, Sustainability and Landscape Services are co-hosting a native beds clean-up and planting event at the Sculpture Park on campus to prepare the natural space for the fall season. During this event, you'll learn more about some of the flora that inhabit our native beds on campus and identify both invasives and native species.  Registration is limited to twelve (12) people. Sign up today!  After registering, please be prepared and aware of the following:We will provide gardening gloves We recommend you bring eye protection and bug spray There is potential for biological or other field hazards, like ticks, other stinging insects/allergies, poisonous plant potential/plant allergies, and tall vegetation.

Join us for a prayer vigil to celebrate our common home and pray for all of creation. In honor of St. Francis of Assisi, we will gather at the World Peace Plaza to pay gratitude to our planet and all of those who inhabit it. Following the vigil, we will walk over to Bond Hall to sample food from the CCE's new plant-forward menu and engage in lively conversation. This event is open to the Notre Dame community and their families. We encourage people of all faiths and backgrounds to join us for this event.  More details to be released. 

Sign up to take a guided tour of "green" spaces on campus and learn about the sustainability initiatives happening at Notre Dame. Only 20 spots are available, so don't wait to register! Registrations over 20 participants will be waitlisted and contacted if a spot becomes available.  Register today with this link. This event is open to the public and weather-permitting.