On October 9, KU participated in “Lights Out Across Campus”, a campaign encouraging faculty, staff, and students to shut off overhead lights and rely on the natural light streaming through the windows. In buildings where electricity use dropped for the day (compared to a day in September with similar weather), we saved 4,900 kWh of electricity, the energy equivalent of 15,327 bulbs burning for 10 hours.
When looking at a $12 million utility budget, the $300 saved by those buildings doesn’t seem like much. But add that up over the course of a year and get more people to participate, and we start to add some zeros behind that figure. And every little bit counts – not only for the power bills but for the planet.
Don’t want to sit around in the dark? You might be surprised just how much light you can get without flipping the switch. With the exception of a few rainy days in October, I get by just fine all year without a single overhead light. I have a lamp on my desk (with a CFL installed, by the way) that provides any light I need for reading, and if I move my chair closer to the window, I don’t even need that.
Give it a try and see what happens. Who knows, that pest down the hall may even think you are gone and leave you alone for a change!
Super Shift: Really?! What’s bigger than keeping the lights off all the time?
This morning when I got to work, I did something not everyone does: turned on my computer. Seems like a basic step for all of us to get started with our work day, right? But it is only necessary if you turned the computer OFF the night before. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case with computers at work or in our homes. Whether for reasons of convenience (are you really going to get that much done with an extra 30 seconds?) or concerns that turning the computer off and on is hard on the hard drive, we seem to think the computer needs to be on 24 hours a day.
Here at KU, shutting down is recommended in the list of conservation measures sent out each year by the Office of the Provost. It was even enough of a concern that the Governor of Kansas included a statement in her Executive Directive on Energy Conservation and Management calling for computers to be turned off any time they won’t be used for a period of 4 hours or more.
So why are we still leaving them on at night? I recently plugged my computer into a device that measures how much electricity is flowing through the power cord. With my monitor on, it was running about about 100 watts. So walking away from the computer without turning it off is like leaving a 100 watt lightbulb burning all day in the closet. You wouldn’t do that would you?
So try saying “goodnight” to the gigabytes before you leave work or before you go to bed. You’ll be amazed at how saving a little extra energy at night won’t even slow you down the next day. And the planet will thank you for the good night’s sleep.
Super Shift: Already giving your CPU some Zs? Try shutting down anytime you are going to be out of the office for more than an hour and change your power settings to turn the monitor off after 5 minutes of inactivity and the system to go into standby (or better yet hibernate) after 30 minutes.
As the “green” movement gains popularity more and more products are entering the market for green consumers. Although there are more organic options (yeah!), I am left wondering if consumers will be able to really understand the concept of environmental responsibility and sustainability. There are several key problems that leave me questioning my purchases and ultimately making judgment calls that leave me feeling conflicted about items that are organic and/or local, and consumerism in general.
An apple may be organic, so many buyers, including myself, believe we are making a responsible choice in promoting the market for organic food options. However, in most cases there is no label identifying where the apple came from, or how it was transported. In light of the principles of sustainability, one way to alleviate this conflict is to think about the three common elements that are often associated with sustainability. Organic is environmentally more sound, local helps my community and economically both organic and local make the most sense. Often local farmers are not financially able to be USDA certified even though they may practice very environmentally sound production methods. Plus the non-local organic option isn’t as environmentally sound if one thinks about the emissions and other externalities resulting from long distance travel.
It may seem like a lot to think about just for an apple, but follow me in this thought process for anything we purchase. Topping this conflict of purchasing the best more affordable product, is the 500 pound gorilla in the room: good-old-fashioned-American-mass-unchecked-consumerism (dare I say, greed). America’s consumption patterns although filthy delicious fun, are at the core of the problems that have led us to our current situation with climate change, social inequity and economic stimulus checks.
It’s great there is a large market for “green” and organic, but for me, my community produce and other goods and services are more important and in my humble opinion more sustainable, even if they don’t have the all hailed “USDA Certified Organic” labeling or other green (often misleading) designations. I think by building a stronger community of local producers, we can be more independent of the impending oil crisis, reduce our ecological footprint and lead the way to a more sustainable future. So as we are bombarded with the mega-market pushing us all to “go green,” (ie buy because it’s green…not necessarily because we need it) let’s remember some of the basic tenents that will help sustain our community as well as our well-being AND keep our consumerist appetites in check.
- Steph
Editors Note: For more information on responsible purchasing, visit the Center for Sustainability “Living Green in Lawrence” guide.
Whether making a presentation on campus or explaining to family members what it is that I actually do for a living, one of the questions I am asked most frequently is “What does ’sustainability’ mean anyway?” If I can remember it on the spot, I’ll spew out the oft-quoted definition of sustainable development from the Brundtland Report:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
But that usually just leads to more questions, and sometimes more confusion. And it’s one of those dry definition that I don’t think quite does the term justice.
Although I’m generally not one to answer a question with a question, I often catch myself ditching the canned response and firing back: “What does it mean to you?” In the process, I’ve learned a lot about this all-encompassing term. To some it is about saving the planet from the perils of global climate change. To others it is about eating local, organic, and low on the food chain or protecting themselves and their families from the various toxins that can turn up in everything from deodorant to drinking water. Still others define sustainability as simply being part of a community and paying attention to personal relationships.
So what do I think it means? I used to spout off another textbook definition describing sustainability as the intersection of the the 3E’s – environment, economy, and equity (or equality). But I tend to see it more as the 3R’s (and I don’t just mean Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). For me It is about having RESPECT each other and our planet, taking RESPONSIBILITY for our own actions (and making responsible choices in everything we do), and understanding the many RELATIONSHIPS that take place in nature and society. If we can keep those three things in mind, I think we should all be in pretty good shape.
If you still aren’t sure what ’sustainability’ means, you are not alone. Just ask these people:
The rest of the story – and some possible examples of sustainability – can be found on the Sustainable Lawrence blog. But before you let anyone else tell you what they think, be sure to ask yourself what ’sustainability’ means to you.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Sustainable Lawrence as part of a series defining “sustainability” and highlighting examples in the Lawrence area.
Hanging on the wall in a custodial closet in the Kansas Union is a contraption that is helping reduce waste and create a greener, cleaner environment. This simple gadget dilutes and dispenses a single cleaning solution at just the right concentration for the specific task at hand – whether cleaning toilets or mopping floors. In the process the dispenser rules out spills, over-mixing, and other opportunities for waste. More importantly, it does away with the toxic chemicals found in more conventional cleaners, replacing them in this case with hydrogen peroxide and citrus oils. So if you notice a hint of orange in the air the next time you are in the Kansas Union, it isn’t the sweet smell of our Orange Bowl champions, but a more sustainable approach to making things sparkle.
Elsewhere on campus, Chevron Energy Solutions (CES) is is working with KU to shed new light in hallways, classrooms, and gymnasiums while cutting carbon emissions (and the University’s utility blls). Since 2001, CES has completed a number of energy and water conservation projects as part of an ongoing contract with the University. This includes replacing about 20,000 light fixtures with more energy efficient lights, updating heating and cooling equipment, and installing programmable thermostats and other equipment to better control building temperatures. One noticeable difference is in the Robinson Health and Physical Education Center, where timers have been installed for lights in the racquetball courts, and motion sensors shut off new energy efficient lights above basketball courts that aren’t in use. Combined, these projects help KU avoid about 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year and save enough energy to power almost 500 homes.
Boosted by concerns about global climate change, energy conservation efforts like these have taken center stage in the sustainability movement. But like many campuses throughout the U.S., sustainability at KU started with recycling. Efforts to recover aluminum cans date back to the 1970’s, so recycling has a long history on Mount Oread. The Environmental Stewardship program continues that tradition on a grand scale, capturing everything from plastic bottles to cardboard boxes. Baling equipment crunches all that waste into compact cubes that are sent on to a recycling facility in Kansas City. Eventually, those materials are converted into everything from eco-friendly kitty litter to energy conserving insulations.
Another effort to turn waste into a resource is taking place in a small lab in Burt Hall. Engineering students and faculty are converting cooking oil from a residence hall dining facility in to fuel. This oil once used to cook up delicious French fries for hungry college students is pumped through a series of tanks that filter, wash, and react the oil with methanol and potassium hydroxide. What comes out on the other side is biodiesel (and the waste produce glycerine). The lab is currently processing about 40 gallons of used oil a week, but they hope to one day capture all the used oil on campus. That could go a long way towards powering KU’s pretty new(er) blue buses.
Sustainability is showing up in smaller projects on the KU campus as well. One example is a raingarden that students have designed as landscaping for the Student Recreation & Fitness Center addition. Through this project, rainfall will be collected from the roof of the building and fed into the garden, slowing stormwater runoff and providing a free source of irrigation for its native grasses and flowers. The students hope to start planting in the Fall of 2008. In the meantime, you can find a different kind of garden sprouting up on the other side of campus thispring. EARTH, a project of the Center for Community Outreach, is reviving a former playground into an urban farm of sorts. Hidden behind the University Relations office (across the street from the Kansas Union), a campus garden is being cultivated to provide produce for area food pantries. The coordinators for this project see it is a way to promote sustainability on campus by teaching students basic gardening skills and giving something back to the community.
From community service to cleaning toilets, sustainability takes on many forms at the University of Kansas. It is showing up in research labs, classrooms, and campus operations. And as the sustainability movement grows, faculty, students, staff and community members continue to ponder just how they can add a little more green to the crimson and blue of Mount Oread.
