The Green Initiative Fund

Transcription

1 The Green Initiative Fund University of California, Berkeley Annual Report

2 TGIF Annual Report written and designed by Nicole Leung With thanks to the TGIF Committee Photo Credits: cover, clockwise from top left courtesy of Irene Seliverstov, Beth Piatnitza, Cathy Kodama, Nicole Leung; pg. 6, courtesy of Irene Seliverstov; pg. 7, courtesy of Sabrina David; pg. 8, courtesy of Cathy Kodama; pg. 9, courtesy of Beth Piatnitza

3 Table of Contents 2 TGIF Background Highlights 4 Future Steps 4 Grant-Making Committee Members 5 Budget Information 6 Portfolio of Completed Projects as of June Portfolio of Active Projects as of June Grantees Grantees (Continuing Project Updates) 17 Appendix A: Complete List of TGIF applications submitted 1

4 TGIF Background The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) is a grant-making fund for sustainability projects on UC Berkeley s campus. TGIF is funded by a $5 per semester student fee which began in fall 2007 and will continue for ten years. About $250,000 per year is available for grants; all students, faculty, and staff are eligible to submit project proposals. Projects are selected for funding by an annually appointed Grant Making Committee consisting of students, faculty, and staff in which students have the majority vote. The fee referendum was approved by the student body during the April 2007 ASUC elections and received final approval by the Chancellor and Board of Regents in summer Highlights The academic year continued to build off of the work of the committee during the prior year. Nicole Leung, the first TGIF Grant Coordinator, was hired and began work during the fall semester to raise awareness about TGIF and support the efforts of the committee and the 2008 grantees. Of the 2008 grant awaredees, five projects were completed by June 30th, 2009 and four are still in progress with most of these to be completed during the fall semester. These projects are detailed further in the Portfolio of Completed Projects, but each of these grantees generated an increased awareness of sustainability in the campus community as well as reducing the amount of resources consumed by the university. For instance, the I Heart Tapwater Campaign combined outreach activities such as tabling with water bottle give-aways with efforts to promote infrastructure projects like installations of hydration stations in campus buildings. During the spring semester, TGIF was heavily promoted to solicit more grant applications and publicize the efforts of the grantees. TGIF was communicated largely through online methods ( s, the TGIF and other campus websites, online newsletters) although a series of class announcements and three informational sessions was also undertaken to communicate about the applications. Nicole and members of the committee also tabled at many campus-wide events such as the PlayGREEN Festival, Cal Day, and at Earthweek activities. Finally, in a tradition that will hopefully continue into the future, four of the 2008 grantees and TGIF created posters that were displayed at the CACS Summit, the Office of the President Earth Day event, and the UC/CSC/CCC Sustainability Conference in Santa Barbara. 2

5 For the grant cycle, a total of 33 applications were submitted with a total request of almost $1.3 million. The number of applications was up from last year as well as the entire amount request (the total was about $1.2 million). This year TGIF received significantly more small requests (those less than $10,000). A brief description of each application submitted is included in Appendix A Grant Submissions # of Grants Submitted Amount of Grant Request ($) (Rounded up to the nearest $5,000) Grant Submissions # of Grants Submitted Amount of Grant Request ($) (Rounded up to the nearest $5,000)

6 Future Steps Next year the committee will be looking to streamline the grant-making process, ensuring that the TGIF grant cycle continues to meet the needs of those interested in instituting change on campus. For example, the committee may require project abstracts be submitted before an application, a practice commonly used by nationwide grant-making organizations, as a way to encourage dialogue between the TGIF committee and individuals or groups. With the support of a half-time grant coordinator, the committee may also consider moving to conducting two grant cycles per school year and allow projects another opportunity to improve their applications and apply again for a grant. As always, TGIF will also continue to reach out to students and communicate the extraordinary efforts of TGIF awardees to green and reduce the impact of the campus and illustrate how student money is spent. To this end, TGIF is developing a new logo design to re-brand itself, which will also be used by all grantees on publicity paid through grant awards. The new logo is expected to be completed before the beginning of the Fall 2009 semester. Grant-Making Committee Members Appointing Organization Administration Associated Students of UC Berkeley Chancellor s Advisory Committee on Sustainability Committee on Student Fees (non-voting) Facilities Services Faculty Graduate Assembly Grant Coordinator (non-voting) Student At-Large Representative and Committee Chair Representative Lisa McNeilly Katherine Brittain (fall), Kaitlin Jaffee (spring) Shawn Orgel-Olson (fall), Xander Lenc (spring) Kristina Punwani Judy Chess Cris Benton Karen Weinbaum Nicole Leung Morgan Wallace 4

7 Budget Information Income Student Fees (Less Return to Aid) $278, Carry-forward from $88, Total Income $367, Expenditures Non-grant expenses $21, Salary (One 50% FTE) $19, Office Expenses $ Publicity Costs $1, Grants Awarded $286, Total estimated carry-forward to $59, Total Expenditures $367, TGIF had an unexpected amount of money to grant to the projects due to 2008 summer revenue from student fees and because estimates of money returned to aid were much greater than the actual amount. The estimated carry-forward to is partly a result of summer revenues as well; the grants were awarded in April only from revenues that were in hand at that point, and thus did not include the summer 2009 semester revenues. The other half of the carry-forward is earmarked for the grant coordinator salary to ensure that enough money is on hand for payroll purposes; this amount will not change the estimated amount of money that will be awarded to the grantees. 5

8 Portfolio of Completed Projects as of July 2009 Building Sustainability at Cal Program Awarded $25,000 in 2008 Building Sustainability at Cal works to reduce the environmental footprint of campus buildings while educating students about green building standards, following the LEED-EBOM guidelines. Students are trained to do audits, educate others, and network with staff and faculty on campus. This is accomplished through two DeCal classes taught each semester (ES 98/198 and ER 199) and work done by year-round building interns and students in the Undergraduate Apprenticeship Program (URAP). In , BSAC worked in a total of twenty buildings, generating 17 audits and implementing 13 education/outreach projects and 5 infrastructure projects. Through the infrastructure projects alone, students were able to save 3 million gallons of water and divert 350 lbs of waste, resulting in a reduction of over 9000 kg of CO 2. Irene Seliverstov Undergraduate Student Laura Moreno Undergraduate Student Civic Center Compost Kick Off Event: Coordinators Claire Evans and Farah Ereiqat Rahim Ali, Shawn Orgel-Olson, and Cameron McColgan digging through Haas School of Business waste 6

9 Earthweek 2009 Awarded $10,000 in 2008 ($2,000 will be awarded each year from ) Earthweek 2009, which took place April 20th 24th, had three goals: to create events and displays that would attract and educate students on campus who were not active in the environmental movement, provide resources for students already interested in sustainability, and create an atmosphere where the Berkeley community could celebrate the achievements of the environmental movement thus far. Events with big draws included the Memorial Glade picnic where students could learn about and sample sustainable foods, Professor Dan Kammen s Lecture on Obama s Energy Policy, a workshop about worm-composting, and the BAM/PFA sustainability party for the opening of the Human/Nature display. One of the biggest successes for the week was the Memorial Victory Garden, established between Evans Hall and Memorial Glade, which has drawn a significant amount of attention due to its visibility. Project Lead: Sabrina David Undergraduate Student A student browses the fresh fruits and veggies at The Local, a produce stand run by the ASUC Sustainability Team 7

10 Below: Kim LaPean tabling at a Tap Water Tuesday event Above: A student shows off her prizes I Heart Tapwater (formerly Healthy You for a Healthy Universe ) Awarded $5,000 in 2008 The I Heart Tapwater campaign, a collaboration between Cal Dining, Recreational Sports, EH&S, and University Health Services, served to promote tapwater as a preferred beverage over bottled water, soda, and energy drinks. A key part of the campaign was to address the negative perceptions of tap water and improve the campus access to drinking water; to this end, staff and students worked together to promote tap water through development of a website ( online pledge as well as distributing 1,000 reusable water bottles and other promotional materials. Students enrolled in the fall class NST 166 were trained to audit water fountains in over 65 buildings and reported on twenty fountains that were problematic for PPCS to repair; the entire audit was made public to help overcome the stigma of dirty water fountains as a dis-incentive for drinking tapwater. Finally, the project staff worked with campus building managers to establish locations for hydration stations, and after delays and complications were able to install two hydration stations in the Recreational Sports Facility. Since , vending and retail sales of bottled water have dropped 25%, about 175,000 plastic water bottles. Cathy Kodama Health Promotions Manager, University Health Services Trish Ratto Health*Matters Manager, University Health Services 8

11 Lower Sproul Plaza Redevelopment Eco-charette Awarded $4,000 in 2008 The goal of this project was to generate sustainable design strategies and performance goals for the Lower Sproul plaza redevelopment, now called the Lower Sproul Student Community Center project. The eco-charette, titled the Sustainable Design Workshop, was held November 7th, 2008 and approximately 40 students and staff attended. The list of sustainability initiatives stemming from this workshop ranged from installing green walls, visible green roofs, solar panels, and wind turbines to increasing outdoor night safety for students and more space for student groups. It is not known at this point what the quantifiable impacts of this project will be, but if the project moves forward (which is dependent upon the fee referendum next year), the suggestions from the eco-charette will be further explored in future design workshops and incorporated into the entire redevelopment project. Project Lead: Beth Piatnitza Assistant Director, Physical and Environmental Planning Middle: CED Prof. Chip Sullivan creates a mural in real time Bottom: Student and staff presentations of group planning concepts Student Internships for Jump-Starting the Office of Sustainability Awarded $15,000 in 2008 The grant awarded to the Office of Sustainability supported three student intern positions to implement various sustainability activities in three areas: purchasing, metrics and reporting, and student involvement. In student involvement, students created publicity content and coordinated four well-attended campus forums throughout the year to increase collaboration and communication among campus entities as well as introduce new students to the resources on campus. The 2008 Campus Sustainability Assessment was released in October 2008 and the student working on metrics and reporting was listed as the primary author; the report provides accurate, transparent data for campus benchmarking and goal-setting and will continue to be updated annually. The purchasing intern has drafted guidelines for 9

12 green purchasing which will be finalized over the next few months. Although the benefits of the metrics/reporting and student involvement interns is largely qualitative, the work of these students is expected to increase efficiency of students and staff working on campus. The development of the green purchasing policy and guidelines was estimated to reduce CO2 emissions by 1,340 tons, and the environmental impact will continue to be monitored as implemented. Project Lead: Lisa McNeilly Director, Office of Sustainability 10

13 Portfolio of Active Projects as of July Grantees Berkeley Student Food Cooperative Awarded $91,000 to the ASUC Sustainability Team The mission of the Berkeley Student Food Cooperative (BSFC) is to provide fresh, healthy, environmentally sustainable, and ethically produced food at an affordable price to Berkeley students. The BSFC will be a student-run food café and market which will expand the existing market The Local by renovating an existing storefront either on- or near campus. Alli Reed Undergraduate Student, Music Christina Oatfield Undergraduate Student, Environmental Sciences Better Bin Awarded $3,500 to Berkeley Innovation Berkeley Innovation, a student run product design group, will develop a practical composite recycling and trash bin for high rise student residence halls on campus. A two-week recycling bin case study will be conducted to test prototypes and identify the most effective bin; the end goal of this project is for the university to adopt this bin for use in all rooms as well as share this tool with other universities. Project Lead: Iris Jiang Undergraduate Student, Bioengineering The BicyCal Project: Green Bike Share, Student Bicycle Cooperative, and Yikes! Bikes! Awarded $12,000 to BicyCal The BicyCal Project will increase usage and awareness of bike-based transportation for students, faculty, and staff. TGIF will fund the Student Bicycle Cooperative (SBC), a student-run 11

14 initiative to provide a centralized space for bike maintenance and education. The SBC will employ student mechanics to teach customers how to fix their own bikes. Justin Wiley Undergraduate Student, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management Marcelo Felipe Garzo Montalvo Undergraduate Student, Comparative Ethnic Studies CLAS Carbon Smart and LEED-EB Certification Project Awarded $5,200 to the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) In the past year, CLAS has increasingly focused on issues related to energy needs through the Americas and thus has decided to undertake a project to have their office LEED-EB certified. CLAS will target efforts in waste generation and management, energy use and performance, and water consumption. A starting grant has been awarded to fund the initial assessment of the building to identify strengths and needs. Sara Lamson Vice Chair, Center for Latin American Studies Beth Perry Program Coordinator, Center for Latin American Studies Lawns to Meadows Plan and Implementation Awarded $40,000 to Facilities Services and Capital Projects During this project, a master plan will be prepared to convert selected grass lawns to regionally appropriate plants to promote more efficient use of water and resources while respecting how open space is used and the character defining features of the landscape. Two contrasting sites will be selected as model sites, and a series of open workshops will be conducted with professionals and students to develop guidelines for future work. Jim Horner Campus Landscape Architect, Capital Projects Theron Klos Grounds Operation Manager, Physical Plant Campus Services 12

15 No More Down the Drain Awarded $2,700 to the ASUC Art Studio The ASUC ceramics studio is not well equipped to fully collect all of the clay and/or glaze that currently goes down the drain; the TGIF grant awarded to the art studio will go toward installing a sand and sediment trap that will catch these materials. In addition to draining cleaner waste water, the art studio will be able to recycle the clay and process it into usable ceramic tiles. Erik Scollon Ceramic Studio Assistant, ASUC Art Studio Kate Wees Director, ASUC Art Studio Recycling at Cal Program Awarded $55,000 to Campus Refuse and Recycling Services The Graduate Assembly Environmental Sustainability Committee, in partnership with CRRS, will install a series of outdoor multi-material recycling containers on campus and accompanying bin signage to increase the beverage container recycling rate. Through student and administration input, funds will be used to improve signage and potentially to redesign the actual recycling bins. Michal Shuldman Graduate Student, Integrative Biology Philippe Marchand Graduate Student, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management Talking Louder about Campus Sustainability Awarded $18,250 to the Office of Sustainability To increase the visibility of sustainability activities and engage a broader base of stakeholders, the Office of Sustainability will be granted money to launch a one-year comprehensive marketing and outreach campaign. Two to four students will be hired to reach out to the general campus population through a variety of communication techniques to encourage participation and behavior changes. 13

16 Kira Stoll Specialist, Office of Sustainability Lisa McNeilly Director, Office of Sustainability Water Metering and Sub-metering of UC Berkeley Campus Buildings Awarded $56,000 to the Berkeley Institute of the Environment This project, an extension from the graduate class The Secret Life of Buildings, will address campus water consumption by increasing temporary and permanent water-use monitoring in seven buildings, and replace a small number of toilets and urinals with more water-efficient models in the most wasteful facilities. The buildings will be connected to the campus wireless monitoring system during this project, and all of the monitoring data will be available through the Dashboard website (see pg. 16 for more information). Lindsay Miller Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering J. Elliot Nahman Graduate Student, Architecture Wurster Hall Compost Project Awarded $3,000 to Housing and Dining Services In an effort to make Wurster Hall a more sustainable campus building, a compost program will be started in Ramona s Café. The TGIF grant award will be used to install a new sink to safely rinse out the compost container. Ultimately, the project will be expanded to include all food waste from Wurster Hall. Eliahu Perszyk Facilities Manager, College of Environmental Design Shirley Ferentinos Manager, Housing and Dining Services 14

17 Grantees (Continuing Project Updates) Anthony Hall LEED-EB Certification Awarded $10,000 to the Graduate Assembly in 2008 Although the initial proposal for Anthony Hall was to begin the process of certification, the project team has come to realize that a number of the originally indicated items are already up to best-practice standards and as such should be able to fulfill the entire LEED certification process. The GA is aiming to finish the final requirements of certification and start the LEED performance period by the end of the Fall 2009 semester. Some of the improvements to be made in Anthony Hall include instituting a compost program, introducing task lighting, and upgrading to programmable thermostats. Bradley Froehle Graduate Student, Mathematics Alberto Ortega Hinojosa PhD Student, Public Health Strawberry Creek Native Plant Nursery and Garden Awarded $12,865 to Engineers for a Sustainable World-Berkeley The plant nursery/shade house is finally being installed in Wellman Court next to Giannini Hall after receiving final campus approvals. Construction will run through the summer with a target for starting nursery operations Fall Work will then turn to building and planting the demonstration garden opposite the shade structure. Sintana Vergara Graduate Student, Energy and Resources Group Tim Pine Environmental Compliance Specialist, Office of Environment, Health and Safety 15

18 UC Berkeley Campus Dashboard Awarded $76,750 to the Berkeley Institute of the Environment A working website for the Dashboard is now available at with data from several buildings around campus. The website provides real-time and historical data for energy and water and provides several views for comparison and monitoring of consumption. A kiosk will be installed in the Free Speech Movement Café in time for the beginning of the fall semester which will display dynamic, real-time information about energy usage (both café operation and student energy usage due to laptops and other plug-ins) as well as other educational features such as a game to help students contextualize resource consumption data Sam Borgeson Dual Masters Student, Building Science and Energy & Resources Group Omar Khan PhD Student, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University Hall: Going Green! LEED Awarded $10,000 to the Office of Environment, Health, and Safety Several projects in University Hall have been completed on the path to LEED:EBOM certification, including the replacement of several inefficient appliances, application of window film to cut down on heat and glare, and a green coffee hour outreach event held in December for all building occupants. After a series of such sustainability education events, the project team realized that more information needed to be made available to building occupants to change behavior. For this purpose money has been re-allocated to develop a website and additional publicity materials, which will continue to be designed through the beginning of the fall semester. Project Lead: Rebecca Anderson Environmental Specialist, Office of Environment, Health, and Safety 16

19 Appendix A: Complete list of TGIF applications submitted Application Name Sponsoring Orgnization Project Description Request Autoclave WaterSaver Device Research Enterprise Services Install and test a water saver kit for autoclaves in Stanley Hall $3, Berkeley Green Campus Program Berkeley Green Campus Variety of student projects aimed at changing behavior and installing energy efficient products $2, Berkeley Greenhome Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Pilot-build a prefab accessory dwelling unit exclusively for Cal community members $149, Berkeley Student Food Cooperative ASUC Sustainability Team Create a natural and sustainable food cooperative on campus $91, Better Bin Berkeley Innovation Develop and pilot a bin to separate recycling and trash in residence hall rooms $3, Bike-to-Work Organization and Coordination Physical and Environmental Planning Hire a student intern to coordinate Bike to Work Day 2010 $2, BicyCal BicyCal Expand current bike-share program and create a bike maintenance station on campus $43, Energy and Water Outreach Campaign Facilities Services Continue funding for intern to foster awareness of sustainability and conservation $3, The Carbon Footprint of Cal s Forests UC Center for Forestry Quantify the amount of carbon that is stored and sequestered in Whitaker Forest $17, Cal Habitat Restoration Leadership Training Office of Environment, Health, and Safety Program to train students to promote and lead volunteer habitat restoration events $9, Cal Living Centers Energy and Resource Department Transform four existing student houses into sustainably designed structures $53, Cal Recreational Trail Project Ecology Restoration Group of UC Berkeley Develop a multi-use trail system in Strawberry Canyon $78,

20 Application Name Sponsoring Organization Project Description Request CLAS Carbon Smart and LEED-EB Certification Project The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) Help CLAS achieve LEED-EB Certification $98, Green Coach Berkeley Roots and Shoots Create software to reduce energy, paper, and ink on the campus IT network $15, Green Printing ASUC Art Studio Create an environmentally friendly print shop $6, Green Vacuum Clean Residential and Student Service Programs (RSSP) Provide LEED-certified vacuum cleaners for student use in oncampus residences $49, Hydration Station Installations and Design Guidelines Capital Projects Install 10 hydration stations and develop design guidelines for installation in existing buildings $144, Lawn to Meadows Plan and Implementation Facilities Services, Capital Projects Prepare a master plan to convert selected grass lawns to regionally appropriate plants $70, LEED: Tang s Green Initiatives for Cal University Health Services Help Tang Center achieve LEED-EB Certification $36, Motion Sensors Research Enterprise Services Install motion sensors in labs and other smaller rooms in Stanley Hall $8, No More Down the Drain ASUC Art Studio Install a sand and sediment trap to reduce and recycle clay and glazes $5, Online Campus Ride Board / Ride Sharing Resource Physical and Environmental Planning Create an online ride board to encourage car sharing $5, Recycling at Cal Program Campus Recycling and Refuse Services Increase can/bottle recycling by installing new outdoor recycling containers $81, Recycling Totes Residential and Student Service Programs (RSSP) Provide in-residence recycling totes in Albany Village and Smyth-Fernwald households $21, Resource-efficient Kitchen Remodel Department of Bioengineering Remodel the bioengineering kitchen to add an efficient dishwasher and composting $28, ReUSE Online Materials Exchange ReUSE Develop online system to facilitate direct exchange of reusable items $5,

21 Application Name Richmond Field Station Solar Orchard Installation Talking Louder about Campus Sustainability UC Berkeley BioBlitz University Hall Green Restroom University Hall Hydration Station Water Metering and Sub-metering of UC Campus Buildings Wurster Hall Composting Project Sponsoring Organization Energy Resources Group Office of Sustainability Berkeley Natural History Museums School of Public Health School of Public Health Berkeley Institute of the Environment Housing and Dining Services Project Description Build a six-dish solar thermal array at the Richmond field station One-year marketing and outreach campaign to increase awareness among the campus community Organize event to inventory all living organisms in an area over a 24-hour period Install two green restrooms in University Hall; this is part of the Go Green! Initiative to make University Hall the first highly rated LEED-EBOM building on campus Install up to 3 hydration stations in University Hall; this is part of the Go Green! Initiative to make University Hall the first highly rated LEED-EBOM building on campus Update water meters on several buildings and install efficient toilets in Wurster Install new sink in Ramona s Cafe to begin a composting program in Wurster Hall Request $75, $18, $54, $11, $9, $75, $2, Total Grant Request $1,280,

22 The Green Initiative Fund 400 Eshleman Hall #4500 University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA