Going Green @ Haverford

The Committee for Environmental Responsibility (CER) had a very productive fall semester. I’d like to share some of the highlights.
Desiderata for new Tritton Dorm. In anticipation of the new dorm CER proposed the following features.

• Ground Source heat pump HVAC system
• Integrated Smart Metering
• Dual flush toilets to help conserve water
• Green Roof
• Grey water reuse
• Sustainable landscaping
• Covered bicycle parking
• Incorporating recycling work flow into plan

Green Plan for managing and reducing waste on campus. With assistance from an outside consultant, CER devised a plan that would eventually shift the campus-wide waste management and recycling practices toward more sustainable methods.

• Provide for on-site composting of Dining Hall food waste.
• Develop a plan to double Haverford College’s recycling rate and implement programs that would allow Haverford to materially benefit from the increase in recoverables.
• Revise waste collection practices to reduce amount and frequency of trash removal from campus.

Preliminary approval has been given to purchase a Vegawatt Power System which turns waste vegetable oil from food service operations into electricity with a 5kW generator.

Student Farm/Garden proposal. Students got approval to expand the current student garden at HCA. Historically, farming has been a part of Haverford College and CER students would like to resurrect this tradition.

CPGC: Walking the Walk. CER has joined with the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship (CPGC) to help them “Go Green”.

• CPGC has agreed to higher costs for using sustainable products for their cafe events.
• Educating the college community on recycling.
• Composting food scraps from the cafe.
• Buying “Green” office products.
• Buying offsets for business travel and visiting speakers.

Recycling.

• Encouraging , libraries, administrative departmentsto purchase recycled  paper for all uses.
• Educating that recycling guidelines have changed. We can now recycle plastics 1-7.
• Recyclemania kicks off March 2010.

We’ve updated the Going Green @ Haverford site to include a new Initiatives section, an updated Resources page, and new photo galleries relating to a number of on-going projects. Check out all of the new photos!

Also, visitors might be interested the following slideshow. This sustainability presentation was presented to staff last winter by Claudia Kent, John Francone and Ron Tola.

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While not a fully mature roof there’s still plenty to see. It can be seen anytime from the 3rd floor hallway outside the Career Development Office or attend one of our tours scheduled for this summer.

Green roofs have been around for thousands of years and precursors to the modern green roof, such as sod roofs, have been used in many cultures for centuries.

The modern day green roof uses modern technology such as root barriers, drainage systems and lightweight growing media which allows healthy growing environments at much lighter weights. Lightweight green roofs allow systems to be installed on roofs which normally would not be able to sustain heavy loads, as is the case with Stokes Hall. While some roofs can withstand weights up to 60+ lbs per square foot, Stokes has only been rated for 21 lbs fully saturated.

The system selected for Stokes Hall is an Aromatic Garden “Roofmeadow” system. Because the “soil” or growing media is only 3-4” thick, drought tolerant plants were selected, namely sedums. Sedums will withstand long periods of drought and won’t need supplemental irrigation.

The photograph to the right is Friends Center at 15th and Cherry streets in Philadelphia.  Their system, which is the same as ours, is two years old. This roof is in full bloom.*

Green roofs provide many ecological, aesthetic, and financial benefits, including:

• Controlling stormwater runoff, erosion, and pollution
• Improving water quality
• Mitigating urban heat-island effects, cooling and cleaning the air
• More than doubling the service life of the roof, reducing both costs and landfill
• Conserving energy
• Reducing sound reflection and transmission
• Creating wildlife habitat
• Improving the aesthetic environment in both work and home settings.

*Courtesy of Nate Johnson and Roofscapes Inc.