Going Green @ Haverford

New signs are going up in the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center aimed at alerting students, faculty and staff to an easy way to help the College save energy, money–and the planet.  “Turn off computers before leaving,” posters were created by visiting assistant professor of physics Anna Sajina, and Bruce Boyes, the KINSC’s research machinist, who are both members of the Committee on Environmental Responsibility.

“We have many computers right here in the KINSC,” says Boyes, “and I’m sure there are more locations on campus  where this message could be posted.”

Want a few to post in your campus building as a friendly green reminder?  email bboyes@haverford.edu

Anna Sajina

The Committee for Environmental Responsibility recently welcomed Anna Sajina as its newest member. Sajina, who holds a doctorate in Astronomy from the University of British Columbia, is a postdoctoral research associate and visiting assistant professor of Physics at Haverford.

“I have been interested in environmental issues for quite some time, and we have adopted many environmentally-friendly practices in our home,” says Sajina. “I am particularly interested in passive heating/cooling and water recycling.”

Sajina learned a great deal about about these issues last summer during a stay with other Haverford faculty in an earthship house in New Mexico. Highly energy-efficient, earthship homes are constructed using old tires and rammed earth.

Says Sajina, “I look forward to working with the other CER members toward greater sustainability at Haverford.”

In response to concerns about computer energy consumption, Facilities Management along with Administrative Computing have devised an energy conservation plan directed specifically at computers.

Administrative Computing is currently assembling a list of administrative and academic computers, their model types and typically how much energy they consume. These numbers will be directed to Facilities Management where a calculation of how much energy is used will be converted into a dollar amount.

A list of administrative computers along with their back-up nights will be distributed to the Energy Work Study students. All administration will be asked to turn off computers along with printers, scanners, speakers etc., except for their back-up night. If an employee leaves a computer on, a “friendly reminder” will be left encouraging the user to be more energy aware.

Because of sensitive information on academic and some administrative computers, we will not ask for these computers to be shut down. Directions on how to put computers in a low power state and request that printers and scanners be shut down will be distributed. Students will not enter faculty or sensitive administrative offices for any reason.

Thank you for support and participation in this matter.

Check out these tips from the Nature Conservancy. Being green these days involves more than just recycling. Employees and bloggers lend their own tips for making our environment just a little bit greener.

www.nature.org/activities/everydayenv.html

First year students Wynne Lewis and Rosalie Hooper are monitoring energy use on campus.

The energy patrol is on the job at Haverford!  Thanks to two newly created work study positions, first-year students Wynne Lewis and Rosalie Hooper are walking the campus six evenings a week monitoring academic and administrative buildings.  Part of the College’s ongoing effort to go greener, the effort is aimed at raising awareness about ways to save energy.  On their patrols, the student monitors will be  checking buildings to ensure the following:

• lights are turned off
• overnight room temperatures are set at 63 degrees
• space heaters have been turned off
• sinks and toilets are not running and are operating properly
• outside doors and windows are closed

When the student monitors encounter situations where energy is being wasted, they will leave a written notice as a friendly reminder about what we can all do to conserve. (The students only have access to unlocked areas, so if an office is locked they will slip the notice under the door.) Some issues, such as a broken thermostat,  may need to be addressed by Facilities Management.  In those cases, a work order will be generated.

If you have any questions about the program,  please contact Campus Sustainability Officer Claudia Kent at ckent@haverford.edu

RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over a 10-week period, schools report recycling and trash data which are then ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. With each week’s reports and rankings, participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more.

Starting in the Spring, it is part of the President’s Climate Commitment. Check it out: www.recyclemaniacs.org/overview.htm

The Facilities Management Department has developed an Energy Conservation Awareness Initiative to help mitigate the unprecedented escalation in energy prices that has occurred globally in recent months.

As we face this challenge, we are calling upon our campus community to support this campus initiative by implementing simple changes in energy utilization behaviors that can positively affect operating costs and the environment while relieving some pressure on institutional resources.   We have identified four major awareness components of this program below.
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By going trayless at your next meal …………….                            

-You could possibly waste 25-30 percent less food.

-For each tray that is not washed it saves between a third to half-gallon of water.

Haverford is one of a growing number of colleges and universities going trayless. While Haverford’s program is voluntary many other institutions around the country are not so kind. Middlebury College made the decision in August 2007 to go completely trayless. Mathew Biette, Director of Dining Services, evaluated the wastefulness of using trays and decided to eliminate them. “I talked with some students who suggested we just go with the idea rather than waiting to have long, drawn-out discussions” Said Biette. “Their feeling was the more discussion that would happen, the less likely we would be able to make an impact or implement taking the trays out of the dining hall.” Other schools have taken a lesser approach by instituting “Trayless Tuesdays”.

So, the next time you’re up at the DC, or for that matter any restaurant, think of the environment before taking that tray.

Delfino and John install added wind protection to the edges of the roof.

The last step is to secure the biodegradable wind scour blanket. This prevents the sedums from shifting due to environmental conditions. It also keeps them moist during the establishment period. The brown coir (coconut husk), is situated between two layers of biodegradable mesh, both of which will break down over time.