On everything from building construction to energy conservation to cage-free eggs and organic granola in the dining halls, area universities are turning "green."

The growing environmental bent of area schools was recognized in the November/December issue of Sierra magazine, out yesterday, which named Carnegie Mellon University and Penn State University two of its "10 Coolest Schools" for their efforts to address global warming.

Carnegie Mellon earned its ranking with student-designed "green" roofs on several buildings, the country's first eco-friendly dorm and a collaborative research center with a modular raised floor system that doubles the amount of fresh air circulating in the building.

The magazine gave Penn State "big props" for committing to a systemwide goal of environmental building construction practices, spending $10 million a year to make existing buildings more energy efficient and targeting a 17.5 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012.

Area universities also received higher grades this year than last on the national College Sustainability Report Card released yesterday. The University of Pittsburgh moved up to an overall "C-" from a "D" grade, Carnegie Mellon rose to a "B-" from a "C+," and Penn State pulled a "B" after receiving a "C+" last year.

"We appreciate the recognition of Penn State as a leader in campus sustainability and our ongoing commitment to environmental initiatives," said Geoffrey Rushton, a Penn State spokesman.

The higher grades of local universities reflect an overall national trend in which two out of three universities surveyed improved their environmental performance.

"The results clearly show a green groundswell on campuses, with nearly 45 percent of colleges committing to fight climate change through cutting carbon emissions," said Mark Orlowski, executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that assessed the sustainability of campus operations and endowment investments at the 200 public and private universities with the largest endowments.

The survey grades the schools in eight categories: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement.

Schools performed best in the food and recycling category with 29 percent earning "A" grades. The worst grades nationwide were in shareholder engagement, which assesses how well university endowment shareholder votes reflect the school's environmental programs, and where 66 percent of the schools scored "F."

"Many schools are missing opportunities to connect the dots and bring leadership on the endowment side into alignment with existing campus sustainability efforts," Mr. Orlowski said.

Both the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University received "F" grades for shareholder engagement and for endowment transparency, for failing to make public their endowment holdings.

Teresa Thomas, a Carnegie Mellon spokeswoman, said the university has invested in renewable energy, but like many private universities got poor grades on endowment transparency because of concerns about compromising its investment decision-making process.

"The university discloses a reasonable amount of investment information in its annual report," she said, "and we will continue to pursue thoughtful and appropriate methods for sharing investment information in the future."

Penn State received an "A" grade in the endowment transparency category for annually listing all its investment holdings publicly. It received a "D" for shareholder engagement, avoiding a failing grade because it is in the process of implementing new proxy-voting guidelines for its investment managers.