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Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm March 5th, 2014 HA 111
In-Attendance: Peck, Bergman, Redman, Herbst, Miller, Lindaas, Hougum, Buccholz
Recycling Awareness Funding Request
*Joe Herbst read the Proposal on behalf of Liz Overbo.
Herbst: Just one step in the right direction
Funding:
-Pamphlet materials: $150 -Paid
Herbst: Part research, part outreach
Lindaas: Use the information to come up with a strategy to then implement.
Miller: Nothing about a solution or something to make recycling easier. We need to remove the obstacles. A bigger project?
Herbst: Obstacle: It isn’t offered at these places; now they’re designing places to put recycling bins. But right now, there aren’t these spaces offered. Essentially, the uncertainty of recycling in the future gets the renters stuck. Also, there might be miscommunication.
Peck: What’s her target market? All multi-family units?
I talked to her about it; target audience = students/faculty/staff that live off-campus.
Herbst: She’ll be working with me on this project. She’ll be meeting up with the recycling coordinators in Moorhead and Fargo.
Redman: Is she making the pamphlet? How many will be printed?
Hougum: What kind of data needs to be collected?
Herbst: If recycling is available.
Hougum: No survey?
Herbst: I don’t think so. She’s asking for about 12.5 hours worth of labor. Trying to keep it small enough to not be overwhelming.
Buccholz: What are the goals?
Herbst: Goal is to make a change, but starts with getting to the bottom of it. It’s not really simple.
Hougum: People know it’s important to recycle; implement fear or guilt in these pamphlets?
Buccholz: You don’t care how much you throw away because it’s one big bin. People don’t think about it. People are visual learners.
Herbst: This pamphlet would include statistics. On Earth Day, she could have a display.
Brian: Liz could contact a housing company and ask if she could dig through the trash and separate the recycling. It’s a wow factor.
Herbst: Not a large sum of money. I’d advise not adding to many stipulations. A good way to get students engaged and motivated.
Miller: Is it normal to be paid?
Herbst/Lindaas: Yes.
Brian moved to vote for request, Bergman seconded.
All in favor: Motion passes unanimously.
Vermaculture tabled until next meeting.
Transportation Survey:
Herbst: Kevin and I put together a 10-question survey and sent it to a qualitative research. It got a lot more complicated. IRB: Institutional Review Board; have to guarantee safety.
Lindaas: It depends on what you are doing with the data. If it’s going to be published, it should follow IRB forms. It’s not that hard to do.
Herbst: Passing IRB shouldn’t be a big deal. But the survey got a lot bigger. The briefer the survey, the more likely people are to take it.
Lindaas: If you want to get rough numbers, you could just do Survey Monkey, but it will be questionable data. That’s the issue you get into. You might just want to get “the pulse” and see if it’s alive and then precede with a bigger survey.
Miller: You went to the sociology department. Could you go the marketing department? They wouldn’t be so scientific.
Lindaas: The first paragraph is required.
Peck: Should target students in different ways.
Herbst: To get students to participate. The longer it becomes, the less likely they are to participate. We want staff and faculty. We could offer students a prize. To encourage faculty and staff (they are the revenue generators)…
Lindaas: You could do an IRB and have a person call a random amount of faculty on campus.
Herbst: What do you guys think of that?
*Murmurs of approval*
Herbst: The point is to decide whether or not the Solar Power Charging station is a good idea or not. Not as simple or attainable. What are the alternatives? I don’t have the numbers on the tracking system, but they’re less than $20,000. Working with MNSCU? Somebody buying solar panels and benefiting? Would you rather see me spend the time on market research or pursue other options?
Miller: I think the visual of a solar array has value. You have in your mind, “this is a green campus.” Tracking could be changed into a charging station.
Herbst: Alternative: we could do the solar array; wait; do market research; and THEN take advantage of the rebate; spend significantly less; and turn it into a charging station later. We can always add it on.
Miller: Is Telsa compatible with other charging stations? Are there opportunities for partnerships?
Lindaas: That’s always an option; reach out to companies.
Herbst: Market research; what are our alternatives?; can we get car companies to contribute?
Peck: It would be nice if students didn’t shoulder the entire weight. I want to see more funding requests. It gives ownership to students on campus. Like seeing my bikefixtation. Smaller projects should be looked at.
Herbst: There are a lot of other options for what we can do and how we can do it. Which option do you want me to pursue? I want to see the solar panel idea go through, personally. 160 micro-grants or one big project?
Miller: Liz’s project will be seen for 1 week. Solar array will be here for a while. I’d lean more towards starting with the solar array and then looking towards the future.
Hougum: If we did the solar array, is there an educational opportunity with that?
Lindaas: Yes; the sustainability energy emphasis. But even with the charging station, there isn’t a big “hands-on” approached. You can point at it; don’t touch.
Herbst: Developing a renewable energy source is educational if that’s what you want to do later in life.
Lindaas: There are students that would jump at the chance to design a solar array. That’s something that would give them experience for the future. Of value if you structure it correctly. Once it’s up and running, though, there’s not much you can do.
Herbst: There are some educational opportunities; but it’s mostly a badge. It is simply for show. Solar array of similar size is (estimated) about $15k less.
Hougum: Going down that path could lead to more micro-grants.
Peck: How easily can a solar panel get damaged?
Lindaas: It can be fairly robust. The strongest glass can withstand hail; possibly beer bottles too.
Peck: We should do more micro-grants and put more effort into advertising them.
Miller: I think that we should look into more alternatives to the solar panels.
Bergman: I think checking out the options with the tracking AND micro-grants.
NEXT MEETING April 2nd at 4 pm in Hagen 111
Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm February 19th, 2014 HA 111
In-Attendance: Peck, Struxness, Jacobs, Redman, Page, Bergman, Lindaas, Hougum, Buccholz, Meland
Introductions: New face, Charles Bergman!
Joe Herbst:
• Printed copy of the budget submitted to SAFRC • Gives a buget outlook for the next few years • Discussion on Solar Panel is on-going, we wanted to get started this spring. • The Green Fee has been collected for over ten years, it’s been collecting money. • At the very bottom of the sheet, you’ll see the on-going collection of funds. • For a long time, the Green Fee committee was “sitting on the cash” so they could
implement a wind turbine. • The idea behind the wind turbine is the generate money for the Green Fee. • They wanted it on campus, but figured out that it is complicated (fall zone, variance,
etc.). • When I started, I read through all the minutes. Saw the desire [for a wind turbine] was
there. • My background was in renewable energy. I think it’d be really cool. • I knew that wind wasn’t a good option; solar is a good fit for us. We use most of the
energy during the day. • MNSCU’s guidelines don’t like holes in roof tops. • There are alternatives to holes, but would have to be bolted down. • On a rooftop, we couldn’t see it. • “Out of sight, out of mind.” Would it generate electricity/revenue? Yes, but not the best
option for us. • Something that’s visible, practical, and would generate revenue. • Electrical cars, range anxiety. • Just because you plug into the grid, doesn’t make you that “green.” • Energy comes from coal (or natural gas). • If you charge your vehicle off of the grid, it’s a lot more eco-friendly. • Any renewable energy will generate revenue back to the Green Fee. • If we do that, we could get 9 cents per kw/hour • We’d be treated more like a residential, independent power producer. • 1978 Law: Must buy excess power. • Found the numbers off of a specifically-detailed panel.
o Revenue: 8500 kwh/yr * $0.09 = $760/yr (19,000 after 25 years) Power sales: 1 space: 2000 hrs/yr * $2.00 = $4000
• Students don’t have the money, but faculty do. They can vote with their wallets. They would buy electric cars if they had a place to charge.
• This idea is like saying “landfill” on our new trash cars.
• About the equivalent to gas prices. • We become a retailer of carbon-free power. • Nisson has a charging station, but only for Nisson cars. • Any power that goes out, we make revenue on, but that takes away from what we put
into the grid.
Meland: There is that group of faculty that live far away, but there are a lot of assumptions. But with the rapid changing of technology, it might be outdated soon. It’s a pretty expensive ticket.
Peck: Fair point. But what needs to come first? The cars or the ability to charge? “I can charge on campus!”
Lindaas: Do a market survey on our campus. Ask faculty and students that kind of question. Do you have range anxiety? What’s your commute? You need to be realistic about how much this would generate. Don’t want what happened to the empty mall to us.
Herbst: Good points. There are nuts and bolts about price and regulations. We also need more research and a transportation survey. Environmental footprint of driving to campus.
Meland: If you’re gearing this to faculty, but taking out of a student fee… There’s a concern there.
Buccholz: We have this fee for the wind turbine and we can’t have that.
Lindaas: Phase 2 of turbine was another location, but not as visible. It became an issue of why we even wanted it. Student-driven zero emission house. It was ambitious and futuristic, but it became obvious that building the house was more than it could cover. Didn’t want the Green Fee to support a grant writer. Needed a sustainability coordinator. The house was always part of it to maintain high-visibly. Discussion on the house has been tabled. It’s just sitting there. You can generate all the renewable energy you want, but it won’t meet demand.
What is the overall benefit to students? What was it for the wind turbine? The benefit is pride; what do you want to show your friends when you bring them to campus?
Jacobs: It will bring more sustainability students to campus. More of an educational experience. Learning!
Herbst: Beacon of sustainability. Liked sustainability when I first saw the wind turbines at Moorhead Public Service. It inspired me to go into what I’m doing today. Nobody around here has it. CAFÉ: Corporate Average Fuel Economy. They see that this is the thing of the future. Auto-makers are pushing it.
Struxness: I’m not sold in either direction. Is it really in the student fees? We would also be first in something; proactive. Loss for five years, but gains afterward? Having it here will draw more attention. Corporate sponsorship? Grants?
Hougum: Do we know what the need for the charging station is in the community?
Herbst: They’ve sold 8 leafs from Nisson; but we don’t really no.
Friend has a range issue; heat isn’t an issue. Round-trip commutes will change the way people operate. We need to think clearly on who will benefit.
Morris is a sustainable campus. When they first started, what were the first things they focused on?
Morris is like the spoiled older brother; have a lot of space and land. We can’t compare ourselves too much. What more information do we need to know (students)?
Buccholz: How many electric cars are there on campus?
Herbst: One Chevy Volt. We could ask the car companies in the area. Not many students.
Buccholz: Would anyone buy an electric vehicle?
Jacobs: Solar panels are a great beacon, but it should be more focused towards students, like a phone charging station.
Herbst: One of the main goals is to gain revenue. Small enterprise.
Peck: Community outreach. This fits within our goals. Generated for the Green Fee would help students.
Jacobs: Students wouldn’t really think that it would help them.
Lindaas: Cell phone charging station would be cool, but not in the winter. Solar panel on the house with lines running from house would goes towards house structure and cars. Students could plug in laptops and social. Would become a sustainability hub.
Lindaas: How much would solar panels cost for the roof of the house? Porch solar panels?
Meland: Solar powered fireplace in the union?
Herbst: If we had something like this to draw attention. We could point to this on grant applications.
Struxness: We need a more forceful survey.
Herbst: What are the alternatives? We should invest the money into something.
Peck: Solar panels in the crappy, grassy area.
Herbst: Wouldn’t generate as much revenue.
Struxness: I like Natalie’s mind frame. We could still think about other options.
Jacobs: I want something to make a statement.
Struxness: The big thing is the student benefit.
Hougum: Academically speaking, is there something about student panels?
Lindaas: If you aren’t able to play with the panels, there isn’t a whole lot that you could do with it.
Jacobs: You could document how you built it.
Lindaas: Community outreach could be what other people could replicate. Wouldn’t be as high-impact as something else.
Herbst:May be possible to build this on the tracker. Structure adds about $20k to the cost. Just the solar panels would be about ½ that price. Charging stations and tracking could be added.
Jacobs: How much would it be for just charging stations?
*Brian Peck tries to plug reducing waste; Worm farm!
Struxness: Community garden. Reach out to construction companies in the area.
Herbst: Canopy is from Italy. Not a ton of savings. There are a lot of alternatives to this project.
Lindaas: Think local. Steel from Italy isn’t sustainability. Doesn’t play as well. Buy local!
Buccholz: If we don’t use the charging station, we still make money?
Lindaas: We’ll make between $750 and $4000 a year. Would we be able to upkeep these spots?
Herbst: Yep! Talked to Jeff.
Lindaas: Bike racks don’t get plowed.
Meland: Let people know the tradeoffs in the survey.
Herbst: Focus group?
Lindaas: Solar panels last 25 years.
Meeting ended at 5:02 pm.
NEXT MEETING March 5th at 4 pm in Hagen 111
Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm February 5, 2014 HA 111
In-Attendance: Peck, Struxness, Lindaas, Miller, Buchholz, Redman
Introductions; New student senate representative (Adam Redman)
Solar Powering Conference Proposal:
Pinneke: There is a “Solar Powering Conference” in St. Paul on March 7th. This would be beneficial for the campus because it would increase our knowledge of renewable energy for future projects. 4 people would be going (Brian Peck, Joe Herbst, Jordan Pinneke, and another student on the recycling team). We would be going down a day earlier (March 6th) to hopefully speak at the School of Environmental Studies about MSUM sustainability and see what they are doing at that school. The conference is from 8 am – 5 pm and includes breakfast, lunch, and appetizers later on.
Lindaas: Did you include cost of transportation?
Herbst: No. I was going to talk to SABC about covering that cost.
Lindaas: How about $225 to cover transportation costs. You could use Enterprise and it will be a lot cheaper.
Amendment: Fund up to $645 for the entire trip (to cover transportation, lodging, and food).
Brian Peck motioned to approved, Kevin seconded
In favor: All
Proposal passed E-mail vote from Taylor Hougum in approval
Second funding request, Bemidji Trip:
Kevin: In November, President of Bemidji State talked about their composting efforts. According to STARS, room for improvement. Kevin and Brian go to BSU. Looked up costs of composting project (for start-up maintainence). February 28th (after SAFRC meeting), get back the next afternoon.
Miller: Are you graduating this semester? Is there a plan to continue after you are gone?
Struxness: Two senators that are freshman plan on taking it over.
Lindaas: Can more people come along? Because there is some interest/expertise that could be brought with.
Struxness: Two student workers would get credits. Need to work with vendors, but Sodexo’s contract is being renewed soon.
Lindaas: Take pictures, write up a report. Great possible internship. Should create a “how to” document to give to students in the environmental science field.
Herbst: There’s been a lot of interest; progress without compost is nearly impossible.
Struxness: Set up a meeting with the sustainability coordinator, food vendor, etc. there.
Herbst: Possibly of re-visiting later in the spring.
Miller: Who is there food vendor?
Struxness: Earmark.
Miller/Lindaas: Sodexo has shown that they are willing to progress with sustainability.
Buchholz: How long would it take?
Struxness: We’ll find out once the new contract is negotiated. The way it sounds, it’s a huge savings.
Miller moved to approve, Buccholz seconded.
In favor: ALL; Kevin abstained.
Proposal Passed. E-mail vote from Taylor Hougum in approval
STARS Report:
Herbst: A lot of work when into it. Condensed copy was compiled. We’ve been through a lot of this already. We did pretty well with academics. This became a road map. We don’t have to spend too much of our time on this. Outreach campaigns is so much of what we do, we fair pretty well.
Lindaas: What are we going to highlight? Things to work on.
Herbst: Transportation.
Lindaas: All transportation?
Herbst: A lot of it is about raising awareness of our footprint (like commuting to campus). Hoping to bring solar panel charging station. Transportation survey. Brick representation is parking lots = stuff in the air. Buildings + transportation = footprint. Prime parking for hybrid/electric vehicles. Coordination for carpooling. Bike share… too expensive. Bike library? Hybrid in motor pool.
Buchholz: All state vehicles hybrid or regular?
Lindaas: All regular. Difficult economically to get a hybrid in the motor pool. Too many costs. Besides transportation?
Herbst: Purchasing. Waste reduction, are we going to spend our time weighing our garbage? Or do something else? Have data on recycling, but not landfill. I know we’re pretty green. However, this is when STARS isn’t the Holy Grail.
Lindaas: Could survey the amount in the dumpsters.
Herbst: There are ways, but I’d rather pursue composting.
Lindaas: If we can find a synergy with academics, it’ll be better to go along with you.
Herbst: *Looking at list* We could use students for these projects, but there isn’t a whole academic component to them.
Pinneke: There is a wish list being put with this on the website.
Lindaas: We should put a time-scale to these projects to plan for different semesters and align them with classes.
Herbst: We can label different sustainable attributes in buildings around campus. Should we get classes involved in the re-contracting of a new vendor?
Peck: Off-campus students need recycling too.
Lindaas: The city might be receptive to doing something.
Bucholz: It’s frustrating for me where I live. It’s a huge inconvenience.
Lindaas: If there was a designated place on campus to recycle, would you be interested? Recycling Center where the old sorority house was.
Herbst: Liz Ovobro is doing research on it right now. There is a way to get recycling at your house. That’s something that we’re working on. We have some glass recycling on campus.
Miller: Do the apartment buildings have recycling in Moorhead?
Peck: No. Houses can (but not paper and cardboard).
Herbst: Multi-family housing is not eligible. But now it is? Need to learn this.
Peck: Something for Cole to work on. I can help out as well.
Herbst: Liz is working on it; might take the lead eventually.
Green Dragons:
Herbst: It fizzled again. Restructured it. Someone runs for president, but doesn’t preside. If the people that have the titles don’t show up, it won’t work. When it’s extra-curricular, it isn’t a priority. Ineffective presidents have been elected so far.
Lindaas: Not just unique to Green Dragons. You have the opportunity to use funds. Use the listserv to get people to go to social events. Have a planning committee on payroll.
Struxness: Don’t want the Green Fee to pay for more payrolls. Make them go to SABC. It’s an org. Don’t subsidize the org. Let them pick what they want to do. You pick the people to give stipends. Keep the budgets separate.
Miller: Can you impeach the president?
Lindaas: Yes, there are bylaws. Advisors have some power/control.
Herbst: I’ve had this conversation with past presidents; step down.
Lindaa: If it dies, you’ve got a great list for worker bees.
Peck: Organizing opportunities shouldn’t fall on Joe’s shoulders.
Herbst: The best thing would be to people put on the payroll; they’d be accountable to me. Setting up a system where everyone that is working in the office is working on organizing things for the Green Dragons. Last semester, we were kicking-butt, until captains had to drop out and leadership fizzled.
Struxness: Don’t create leaders. Find them.
Meeting ended at 5:00 pm.
Next Meeting: 02/19/14
Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm November 6th, 2013 HA 111
Started at 4:05 pm
In Attendance: Miller, Peck, Page, Hougum
Herbst (on Aquaponics):
Alloted the space to do the aquaponics project
Neat trend
Next month, we’ll have an aquaponics workshop
Well worth the request
$275
Vote amongst the group; others over e-‐mail
Miller moved to approve, seconded by Peck
Maaz will take over when student (Tyler) graduates
Affirmative: Peck, Page, Hougum, and Miller
Negative: none
Goals:
Goal Areas
1. Student Engagement/Leadership 2. Operations 3. Campus Outreach 4. Academics 5. Community Outreach 6. Financial
STARS:
No credit for energy consumption decrease due to the decrease in students
Provides a baseline assessment for future development
Won a bronze: “Bronze is the new green”
There will be a press release
*Mazz enters, speaks in accents, and then exits*
Campaign:
“The power is in your hands”
Flypaper put together some graphics and ideas (marketing on campus, separate from PRSSA)
Superhero finger-‐dude as a mascott
Jordan Pinneke volunteered to run around in a superhero costume to promote
Costume in the works
*Back to goals*
Herbst:
Looking at the goal areas, we should give making goals for the committee a shot!
6 areas give a good idea of the things we do in this office.
Challenging/Valuable: Student engagement piece.
Have two resignations in Green Dragon captains
Taylor has been kicking-‐butt!
Academics: going into classrooms, talking about sustainability
Miller: successes came from student engagement; it’s student driven
There is a bell curve for student engagement: some students are VERY engaged (A students); large number of average involvement (B); some poorer students (C)
Classroom credit seemed like a good idea; Edna said “I’m not sure”.” There will still be a bell-‐curve.
How do we turn student engagement into a goal?
Page: Whether it’s a class or classroom visits, there is still exposure for the OCS. Students are the biggest consumers on campus. Community involvement comes with students’ arms and legs, correct? Student Engagement should be number one.
Herbst: I do lots of classroom visits, but how do it transform into a goal.
-‐Peer to peer training is a prime example of what has been done.
Miller: Clarification?
Herbst: SRS coordinates with people around campus and put the recycling service in the hands of the students. Working pretty well. Gets recyclers to talk to their peers on their floor.
During SOC and RA training, we talked about sustainability with campus leaders.
Page: Short term goal: partnerships with the Dragon Leadership Program; possible mandatory workshops for students in this program.
-‐Formalizing (like SAFE ZONE training)
-‐Sustainable Leader on campus certificate
Peck: This will “weed out the bad ones.”
-‐Clear outcomes: What will you gain
Hougum: Sustainability and its relation to certain majors?
Herbst: Meet with Professor Gardner this morning about talking to Argumentative Strategies class in Mass Comm dept.
Page: There will be a natural partnership with service learning
Peck: More than just clean-‐up for service
Page: How does this service impact your lifestyle?
Service for credit or volunteering opportunity?
Looking for a captive audience that won’t be burned out with too much information
-‐Academics:
-‐Service learning
Hougum: roadblock in engagement might be that students see sustainability as a completely separate idea; not seeing the connection to their major. If their professors are involved, there might be a better awareness.
-‐Faculty engagement (and connections)
Page: If it is an assignment in class, they can’t dodge that
Hougum: If it’s a part of their education, it could be good down the road. They will take this knowledge to their careers. Turns out professionals in all fields with knowledge about sustainability.
Herbst: The more they see it, the more they are socialized and use to it.
Operations: lower emissions, less parking lots, more green space. STARS can give us a direction in this area, but compared to other institutions, it’s more about outreach.
Peck: green space was talked about at the Facility and Grounds committee; I can be a voice for sustainability on that committee.
Herbst: where can we get the money to enact this green space?
Peck: HEEPER fund can help with this project.
Herbst: People know that I’m here, even if I’m not looking over their shoulder. Whatever I’m doing, I’ll keep doing.
Miller: Student auditing for local businesses would be great community outreach.
Herbst: This would be a great service learning opportunity. Green Drinks is a networking device.
Peck: Del Rae Williams is all about sustainability and students. Also, downtown Moorhead. We could make downtown sustainable.
How do we get this into a class?
Page: E-‐mail campaign to shift culture forward!
Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm October 16th, 2013 HA 111
In-Attendance: Peck, Struxness, Page, Lindaas, Lisa Stewart, Hougum, Miller, Jacobs (4:35 pm)
Introductions
Minutes Approved
Herbst: Looking at goals is important to see where we need to go.
*Showed sustainability assessment results* “Nice road map, can’t do everything.” We’ll pick up more points in energy, since we reduced our carbon footprint by more than 30% since 2009. More points in other sections too.
Provisional score: 35 (Bronze). Good start. We’re on the board. Will have a celebration to celebrate where we’re at. 45 @ Silver. 65 @ Gold. Platinum a bit out of reach for us.
Will send out copy of assessment once it’s done.
Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign = Lots of points for Green Dragons
Sustainability Learning Outcomes 10/10!
Lindaas: Publish on website? Herbst: We will when we’re done. Lindaas: Helps to have it up if someone has access to something. Herbst: Rather get it done myself.
May be more research that I don’t know about. If the CMU construction project becomes sustainable, we could be a silver. Page: Shooting for B3 for housing renovations.
APUCC: Need to talk to new president about it next year.
Hasn’t been a whole lot done with transportation. Water: we’re kicking butt. Is it possible to weigh our individual reductions in waste?
Big, fat goose egg in investment. University endowments. It we were to start a fund, we would get many points and meet goals.
Volunteer hours through the office are needed. Struxness: Looking at incorporating community service projects into the FYE rubric.
When you start asking questions, you find out new things about the campus. There just usually isn’t a policy for it.
Hopefully will be sent by the end of the month.
Lindaas: We used to be on Climate Commitment, but aren’t anymore. Need to pay dues.
SCIC/OCS 4-Year Goals, Herbst:
When you look at our priorities with the strategic plan, there are parallels.
Struxness: If we can bend it in with the strategic plan, it will help. Not too hard.
Students pay the piper (Joe), they can pick the tune. If we got money from Edna, she could control our developments; but students pay the Green Fee and should call the shots.
If we maintain the status quo, we’re already failing.
Lindaas: We’ll get more money if we stick to the faculty’s goals. But we’ll have to be careful that they don’t take control over our office’s decisions.
Herbst: Great feedback from last week.
Lindaas: Can we move proposal before the goals?
Struxness: Agreed. Can we move it until next [meeting]?
Brian Peck’s Bike Fix Station Proposal:
Saw that NDSU had this station and it was cheap.
Everything for under $1000
Tools heavily protected; no need for electricity.
Will be located right outside Hagan by the bike racks.
Shipping- Free
Installation- Takes only an hour, all we need is a hammer drill which we also may have one on campus.
Standard Public Bike Pump w/o tools- $250.00
Public Work Stand w/ tool holder and tools - $695.00
$945 for everything.
Facilities will bolt it in.
Nice and visible.
Lindaas: Can a camera show the use?
Would like some signage and diagrams. Possible workshops at the bike fix station in the future.
Page: Opportunities to advertise in the residence halls about it.
All approved. Proposal passes.
Struxness: Can we try and track its use?
Peck: Winter will be tough, but spring could work!
Lindaas: Student research project?
Herbst: Bike wash on Earth Day when its warm?
Goals:
Lindaas: Didn’t want to respond, wanted to wait for a discussion. Liked the $2 Million.
Herbst: Are we setting goals for the Green Fee or campus sustainability in general? Green Dragons, aquaponics, etc. go towards our Green Fee description. Original Fee description included mostly revenue-generating ideas.
Page: Is there a time frame that we should use as a filter for determining these goals?
Goal -Objective -Short -Mid -Long
Platinum would be a great long-term goal.
Next Meeting: 11/06/13 at 4:00 in HA 111
Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm October 2nd, 2013 HA 111
In-Attendance: Peck, Struxness, Williams, Page, Meland, Lindaas, Powell, Buchholz
Spring Break Trip (Joe Herbst):
• Argentina/Uruguay over spring break • Eco-‐tourism AND human rights • 12-‐24th • Herbst would teach 1-‐credit portion of it • Wouldn’t be a travel cost to the Green Fee • Lindaas-‐ couple of school days missed; like Biology trip to Costa Rica • Jeremy Carney is working on getting the trip approved • Jan Mahoney said no until she hears about it • Lindaas-‐ enough people go, meeting there!
Budget Changes/Scenarios (Herbst)
• Last meeting, there wasn’t enough support for the solar panel project • Realized that doing these scenarios is an exercise to discover long-‐term goals • Analyzed goals from last year; learned more in the last year than knew before • How are we going to get the most bang for your buck? • Wanted to rewrite our new goals
*Handed out scenarios*
• Just an exercise, not actual expected budget • Don’t even know if $65,000 is enough to do anything with the sustainability house, but let’s
hope • In the bigger picture, we have about $75,000 in the bank account • Bottles, SRS, misc equipment, on-‐going operating expenses, Earth Day • Look at Green Fee and goals to determine what we want to do • 5 year (now 4 year) goals are squishy, more of a vision than a goal – Joe Herbst • Lindaas-‐ Sustainability is something that students look for when applying to higher education
1. Students engaged in things on campus are more likely to stay 2. Students can find a job 3. Including minor in Sustainability could help to gain 200 sustainability students 4. We can own the local distinction as “green school” 5. Substantial cost savings – now not really possible. It’s been done (Herbst). I wouldn’t agree
with that. There are energy-‐savings on campus. We can change human behavior to continue savings that Jeff hasn’t done. Fume hoods in Hagan could save energy. Let’s do green-‐chemistry! Students: 1600 live on campus. There’s a high percentage that have little fridges that eat power. Big fridges would create community (Lindaas). Yes. However, if we can’t quantify what we’re conserving, when we start to reach the peak of our usage, we’re going
to get less fresh air. Building aren’t sub-‐metered. We can still do things, but substantial (5-‐10%) is not possible. Scheduling helped (Meland). Reduced our water cost, what’s substantial? I can’t justify (Herbst). “The low-‐hanging fruit has been picked.”
6. Published research-‐ we still might want this. More faculty realm, but this program can still help facilitate.
7. Regional conferences – lots happening at Concordia because of the money. Lindaas-‐ Still is other funding available for outside speakers/events. Dill Fund Speakers can fund, now have a college with environment at the end of it. We can do it! Peck-‐ Team up with Concordia? Mug rack in room! Supply mugs!
8. Measurable trends-‐easy one. 9. Resource to local places – still working on it. 10. Zero green fee – State funding is not going to happen. We’ve been fortunate. Facilities paid
for a lot-‐ furniture, recycling bins, etc. Lindaas-‐ 1.5 million isn’t out of the question. SCIC is great feedback for Joe (student-‐run entity). Could get publications, write grants, and look for outside sources of funding. If we have a grant for solar panel charging, we could do it no problem. Herbst-‐ Looking for grants, sitting on money though Lindaas-‐ Need cash to make cash. Chances are higher with matching. No one will say no to lots of matching money that will kick money back into budgets. Buccholz-‐ Two kinds of grants: Academic and 501C3 Non-‐profit grants (which can through foundation) Bremmer Foundation.
Scenarios:
Lindaas-‐ like this, Joe. Other people might have other ideas. Goals are a rubric. List ideas under scenarios and check off what they address. What things can you do with this pot of money to check of goals?
Buchholz-‐ How do we, as a committee, impact the goals?
Herbst-‐ And that’s why I want to rewrite and rethink these goals. Possibly condense to 5 simple goals.
Lindaas-‐ Need projects to get students involved. *Many agreed with this*
Buchholz-‐ Solar Panel project doesn’t involve student involvement.
Herbst-‐ Campus Sustainability could be a 3-‐credit class to work on projects.
Buchholz-‐ Possible coarse requirement.
Meland-‐ Every department needs a transformational goal. Spend energy and effort in its tie to sustainability. The impact and money doesn’t fit for solar panels.
Page-‐ 5 priorities released. Many parallels with this office.
Lindaas-‐ It isn’t hard to realize that we have an opportunity to transform our campus and curriculum. Become a “green school” in words and deed. One of our missions should be to train students. Everyone could leave school with a sustainability minor. Everyone should be a green dragon. Office helps with first three goals indirectly. Green Dragons is measurable. Need mini-‐Joes.
Herbst-‐ Fits in with sustainability squared. Have captains signed up for credits. Need to chart a course.
Dismissal.
Next Meeting on 10/16/13
Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm September 18, 2013 HA 111
In-‐Attendance: Jacobs, Powell, Struxness, Hougum, Peck, Williams, Page
Minutes were approved. Motioned by Peck, seconded by Powell
Student Recycling Service (SRS) Funding Request:
• Equipment, t-‐shirts, and food for team meetings • No more than $620 • $4500/year for student workers • Peck: needs equipment for efficiency; meant to last for many years • Powell: How many will need to be bought again? • Equipment: $140/2 carts; $318/shirts; $140/2 meetings • Peck: probably less for t-‐shirts actually • Struxness: problem w/ funding food through fees • Peck: cans will pay for party at end of semester; food is for meetings, not party • Herbst: not an organization, can’t go to SABC; SABC money comes from fees anyway. Are we
getting our bang for our buck? Meals help people show up.
Powell moved to approve the bill; Hougum seconded.
• Opened for discussion • Jacobs: come in under budget? Peck/Herbst: money doesn’t leave the account. • Herbst: meetings help for problem solving; once a month works best; About $1,000 comes out
of Green Fee, about $10,000 total (but comes from more creative way).
In favor: Jacobs, Powell, Hougum, Peck, Williams, Page (via e-‐mail: Lindaas, Wolf, Scott)
Opposed: Struxness
SRS Funding Request Passed!
Membership Dues for AASHE Funding Request
• Herbst: Pay for Stars; standard fair for OCS • $1220/year • This year, we are stuck in order to receive our rating for Stars program ($900 wasted) • Next year, we can further the discussion • October 1st: membership expires • To continuously keep our Stars rating, we need to remain enrolled • Peck: we know what the qualifications are • We want to get published in Sierra magazine, not needed afterward
Peck motioned to approve, Powell seconded
In favor: All (including via e-‐mail: Wolf, Scott)
AASHE funding request motion passes.
Funding Request for Aquaponic funding system:
• Herbst: confusion in green house about space allocated; described system • Confusion about who is taking care of it • Contact is Mazz Marry; needs to take responsibility for who takes care of it • Funding request would buy back system from student that spent too much money for it • Struxness took care of it this summer; “paid for glue, can’t take glue back.” We should fund this
to claim ownership and for future research. Possibly open it for an hour/week to show people around. System is dead now (as of yesterday). It was Tyler’s senior project last year, actually being used for research. Space wasn’t used originally anyway.
• PecK: can we conditionally approve this so that someone has to be in charge of it to allocate the money?
• Herbst: 1. Space becomes dedicated from the Green Fee Committee. • Struxness: Pod 2=Aquaponics; Pod 1=For tours • Funding Request: Contingent upon approval from the Green Fee Committee • Asking for $275
Peck moved to table; Jacobs seconded.
Herbst read the bill for Solar Canopy Project:
• 2003, start of Green Fee (from $3 to $5) • Students wanted a wind turbine (benefit students); lacked planning; money started collecting • Started at around $100,000 (gone down since then). Money was protected for some type of
renewable energy development • We couldn’t have a giant wind turbine (due to many problems). Not feasible. • People found out about Green Fee and wanted lots of things (bike racks, trees, etc). • Could not spend money, but we should fulfil students’ wishes. • Best thing Herbst (and others) came up with is solar canopy (electric vehicle charging station). • 9 cents an hour; more than campus pays • Do we sell electricity to users or reimburse the Green Fee? • Every year will generate a revenue back into the Green Fee.
Passes picture of canopy around table
• Possible that in a few years, students might be able to buy electric cars • Benefit of being the local (regional) leader in sustainability • We’d be the first! • Coolest thing: if you plug into the vehicle at home, doesn’t mean you aren’t contributing to
greenhouse gases. Our footprint would be next to nothing (GHG) • Struxness: how does parking feel? On board. Charge for spot? Charge users by the usage (but
costs an extra $8000 plus $275/year. Charge possibly $2/hour. • Only have a couple.
• People with electric vehicles park there for free until enough use is there to start selling a permit or charge by the hour.
• Nisson Leaf (electric only); BMW IX (sports car, 100% electric): 10 cents/kilowatt hour, cost of running a vehicle (12k miles/year) $350-‐450/years.
• Peck: knowing this exists would encourage others to have an electric car be a feasible option • Struxness: Even if we don’t charge, how will we know it is students only (not only students). We
are using student fees. Green fee reimbursement. • Powell: Maintenance fees? Yes, but cheaper than other options. • 4 spots. • Give priority to students. Discounted price.
Powell moved to table the discussion indefinitely; Jacobs seconded.
Barik Williams brought forth a proposal for t-‐shirts for his Game-‐Day Sustainability challenge
• Needs 8 t-‐shirts for the event; $130; one-‐time payment
In favor: Jacobs; Peck; Hougum; Williams (via e-‐mail: Wolf)
Obtained: Struxness; Powell.
Dismissal.
Next Meeting: 10/02/13 at 4:00 p.m.
Sustainable Campus Initiative Committee (SCIC)
Meeting Minutes 4:00 pm September 4, 2013 HA 111
1. Introductions-‐ done. 2. Scheduling issues
a. Where is everyone? b. Afternoon meetings = good c. Appreciate people coming
3. Solar Canopy a. Feasibility study done; wind turbine is not feasible b. Started looking at rooftop solar = out of the question.
i. Can’t show people ii. Against MNSCU regulations
c. Put out solar in parking lot d. Depends on the cost of the structure that covers the spots e. 2 parking spots, electric vehicle charging stations f. Solar charging stations = fossil fuel-‐free g. Nisson Leaf, 120 miles on one charge h. Cost = $50,000, about $7,500 back-‐ used to implement charging stations i. Questions from Matt:
i. What if the energy is not enough for a charge? 1. Attached to grid, pull from there
ii. Just 2 spots? 1. For now
iii. Possibility of connecting all of them + have more in the future? 1. Yes, but need more info
j. Public Safety + Facilities on board, Jan Mahoney wants a cheaper option + aesthetically pleasing
k. Jeremy Page: i. Public Safety cars?
1. Theoretically, but they are at the other end of campus. l. Panels will pay back into Green Fee m. Dragon design? – Matt n. Paying cash for it, no need for fundraising o. Look at numbers to see how long it will take to pay back p. Woo hoo! Excited! – Joe
4. Student Recycling Service a. Brian is the manager
i. Spent summer emptying bins ii. Started from bottom
b. Not a lot of major changes to the service c. Going to have semester trips (instead of trip at end of year)
i. Alexandria, skiing + snowboarding d. Aluminum pays for semester trips e. Jeff Goebel pays students’ rate each week.
5. Green Dragons a. Leaders: waxes and wanes b. Have a lot of interest c. Requires a lot of planning d. Had 20-‐30 people at the beginning of the year, whittled down to almost nothing e. Now a wing of the Office of Sustainability; no longer student-‐run f. There’s green in all of us – Joes
i. Not exclusive, inclusive g. Pitched idea to Natalie = Great idea! h. Best when hands-‐on i. Maybe once-‐weekly hands-‐on activities, meet up @ office and do stuff j. Matt:
i. A whole new thing? ii. Joe: Was too much last year, no longer a standard club iii. Budget? iv. Joe: Has a budget, needs requests
k. “Bigger than a club” – has a full-‐time person to lead it l. Still will have captains m. Not a democracy-‐ JOE IS KING n. Incoming Freshman class is coming into Year 2 of Sustainability o. J Page: A good step towards a funded student position (like SOCs or RAs) p. Matt: Captain pins! q. Joe: Has a budget to pay captains r. Meeting for Green Dragons tomorrow: 4 PM s. Matt: Each project has its own captain t. Joe: Tomorrow:
i. Ideas go into “buckets” ii. Each person can choose what “bucket” they’re most into iii. Get “buckets” straightened out; each “bucket” gets a captain iv. There will be food at first meeting!
u. $3, student can make their own phone charger out of a solar panel v. Can still do leadership, but has a scapegoat w. Downsides? NOPE. x. Poop in a group = A-‐Okay
6. Two interns: a. Matt: Policy
i. Now a member of Senate ii. Lots of reading
b. Natalie: Community Organizing and Outreach i. Looking for places for future interns
7. Campus Sustainability Assessment:
a. Very close b. Going to have a ceremony to roll out the results c. “Stars”
8. Newsletter: a. Hired a writer (Val)
i. Works in English Department 9. Valley Earth Resource Committee:
a. Local businesses that plan Earth Week events b. Joe is chair on the committee c. Trying to start a green networking meeting (cocktails) once a week
10. Faculty/Curriculum Coordination: a. Didn’t happen last year, but will happen this year (hopefully) b. OCS does not equal Major c. Looking for ways to foster sustainability in the classroom
11. Got recycling bins around campus! a. Not done yet b. Crappy mesh bins need to go
12. Classroom visits a. 6 currently b. 1 at NDSU
13. “Last One Out” Campaign a. Last one out shuts off the lights b. Meeting with fly paper on Friday
14. Bike Station (Brian): a. NDSU just got a bike fix station
i. Tools to tweak bike ii. Under $1,000
b. Need to find a place to put it c. No power!
15. Budgeted $5000/year for events 16. The End.
Next Meeting: 09/18/13
