The Costs of Sustainability at HWS:

An Action Plan for Change

Mark O. Vogelgesang Professor Thomas Drennen

Fall 2007

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Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 4 Waste Reduction: Institutional Composting ........................................................................ 5 Waste Reduction: Travel Mugs ......................................................................................... 13 Green Greek Energy Competition ..................................................................................... 17 Sustainable Purchasing Requirements ............................................................................... 21 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 26 Appendix A ........................................................................................................................ 28 Appendix B ........................................................................................................................ 29 Appendix C ........................................................................................................................ 30 Appendix D ........................................................................................................................ 31 Appendix E ........................................................................................................................ 33 Appendix F ........................................................................................................................ 35 Appendix G ........................................................................................................................ 36 Appendix H ........................................................................................................................ 37 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 40

List of Tables and Figures

Figure 1. The Costs of Composting at HWS at Current Capacity ....................................... 9 Table 1. Green Greek Competition Winners. ................................................................... 18 Table 2. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Costs and Savings ......................................... 24

CD Contents

HWS Composting Model IFC Energy Competition Excel Sheet CFL Cost/Savings Model RA Training Power Point Presentation Full Report

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Acknowledgements I would like to thank Mr. Thomas B. and Mrs. Mary Jane Poole for their generosity and support of the travel mug program. Thank you to Scott Brignall, Deborah Woody, David Iannicello, Professor Wibiralske, and Professor Curtin for their support and assistance with the composting project on campus. Special thanks go out to Clancy Brown and Christine Moskell for entertaining all of my ideas throughout the semester; Hobart Student Government and William Smith Congress and their quorum members for appropriating funds to sustainable initiatives on campus; Kathy Williams in the Communications Office for publicizing the travel mug program; Duane Bortz in the Café for help in establishing the current mug program; Chi Phi for giving me the opportunity to table at Eco Ball; Zachary Kimes, Peter Nettl, and Becky Perkins for their help at Day of Service; Beverly Ilacqua and Kelly McLaughlin at IT Services for answering questions about paper use on campus; and members of Campus Greens for their help with the food mess table. I especially appreciate the advice and wisdom of Professor Thomas Drennen who gave me the opportunity to carry out this project and provided support throughout the semester.

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Introduction

This semester, Hobart and William Smith Colleges have taken a monumental step

towards becoming more eco-friendly. President Mark Gearan signed the Presidents

Climate Commitment (PCC), dedicating the Colleges to be CO2 emissions free. Along

with this, a task force was created to investigate options available to the Colleges and a

senior Group Senior Integrative Experience looked at each of the seven tangible actions

the Colleges may take to comply with the Commitment. These actions are very

important and will shape the Colleges future for many years.

To see how the Colleges could become more eco-friendly, I decided to look at

four areas of concentration: composting, reusable coffee mugs, electricity use, and

purchasing guidelines. Some of the concentrations had been previously implemented on

campus while others were brand new. Additionally, some of these programs are on the

track to success while others need more work. Suggestions will be made at the end of

each section as well as in the conclusion. This report will be given to the PCC Task

Force as an action plan for change.

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Waste Reduction: Institutional Composting

Historical Composting at HWS

The Farm House at HWS ran a composting program for theme houses on campus

until the 01-02 academic year. Each theme house would fill a 5-gallon bucket, which

would then be picked up and processed by a student living in the Farm House. The 02-03

school year saw the dissolution of the Farm House on campus and along with it,

composting on campus.

Aware of the oncoming problem, the spring 2002 Environmental Studies Senior

Integrative Experience (SIE) and Professor Leah Joseph conducted a Composting

Feasibility Study for HWS. In their report, they looked at other colleges like HWS were

doing to process compost (for a list of comparison colleges see Appendix A).

Additionally, they looked at any zoning laws that might hinder the construction of a

composting facility on campus. The report determined that composting needs to be

further investigated before actions are taken at HWS

A year and a half later, another SIE along with Professor Leah Joseph, took on

composting at HWS and built a facility out by Houghton House. They built a static

aerated pile within an enclosed structure that contained four 5’x5’x5’ bins. This size was

chosen so that at a rate of 75lbs of food scrap per day, it would take 4-6 weeks to fill each

bin. By the time all of the bins were full, the compost in the first bin could be removed.1

To get the food waste from Saga to the composting site, a Saga employee takes food

waste from breakfast and part of lunch to a designated garbage can behind the dining hall.

Later in the day, housekeeping transports the bag to a bin at the composting site. Each

day, designated members of the Group SIE were scheduled to go [to] the site to dump the

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waste and the bulking agent into the compost bins themselves.2 After a semester of work,

the Group SIE composted over 1,000 lbs of food scrap3, saving the colleges $47.50.4

They concluded that in order to make the composting project sustainable, a work-study

position must be created. They noted that this position would be educational as well as

economically beneficial experience for the student employed.5

In the fall of 2004, another student, Sylvan Bonsignore Burch analyzed the costs

and benefits of a full-scale composting facility at HWS. As a member of the 2003 Group

SIE, he calculated that his group saved the College’s about $192.00 in dumping fees.6 He

determined that if there were ever the possibility of drawing a profit from this project,

then our campus would need to be equipped with a more substantial facility.7 To run a

full-scale operation on campus, he proposed using aerated static piles that are fully

enclosed.8 The cost to build this facility was estimated at $60,000 and the cost of

operating the facility with a fulltime employee was about $39,000.9 Bonsignore Burch

concluded that unless external support was received by the Colleges, a large-scale

program would not be economically feasible.10

Along with institutional composting, Burch looked into theme house composting.

Residential Education and Saga donated money to buy a compost bin that was placed

behind the Finger Lakes Institute. At the conclusion of his project, five theme houses

were participating in the program.11

That same fall, a Group SIE (GSIE) along with Professor Wibiralske ran and

analyzed the composting operation on campus. They composted over 2,500lbs of food

scraps during the semester and for six out of the eleven weeks, deliveries were made

daily to the facility.12 The group sent samples of the compost to Woods End Research

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Laboratory and found mostly positive results. Some of the negative results included a

tendency towards anaerobic decomposition and the appearance of non-compostable

objects in the food scrap.13

In addition to analyzing the program, members of the GSIE worked to educate the

campus and Geneva community on composting. They set up a mess table in Saga to

show students just how much food is wasted each day. At a lunchtime collection,

students threw away about 90lbs of solid food [scraps] and 12 gallons of liquid food

[scraps].14 Articles were published in The Herald and trash from a dormitory was on

display in the Quad for a week. Two students, Alyssa Carlson and Katie Clifford

developed a five-lesson unit on composting for use by elementary school teachers. The

work of the 2004 Fall GSIE laid a foundation for future composting and recycling

programs.

Current Implementation

Building on the many suggestions made by previous reports, I aimed to bring the

composting program back to the HWS campus. I sought to do this in two ways, first by

reinstituting the program with Saga and secondly, to give theme houses the opportunity to

compost. With the help of Campus Greens, a food mess table was set up at Saga.

Before the composting program could be restarted, the compost facility needed to

be emptied and weeded. This was accomplished with the help of volunteers at Day of

Service: Peter Nettl, Zachary Kimes, and Becky Perkins. Existing compost from the bins

were put into a curing pile and gravel was spread gravel in front of the bins to minimize

mud. At the end of October, both the Hobart Student Government and William Smith

Congress allotted $700 each to sustainable initiatives on campus. A portion of this

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money was used to buy supplies for the composting program (Appendix B). After

Thanksgiving Break, the program was reinitiated on campus using the same logistics as

previous programs. In the subsequent weeks, approximately 100 lbs of food scraps were

composted.

Previous GSIE’s and Independent Studies have determined that a work-study

position should be created to run the program. The composting facility was designed to

process 75lbs of food waste per day, 5,712lbs per bin.15 The Colleges pay $95 per ton to

dispose of waste.16 After operating the program this semester, I determined that an

average of four hours per week would be required of the student worker. The current

New York State minimum wage is $7.15/hr and is the rate for many on campus jobs.

Paying a student to work four hours a week, 140 academic days a year does not yield a

profit for the Colleges (Figure 1). The Colleges end up -$325.96 in debt. Note: no value

was given to the finished product. About 130 lbs of food waste would have to be

composted each day so that the Colleges may turn a marginal profit. This is almost

double the amount that the facility was designed for and requires the addition of more

bins.

Michael DiMauro� 6/20/12 12:24 PMDeleted: Figure 1

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Cost of Composting at HWS at Current Capacity

1/1

1/11

1/21

2/1

2/11

2/21

3/1

3/11

3/21

4/1

4/11

4/21

5/1

5/11

0

200

400

600

800

Money SavedSalary

10 Day Interval

Do

llars

Non-commercial use only!

Figure 1. The Costs of Composting at HWS at Current Capacity Source: Vogelgesang, Mark. “HWS Composting Model,” 2007. See attached CD

Theme house composting was organized at the beginning of the semester with the

Campus Greens House. Five-gallon field paint buckets were acquired from buildings and

grounds and distributed to interested houses or Odells units. Instructions were given to

the participants outlining do’s and don’ts of composting as well as directions for disposal.

Each house or Odells unit was responsible for transporting their food waste to the bin at

the Finger Lakes Institute. Some of the participants had issues with fruit flies in their

bins; this was alleviated by either emptying the bin more frequently or placing the bin

outdoors on a cool night. By the end of the semester, two Odells units and three theme

houses were participating in the program regularly.

On October 31, with the help of Campus Greens a food mess table was organized

at Saga. Uneaten food was collected and displayed on tables in front of the tray drop off

area. At the end of the lunch period, 165lbs of solid and liquid food scrap and 18 gallons

of drinks were collected from the 924 students that ate in Saga. That equals about one

fifth of a pound of food waste per person. Many students were observed throwing away

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whole apples, sandwiches with a single bite taken out of them, and whole slices of pizza.

Throwing away this much food costs Saga and students money. Members of Campus

Greens created a poster to display the results and put it next to the tray conveyor belt.

Last year, in an effort to cut down on food waste, Saga started to give out smaller

portions at many of their stations. Results from previous food mess tables show that this

has been largely ineffective. A possible solution would be to have food mess tables more

often and create a larger display for the results.

Suggestions

Next semester, two first-years, Paul Golob and Tim Robbins, will run the

composting program. Like the students before me, I suggest that HWS creates a paid

student(s) position to run the composting facility. Tim and Paul would be a perfect fit for

the program. As first years, they will be able to refine the program and recruit other

students that are interested in the project. An outline of the duties for the student

composter’s can be found in Appendix C

By March, the compost curing pile should be ready for use on campus. The

student worker(s) will test the compost for pH, carbon to nitrogen ratio, density, and

moisture content with the help of Professor Tara Curtin. If it is determined that the

compost is a quality soil amendment, Buildings and Grounds will use it on campus for

their spring plantings. Before distribution to B&G, the compost must be sorted to remove

all non-compostable and not fully composted materials. The Cornell Cooperative

Extension of Tompkins County recommends using at least a ½-inch screen to sort

materials.17 Since the student worker(s) maintains a record of how much food waste was

processed each day, the weight can be totaled and reported to the Business Office for

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reimbursement. In the short run, this program will not yield a profit but can be

subsidized by the student governments, the Environmental Studies program, or another

office. This past semester has shown that funds are available to cover the costs of the

program. In addition, as stated by previous reports, the composting program can provide

students with hands on learning experience.

It is my hope that the composting program will eventually include the Café, Cellar

Pub, and de Cordova Café. This would require a large commitment by Sodexho to

participate in such a program. I suggest that in future contract negotiations with

Sodexho, the Colleges include a composting provision. A large-scale facility as the one

suggested by Sylvan Bonsignore Burch would have to be built and a member of the

Buildings and Grounds staff would maintain the operation. The added costs could be

offset by processing food waste for other food service providers in Geneva or selling

excess compost to the community. Both of these options will have to be investigated if

the Colleges adopt such a program.

In an effort to reach out to incoming first years, I propose that composting and

recycling become an integral part of the orientation program. For outdoor events

throughout the year and during orientation, Saga can serve meals on paper plates and

cups that can then be composted. Food mess tables should be set up at each meal so

incoming students are immediately aware of their waste. Like many summer camps,

food waste can be sorted by group and turned into a competition. The orientation

coordinators, with help from the Campus Greens can easily run a mess table and track the

results throughout orientation. A prize can be rewarded to the group that creates the least

waste.

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To develop theme house composting, Campus Greens must work with Residential

Education and take an active role in organizing the program. Composting could be a

mandatory part of the cooperative living experience that many houses participate. This

would require educating the Residential Education staff, RA’s, and theme house

managers. A comprehensive Power Point presentation is included in Appendix C that

will be presented at RA training this January and hopefully in subsequent years.

Endnotes

1 Ahouse, Alex et al. Composting Pilot Study. Fall 2003 Environmental Studies Senior Integrative Experience. Project Advisor: Professor Leah Joseph. p 15 http://academic.hws.edu/envstud/GrpSIEReports/Fall03-HWS%20Compost.pdf Accessed 7-12-2007 2 Ibid 17 3 Bonsignore Burch, Sylvan. Independent Study Future Full-Scale Composting Facility Economic Cost Benefit Analysis. Fall 2004, Project Advisor: Professor Anne Wibiralske. 4 Scott Woodworth. Personal Communication 7-17-2007 5 Ahouse, Alex et al. Composting Pilot Study. Fall 2003 Environmental Studies Senior Integrative Experience. Project Advisor: Professor Leah Joseph. p 26 http://academic.hws.edu/envstud/GrpSIEReports/Fall03-HWS%20Compost.pdf Accessed 7-12-2007 6 Bonsignore Burch, Sylvan. Independent Study Future Full-Scale Composting Facility Economic Cost Benefit Analysis. Fall 2004, Project Advisor: Professor Anne Wibiralske. p 5. 7 Ibid 8 Ibid 8 9 Ibid 14, 15 10 Ibid 19 11 Ibid 18 12 Carlson, Alyssa et al. Composting and Recycling Action and Education at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Fall 2004 Environmental Studies Group Senior Integrative Experience. Project Advisor: Professor Anne Wibiralske. p 8 13 Ibid 15 14 Ibid 20 15 Ahouse, Alex et al. Composting Pilot Study. Fall 2003 Environmental Studies Senior Integrative Experience. Project Advisor: Professor Leah Joseph. p 15 http://academic.hws.edu/envstud/GrpSIEReports/Fall03-HWS%20Compost.pdf Accessed 7-12-2007 16 Scott Woodworth. Personal Communication 7-17-2007 17 Is It Done Yet? Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. http://www.cce.cornell.edu/tompkins/compost Accessed 7-12-2007

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Waste Reduction: Travel Mugs

Everyday, many students, faculty and staff use a widely available and sustainable

product, the reusable travel mug. This is done usually for convenience to the consumer

rather than a method of waste reduction. The travel mug initiative sought to bring both

convenience and a message to the HWS campus. Like many retail food establishments

around the country, I sought to give students a discount for using their reusable mug.

When initially proposing the campus mug program, I ran into resistance from all

directions. Questions regarding energy use in production of the mugs, cleanliness of the

mugs, distribution, student use, and design all had

to be answered.

For many years, the Café has sold travel

mugs that are eligible for a discount on coffee, tea,

and fountain drinks. The mugs are not advertised

well in the Café, are bulky and unattractive.

Instead of using a Café travel mug, students often

use their own which is not eligible for a discount.

The reason for this is that the Café does not know

the capacity of the mug and would not be able to

charge accordingly.1 Over the summer, the

attempt was made to have both the Hobart Student

Government and the William Smith Congress

purchase mugs for incoming first years. This idea

Figure 2. A new HWS Travel Mug. “Saving the Planet One Cup at a Time”

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was not accepted and the respective governments bought pint glasses and glass coffee

mugs.

This semester with the generous support of Trustee Thomas Poole ’61, P.’91,

L.H.D. ’06, 500 travel mugs were purchased. They arrived on campus November 14 and

were stored in the buildings and grounds loading dock. Sodexho agreed to honor

discounts at each retail location on campus enabling students to buy a medium sized

coffee, tea, or fountain drink for the size of a small. Students on average saved $0.15 per

drink.

Distribution

To distribute and advertise the mugs, the author made use of many resources and

events on campus. The Office of Communications ran two pieces on the mugs, one on

This Week in Photos and another longer article on the Daily Update (Appendix E). The

two advertisements offered the authors email address to students if they wanted a mug.

The author would then deliver the mugs to the students on campus mailboxes. This was a

great success, resulting in over 50 requests in the last two weeks of the semester.

Another avenue taken was the annual Chi Phi Eco Ball. There, students could sign up to

take a pledge of sustainability, receive a travel mug, and be entered in a drawing for a

Patagonia fleece (Appendix F). Almost 100 mugs were signed up for at the Ball and

were distributed to students’ mailboxes. Mugs were also given away at the fall 2007

Group SIE’s bike collection event and a Residential Education program put on by Kristen

Tobey’s RA staff. The author also distributed the mugs to classes and professors. At the

end of the semester, 250 mugs were distributed to students, faculty and staff.

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In the first two weeks of the program, it was brought to the author’s attention that

some of the mugs were leaking. The producer, www.discountmugs.com, quickly

remedied the situation and shipped 200 new mugs to campus on December 4. Anyone

with a faulty mug could have theirs replaced with a brand new one.

Next semester Professors Thomas Drennen, Susanne McNally and the Campus

Greens will distribute the mugs on campus.

Usage

To keep track of the travel mug usage, retail locations on campus created a special

point of sale category for the mugs. Because the program was only active for a month

before the semester ended, there is insufficient data available to determine the success or

failure of the program. Data will be collected in the following semester and added to the

report.

Suggestions

Continuing the travel mug program is important to raising awareness on campus

of waste production. There are a number of ways to ensure that the program is

sustainable. Associate Dean of Students Robb Flowers assured the author that the student

governments would not distribute beer mugs at orientation and instead hand out travel

mugs. The Library is also interested in putting money towards a mug program. This past

year they started to allow lidded beverages into the library and see this program as an

effective way to keep spills under control.2 Additionally, the College Store is interested

in selling and marketing mugs. Adopting a uniform size would enable them to become a

part of the current program.

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Endnotes

1 Bortz, Duane. Personal Communication. Fall 2007 2 Greenleaf, Sara. Personal Communication. September 28, 2007

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Green Greek Energy Competition

In an effort to reach a different group of students on campus, the Green Greek

Energy Competition was created. The original goal was to see if fraternities would be

responsive to an inter-house energy competition. Each week I took electric, water and

gas readings from the houses. A full listing of the data is in Appendices G and H. To

encourage houses to reduce their utilities use, I petitioned the Hobart Student

Government for money to use as a reward. Funds for the Green Greek Competition were

included in the sustainable initiatives allotment as described in Waste Reduction:

Institutional Composting.

Implementation

The Green Greek Competition was proposed to the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC),

with mixed emotions. Issues were raised surrounding the size and occupancy of houses.

Some of the houses cannot maximize their residency numbers because of fire code

restrictions. For instance, Kappa Alpha cannot have men living on the third floor, but the

Colleges published square footage of the house includes the third floor. Other houses

like Sigma Phi had issues with their electrical system towards the middle of the semester,

resulting in higher numbers. The competition would take place each week and the house

that had the greatest percentage decrease in their electricity use would be deemed the

winner. It was decided that measuring natural gas use would be unfair to houses because

they do not control their own heating. Originally, the prize was going to be a week of

wind-powered electricity purchased from NYSEG. Upon further investigation of the

terms and conditions on the NYSEG wind power website, this prize was ruled out. It was

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then decided that a monetary prize would be given to the winning house that would then

be given to the fraternities’ national charity, national scholarship fund, or any on campus

scholarships.

Week House % Decrease

7 Kappa Sigma 5.08%

9 Sigma Phi 9.60%

10 Kappa Sigma 4.81%

11 Kappa Alpha 9.51%

12 Delta Chi 3.09%

14 Kappa Alpha 19.80%

Table 1. Green Greek Competition Winners. **Note: Weeks 8 and 13 were excluded because of breaks Source: Vogelgesang, Mark. “IFC Energy Competition,” 2007. See attached CD

Observations

Week 7 was the first period in which a reward was given. Upon notifying the

president of Kappa Sigma of his houses results, no information was given as to where the

prize money should go. This happened with many other houses on campus as well. To

date, there are six outstanding receipts. Over the course of the semester (Appendix H),

only Kappa Sigma had a negative electricity use regression. The R2 value for the

regression was very low, 0.06; this shows that the regression line did not have a great fit

with the data.

Many factors could have affected the data. By the end of the semester, it was

dark by 4:30pm, which could result in increased electricity use to light the houses. This

does not seem to be the case when looking at the last few weeks of data. Another factor

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for the peaks and troughs of the data could be pledging; some houses on campus have

weeks where the pledges live at the house. Lastly, when houses throw parties, electricity

use could spike.

The incentive for a fraternity house to decrease their electricity consumption was

very small. To encourage fraternities and other houses to participate in such a

competition, the reward must be visible to the residents. While scholarships and giving

to charities is a noble cause, it has not been a proven method of reducing electricity

consumption among Greek houses.

Fraternity kWh Consumption Per Week

0

400

800

1200

1600

2000

Use 2 Use 3 Use 4 Use 5 Use 6 Use 7 Use 9 Use 10 Use 11 Use 12 Use 14

Week

kWh

∆XKΣKAΣΦΦΣKXΦ

Figure 3. Fraternity kWh Consumption per week. **Note: Use 8 and 13 were excluded due to breaks Source: Vogelgesang, Mark. “IFC Energy Competition,” 2007. See attached CD

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Suggestions

To decrease electricity use on campus, students must be committed to the

program and consistently reminded of it. One way of doing this is to have an energy

competition between dorms and houses on campus. Many colleges around the country

have implemented this type of program. Oberlin College is an example of this. In 2005,

they created a 2-week dorm energy competition. In this time, students from the

Environmental Studies Program and the Psychology Department collaborated to study the

effects of the competition.1 On average, dorms reduced electricity use by 32% during the

competition. The two dorms with real-time feedback won with 56% reductions in

electricity!2 To monitor and display real-time energy use on campus, Oberlin acquired

the services of Lucid Design Group, LLC. Lucid Design Group specializes in creating

visible energy use monitoring systems for corporations, houses, and educational

institutions, www.luciddesigngroup.com. Williams College also has a program like this

and holds a ‘Do it in the Dark’ competition each year. They also have a sustainability

website that students can view and access real-time data on their dorms electricity use.

References

1 Oberlin College. Campus Resource Monitoring System. http://www.oberlin.edu/dormenergy/news.htm Accessed 12-3-2007 2 Ibid

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Sustainable Purchasing Requirements

Each year, the Colleges purchase an abundance of paper, furniture, light bulbs,

and food service supplies. As a result, carbon emissions from the manufacturing,

packaging, shipping, use, and disposal of these goods add to the effects of global climate

change. A products life cycle must be taken into consideration when determining which

products to buy. This semester in the Environmental Studies GSIE, students looked at

the net carbon emissions from HWS. Decreasing the Colleges emissions, within or

outside the scope of the Presidents Climate Commitment should be a priority when

buying new products. This section will cover four main categories of the Colleges yearly

purchases.

Paper

The Colleges use large quantities of paper each year for publications, student

reports, in class handouts, and intercampus mailings. This costs the Colleges a lot of

money and creates a great deal of waste on and off campus. Determining the correct

course of action requires a look at how much and what kind of paper is purchased,

opportunities for reuse, and recycling.

To discuss paper use on campus, I met with Beverly Ilacqua, Program

Management Office Manager, and Kelly McLaughlin, Director of Operations and

Technical Support. They informed me that individual departments and offices at the

Colleges buy paper, and there is not a standard paper used. The most common type is

Discovery Multipurpose, 95 Bright, 20lb paper. This I was told has had great results in

the Colleges various printers and copiers.1 Choosing a paper that worked well in the

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Colleges printers was a chief concern and limits the Colleges ability to switch types.

When asked about making use of duplex printing, the two shared many of the same

concerns as a University of Michigan study. In analyzing error logs from printers,

University of Michigan Information Technology Central Services found that duplex

printing caused 200-500% more printer jams and longer queues.2 To determine how

much paper is purchased each year would require an in depth look at receipts from each

department and office on campus.

Paper that is misprinted has the ability to be used again. Currently the Library

reuses misprinted paper as note pads. Many students make use of this when writing

down call numbers for books or journals within the library. This type of program should

be encouraged around campus so that virgin products are not used for small tasks such as

these. The St. Lawrence University library leaves single side printed notepads out for

students to use. They are left in various areas around the library and come in full and half

sheet sizes.3 After meeting with Kelly McLaughlin, she informed me that this idea was

presented to the Library and should be coming out on campus soon.4

Recycling paper on campus is very easy to do. In places where waste paper

accumulates, there is often a bin available for use. This is seen in the library near printers

and in the mailroom where students can recycle solicited mail. Next semester, the

Colleges will be competing in RecycleMania, a nationwide recycling competition for

colleges and universities. This will be a great opportunity for students to learn more

about what can be recycled and actively participate in the competition.

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Furniture

New furniture is purchased regularly by the Colleges for dormitories, offices, or

classrooms. Dormitory furniture is often limited to certain designs by the fire code and

the Colleges uniformity standards while the other two categories allow for more

flexibility. For this reason, the Colleges have the ability to purchase eco-friendly office

and classroom furniture.

The office furniture purchased by the Colleges is generally made of metals,

synthetic surfaces, and wood. Many of these materials are recyclable and some even have

a high recyclability index (R). A products recyclability index is used to determine if it is

economically feasible to disassemble a product.5 Buying products with a high R-value

enables products to be disassembled for reuse or recycled easily when they are no longer

needed or functional. This prevents them from going to the landfill where they will not

decompose. Designing products with disassembly and reuse in mind is called cradle-to-

cradle design.

Currently, the Colleges purchase most of their office and classroom furniture from

Steelcase Inc.6 Steelcase is an industry leader in cradle-to-cradle design and offers a

wide variety of office and classroom furniture. Many of their products come with an

environmental fact sheet outlining its recyclability. Certifying the products is

McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, who specializes in eco-effective design. The

founders, William McDonough and Michael Braungart wrote a book in 2002, Cradle to

Cradle, which describes in depth, how this type of production takes place.

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When products on campus reach their end of life (EOL), the Colleges often

recycle, sell, or donate the furniture to local schools. These programs should continue

into the future.

Light Bulbs

One of the easiest ways for the Colleges to reduce their electricity consumption is

by using energy efficient lighting. All campus buildings make us of fluorescent lighting

that is much more efficient than their incandescent counterparts. Fluorescent lighting

comes in a variety of shapes and sizes that can fit most any application. There are

problems with this type of lighting that prevent its assimilation into the greater US

market. These are high retail costs and mercury content. I became interested in whether

or not it would be economically advantageous for the Colleges to purchase compact

fluorescent bulbs and distribute them to students for personal use. To test this, I created a

model using PowerSim and found the following results based on four hours of use per

day, 209 days per year (days students are at the Colleges). The model is enclosed on a

CD enabling the reader to adjust variables.

Bulb Eqv Bulb Costs Operating

Savings

Net Savings

75W $2.39 $5.01 $2.62

60W $1.79 $4.28 $2.49

Table 2. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb Costs and Savings Source: Vogelgesang, Mark. “CFL Cost/Savings Model,” 2007. See attached CD

25

With money provided by the student governments, I purchased 200 CFL’s (140

60W, 60 75W). The bulbs were given to students requesting a travel mug and given to

fraternity houses to help decrease electricity use. An additional 100 CFL’s were

purchased to help Greg Davidson and Robert Martinez with their fall 2007 GSIE. Next

semester Campus Greens will give the light bulbs away through a light bulb amnesty

program where students bring in an incandescent and get a compact fluorescent.

Endnotes

1 Personal Communication. Beverly Ilacqua, Program Management Office Manager and Kelly McLaughlin, Director of Operations and Technical Support, Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 10-17-2007 2 University of Michigan Information Technology Central Services. “Why don't we set duplex-printing as the default in Sites?” http://www.umich.edu/~sites/printing/duplex.html Accessed 10-16-2007 3 Personal Communication. Michael Alzo, Associate University and Systems Librarian St. Lawrence University 9-10-2007 4 Personal Communication. Kelly McLaughlin, Director of Operations and Technical Support, Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 10-29-2007 5 Villalba G., et al. “Using the recyclability index of materials as a tool for design for disassembly” (2004) Ecological Economics, 50 (3-4), pp. 195-200. 6 Personal Communication. Howard Simmons, Director of Facilities Operations, Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 12-18-2007

26

Conclusion

Each year hundreds of students graduate from HWS, many of them captains and

leaders on campus. The teams and clubs can readily appoint a new captain or president

to fill the graduate’s shoes but there is not an infrastructure to continue programs created

by independent studies, honors projects, and senior integrative experiences. The only

known project to continue for a period is the composting studies conducted from 2002-

2005. After the spring semester of 2005, all of the students involved in the project had

graduated, leaving years of work obsolete.

Developing a student and administrative awareness of composting and

sustainability is key to success of this and other programs on campus. This can and is

being done in a number of ways. First, the Colleges run a large summer science institute

(ESSYI) each year for high school students; composting and other initiatives can be

worked in to the curriculum. Students can take soil tests, Second, the Colleges Office of

Communication and The Herald can highlight sustainable efforts on campus. Third,

events like Eco Ball can raise awareness and money for initiatives on campus. This year,

$5000 was donated by the Eco Ball to sustainable initiatives on campus.

To maintain progress, the Colleges must create a position that focuses on

sustainability at the Colleges. This person would coordinate student led efforts and work

with the Colleges administration to make recommendations. Many other Colleges have a

campus sustainability coordinator that links student research to administrative offices.

This can be done in a number of ways, Dickinson’s coordinator works in the facilities

office while Connecticut Colleges’ has her own office. Creating such a position would

27

relieve many professors from the tasks of reinitiating programs each year and enable

them to conduct new research.

Throughout the semester, I had the chance to meet with a number of different

offices on campus and discuss sustainable initiatives they can implement. The campus

sustainability coordinator could guide offices in a positive and eco-friendly direction.

In the future, the Colleges have the ability to make institutional changes that can

both benefit themselves and the environment. Some of these ideas have been mentioned

in the above sections, others include:

• A Pump ‘em Up campaign* • Fleet vehicle mpg standard for the Colleges • Requirement that all outside vendors (Pepsi, MacGray), install only Energy Star

qualified units. • Maximizing power management settings for on campus computers to decrease

electricity use • Recycling activities at orientation for first years • Decrease bottled water use on campus by having a blind taste test between Geneva’s

finest and Poland Springs • Creating a ninth graduation goal, sustainability By the Colleges taking a proactive step towards sustainability, we can save money,

become a leader among peer institutions, and reduce our ecological impact.

* Go to http://www.pumpemup.org/index.html for more details

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Appendix A

HWS Peer Institutions College Composting Program • Colgate University** Outsourced to local farms • College of Holy Cross No • College of Wooster No • Connecticut College Outsourced to local farms • Dickinson College Yes on campus • Franklin and Marshall College** No • Gettysburg College Yes • Hamilton College No • Kenyon College No • Lafayette College** Yes • Sarah Lawrence College No • Skidmore College No • St. Lawrence University Set for implementation in 2008 • Union College** No • Wheaton College No ** Indicates Colleges with Sodexho

29

Appendix B

Sustainable Purchases for Independent Study

30

Appendix C

Student Work Study Composting Job Description As a part of the Colleges efforts to make an environmentally friendly campus, I would like to propose the re-implementation of the composting program that was on campus just a few years ago. Already Buildings & Grounds, Campus Greens and Residential Education have expressed interest in the program. The goal of this program will be to compost 375lbs of pre and post-consumer food waste a week. This is about 30% of the food waste generated by HWS Dining Services each week.2 Student(s) will be in charge of running the composting facility on campus. Duties include, weighing food scraps and wood chips, mixing food scraps and wood chips, taking compost pile temperature, and adjusting the inputs for proper composting conditions. Student(s) will work with Professor Tara Curtin to test the pH, carbon to nitrogen ratio, density, and moisture content of the compost. After each bin has gone through a 4-6 week decomposition process, it shall be emptied into a curing pile and left for 4-6 months to cure, occasional aeration of the pile is required. Upon completion of the curing process, the compost must be sorted to remove all non-compostable and/or unfinished materials.

Having a student maintain the composting facility would be a great learning experience and an opportunity to earn some money in the process. I estimate that about four hours a week would be required to maintain the facility. Four hours a week at the state minimum wage ($7.15) would cost the Colleges $5.72 a day and $795.08 a year.

Disposing of 1 ton of waste costs the Colleges $95.3 Composting 375lbs of food waste each week would save the colleges $16.88 a week or $469.13 an academic year. Adding the costs and savings together results in a $325.96 loss for the Colleges. In the short run, this program will not yield a profit but can be subsidized by the student governments, the Environmental Studies program, or another office.

2 Joseph, Leah et al. Composting Feasibility Study for HWS. Group Senior Integrative Experience Spring 2002. HWS Colleges. P 6. 3 Scott Woodworth. Personal Communication 7-17-2007

31

Appendix D

RA Training Power Point Presentation

32

33

Appendix E

News Release: HWS Daily Update One Cup at a Time

Senior Mark Vogelgesang is attempting to save the world - one cup at a time.

With funds provided by Trustee Thomas Poole '61, P'91, L.H.D.'06, Vogelgesang purchased 500 coffee mugs to be used by students in the Café, Cellar Pub, and deCordova Cafe. The effort is part of Vogelgesang's independent study, "The Cost of Sustainability," that he working on with

Associate Professor of Economics Tom Drennen and in conjunction with the Colleges’ recent participation in The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, to minimize waste as well as cut costs for the school and students.

"The idea is to encourage students to use renewable sources and create less trash," said Vogelgesang. "By reusing these mugs — as opposed to using and throwing away a large number of paper or foam cups — we hope to minimize the trash on campus."

The mugs can be used for coffee, tea and fountain drinks; students who use them receive a discount on their drink each time they use the mug.

The Presidents Climate Commitment is a group of more than 400 colleges and universities leading the way to reduce the threats of climate change. The movement provides a framework and support for America’s colleges and universities to go carbon neutral. The signatories of the Commitment pledge to fulfill a three-step constitution that includes expediently initiating a comprehensive plan for climate neutrality, taking tangible action to reduce greenhouse gases, and publicizing the action plan, inventory and progress. The Commitment recognizes the responsibility that institutions of higher education have as role models for their communities and in teaching and training the people who will develop the social, economic and technological solutions to reverse global warming.

Vogelgesang has been distributing the mugs to students who vow to contribute in the effort to improve sustainability. Mugs will also be given out to entering first-year students at the 2008 orientation, thus instilling the thrust of the movement to save money and contribute to a more eco-friendly campus.

34

To request a mug, e-mail Mark at mark.vogelgesang@hws.edu

http://web.hws.edu/news/update/showrelease.asp?id=28881

Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007

35

Appendix F

Chi Phi Eco Ball Poster

36

Appendix G

Greek House Utilities Use

Note: U

se 8 and 13 cover Fall and Thanksgiving Breaks. They w

ere not included in any of the graphs.

37

Appendix H

Fraternity Energy Use Per Occupant

Kappa Sigma Electricity Use per Occupant v. Greek Average (Excluding Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break)

y = -0.3337x + 80.419R2 = 0.0626

0.0010.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

Use 2

Use 4

Use 6

Use 9

Use 11

Use 14

Week

kWh

KΣ

kWh Avg

Linear (KΣ)

Kappa Alpha Electricity Use per Occupant v. Greek Average (Excluding Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break)

y = 0.1227x + 86.318R2 = 0.0077

0.0010.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

Use 2

Use 3

Use 4

Use 5

Use 6

Use 7

Use 9

Use 10

Use 11

Use 12

Use 14

Week

kWh

KAkWh avgLinear (KA)

38

Chi Phi Electricity Use per Occupant v. Greek Average (Excluding Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break)

y = 0.5495x + 65.341R2 = 0.1167

0.0010.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

Use 2

Use 3

Use 4

Use 5

Use 6

Use 7

Use 9

Use 10

Use 11

Use 12

Use 14

Week

kWh XΦ

kWh avgLinear (XΦ)

Delta Chi Electricity Use per Occupant v. Greek Average (Excluding Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break)

y = 0.0257x + 69.151R2 = 0.0013

0.0010.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

Use

2

Use

3

Use

4

Use

5

Use

6

Use

7

Use

9

Use

10

Use

11

Use

12

Use

14

Week

kWh

∆XkWh AvgLinear (∆X)

39

Sigma Phi Electricity Use per Occupant v. Greek Average (Excluding Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break)

y = 0.0667x + 78.371R2 = 0.0043

0.0010.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

Use 2

Use 3

Use 4

Use 5

Use 6

Use 7

Use 9

Use 10

Use 11

Use 12

Use 14

Week

kWh ΣΦ

kWh avgLinear (ΣΦ)

Phi Sigma Kappa Electricity Use per Occupant v. Greek Average (Excluding Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break)

y = 0.7481x + 76.784R2 = 0.3467

0.0010.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

Use 2

Use 3

Use 4

Use 5

Use 6

Use 7

Use 9

Use 10

Use 11

Use 12

Use 14

Week

kWh ΦΣK

kWh avgLinear (ΦΣK)

40

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Integrative Experience. Project Advisor: Professor Leah Joseph. p 15 Alzo, Michael. Personal Communication. Associate University and Systems Librarian

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Bortz, Duane. Personal Communication. Fall 2007 Carlson, Alyssa et al. Composting and Recycling Action and Education at Hobart and

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Greenleaf, Sara. Personal Communication. September 28, 2007 Ilacqua, Beverly and Kelly McLaughlin, Personal Communication. Program

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