May 27, 2010

Conference

Laurie and Rich gave an overview of the conference they attended. Some points:

• Most Institutions have a long range strategic plan for sustainability lead by the Facilities Department.
• Most Institutitons started by getting an energy audit to get baseline measures (the results of sustainability efforts need to be measured so need a starting point).
• Institutions are using money saved from sustainability efforts to support a Sustainability Coordinator position. Seed money might be needed to get an initiative such as this started.
• There are grants available for getting sustainability efforts started.
• Institutions are partnering with public industry to develop new methods for saving energy such as wave power.

Rich gave a plug for conference at U.Mass Dartmouth on June 9th.

Dave said he received the information about the energy and gas use at the Institution. It is in a database that hard to access now but he will work with the organization providing the information to see if this could be improved. Every building (60) has an account. Li Ling asked if we could get the data and manipulate it ourselves. Dave will check.

Transportation Green Team

Bike Repair Day
Jonathan brought up the idea of the Bike Repair Day. He'd like to hold it on two days after work. One day (Tuesday) in the Village, at Walsh Cottage and another day (Friday) at Carriage House on the Quissett Campus. He will pick a day and then needs help with promotion, enlisting Corner Cycle and the Bike Zone and volunteers. Cyndy suggested asking the Bike shops to raffle off some items. Jonathan wants to help the bike shops increase business.

Bike Buddy
Jonathan asked the STF what they thought about the Bike Buddy idea to encourage folks to ride their bike. Seasoned bikers would bike with a new biker to encourage them to bike and give them bike commuting tips. The STF thought it was a good idea. At Bike Repair Day, we could get a list of people interested in participating.

Bike Challenge
Bike Challenge was a  big success. WHOI came in 3rd overall. Announcement will go out in Headlines.

Carpooling to the Farmer's Market
In Headlines we announced the opening of the Falmouth Farmer's Market and asked anyone interested in carpooling to the market to complete a quick survey. We will compile the results and see if we could organize carpools to the market.

Food and Water Green Team

Composting
Experimental composting has started. The Buttery is onboard. There will be composters at Quissett North and by Challenger. The design of the composters is stalled because the carpenters were going to build something but the idea came about to buy composters. The problem with the purchased composters are that they would not hold the grass and leaves that Briggs could add from the WHOI grounds. The Food and Water green team will look into this further.

Water Filtration Systems
There are test systems in Nobska and Challenger. So far the results have been positive. The new systems take up the same amount of room but there are no plastic bottles. In Challenger, instead of having two Poland Springs setups, they are going to have one system so that will save money. Dave commented it would be good if departments could double up like this in other places because the new system is a little more expensive than the Poland Springs. Facilities has an inventory of all the Poland Springs setups at the Institution. The next step is for Dave to get the vendor of the new system here to evaluate the spots to see if they can be converted. Judy Fenwick would really like a new system in Blake.

Eat local and fresh at the Buttery
Trish mentioned that the Buttery will feature local produce a few times a week and is looking for vegetarian recipes.

Waste Green Team

Dave brought up the idea of recuiting ambassadors from each building to help with our sustainability efforts. We could teach these people what to look for and procedures for getting things fixed. Some of the things these folks could do include making sure the lights are turned off, the hoods are down, report leaks, make sure everyone has blue recycling bin, adjust thermostats, close the windows on Friday, make sure storm windows are down, and replace regular bulbs with CFLs. These folks could also spread the word about any sustainability initiatives and help with buy in, etc. Trish suggested looking at our list of STF members and Green Team members to see what places are covered and where we have to recruit people. We could set up a spreadsheet. Jonathan said CIS is working on ways to turn your computer on or off remotely.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 17 at 11:30 a.m. in MRF 204.