Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) Asteria Theatre has been named the 2024 Green Globes Project of the Year by the Green Building Initiative (GBI), recognizing the university’s continued leadership in what the GBI calls sustainable, healthy and resilient building design.
The Asteria Theatre, a state-of-the-art performance venue on CMU’s Grand Junction campus, earned a Three Green Globes rating for New Construction in December 2024. It is the first performance venue to integrate geothermal energy, utilizing a campus-wide loop system to harness the earth’s energy for highly efficient heating and cooling. The project also features high-performance lighting systems and unique water conservation strategies.
“Colorado Mesa University has been working toward becoming the first university in the nation to be fully heated and cooled by geothermal energy,” said CMU President John Marshall. “This Green Globes award recognizes CMU’s intentional effort to keep college affordable for students and families—a connection that may not be immediately obvious to everyone. The reality is, incorporating this technology into our campus infrastructure is saving the university millions of dollars in energy costs, which helps keep tuition low and puts more money back into students’ pockets.”
GBI’s Green Globes Project of the Year Awards honor projects that improve a building’s functionality, longevity and value through creative sustainability features.
This marks the second consecutive year CMU has been recognized by GBI. In 2023, CMU’s Foster Field House received a Green Globes Project of the Year Honorable Mention for its outstanding achievements in sustainable new construction.
Asteria Theatre winning Project of the Year underscores CMU’s unwavering commitment to innovation and providing an affordable, high-quality education for its students. This recognition exemplifies how out-of-the-box thinking can not only enhance the campus experience but also make higher education more accessible for Coloradans.