Questions?

Contact:

• Gosia Sklodowska,
  FAS-CERP Coordinator

FAS Environmental Competition

and the trophy goes to...

William James Hall,

winner of the FAS Environmental Competition 2008

 

 

 

 

 

Buildings' Environmental Performance

For a comprehensive overview of buildings' performance, click here (.xls)

Environmental and Financial Impacts of the Competition

Winners:

• 1st Place: WJH: 46 points out of 54
• 2nd Place: Hoffman: 41 points out of 54 (winner of the FAS Energy Competition, 2007)

• Building that achieved the largest reduction in its energy use: Physics (Jefferson and Lyman): 22.39%

Environmental impacts:

Overall energy reduction (November 07 – March 08):  405,846 MMBtus

Overall savings (November 07 – March 08): $72,472

Overall GHG emissions reductions: 229.051 MTDCE compared to the baseline (FY05-07)

This is an equivalent to one of the following:

• Annual greenhouse gas emissions from 42 passenger vehicles
• CO2 emissions from 26,012 gallons of gasoline consumed
• CO2 emissions from the energy use of 20.2 homes for one year
• Carbon sequestered annually by 52.1 acres of pine or fir forests

* Based on http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html

About the contest

This year's contest was by far the more comprehensive environmental competition ever run at Harvard. The participating buildings were judged on a wide range of environmental criteria, including energy use, water efficiency, cleaning practices and renovation guidelines, as well as on day-to-day practices among their occupants.

All the infrastructural, operations and maintenance criteria were based on the LEED-EB (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings) rating system, considered to be a US-wide standard for evaluating building’s performance. While Harvard has now over 20 LEED certified and registered projects, none of them are LEED-EB certified. Our hope is that by using the LEED framework and implementing some of the best operational practices in several buildings at once, we will position them well to applying for the LEED certification in the future.

To view all the criteria we will be taking into consideration when evaluating the environmental performance of your building, click here.

Monthly Campaigns

13 buildings threw their hats into the ring.

• 1414 Mass Ave
• Barker
• Boylston
• CGIS
• Herbaria
• Hoffman
• Jefferson
• Littauer
• Lyman
• Music
• Sever
• University Hall
• WJH
  

Highlights from the Competition

Building Occupants

Eco-Citizens: CGIS, Littauer, Herbaria and CGIS – monthly meetings to discuss environmental campaigns. 1st Tuesday of the month, 4-5PM, CGIS Cafe

Green Teams: Herbaria and Hoffman

Monthly Green Tip emails: all buildings

Newsletter: Vita Viridis, by Stephanie Zabel from Herbaria (April issue: environmental initiatives across the FAS)

Visual audits:

• lighting at night (the majority of lights in all the buildings are off at night)
• recycling practices (Hoffman is leading the way – no mixing of trash and recyclables in the bins – very conscientious behaviors among the occupants)
• power management in the computer labs: some labs more willing than others to activate power management, at least on monitors (e.g. WJH’s computers in the computer lab have been all power managed for a few years; IT in Boylston made a commitment to implement it in their labs as well)

Recycling audits (a random day in January):

WJH: 73% recycling rate

Other buildings: recycling rate over 50%: e.g. Barker, Boylston, University Hall, Paine and Physics

Pledge campaign:

Over 550 people in these 13 buildings made a commitment to green their lifestyles on campus and beyond. In WJH, every 3rd person signed the pledge.

Building Operations and Maintenance

Sustainable Sites: Bike racks: several buildings will be installing additional bike racks: Littauer, Physics, CGIS. Goal is to promote alternative transportation.

Environmental Quality: Green Cleaning: majority of buildings will review their existing cleaning contracts in the light of the FAS Green Cleaning Policy and will make changes to the behind-the-scenes practices; foam soaps and paper products.

Water Efficiency: water conservation: plans are being made to retrofit water fixtures in Barker, WJH and Littauer within the next few months, before tackling other buildings

Materials and Resources: Low VOC paints and adhesives: will be given preference during future renovation projects. This will improve indoor air quality in the buildings. Alternative materials, such as recycled content carpets; bamboo flooring will be investigated during future projects by the majority of managers.

Energy and Atmosphere: energy audits. All bldg managers met with the FAS Energy Manager, Chris Trent to review the schedules and talk about the HVAC systems with the goal of identifying energy conservation opportunities. Lighting upgrades and schedule changes were the most common outcome from these meetings.

Innovation in Operations: in Physics, energy efficient Mitsubishi Jet Towel hand-dryers were installed as a pilot in two bathrooms. LED spotlights, that can last over 10,000 hours – used in somelabs and hallways. In CGIS, the building manager worked with the Sodexho café and Rob Gogan on setting up a composting program for kitchen scraps in the café.