Beneficial Setbacks

While the term setback may imply a negative, in the case of energy savings it’s definitely a plus. For the third year in a row, the University of Florida will carry out holiday setbacks, or more precisely air handling units across campus will be adjusted to unoccupied status. For the Thanksgiving and winter holidays, this means setting thermostats at 68 degrees F. During the summer holiday months the thermostat is turned up to between 80 and 82 degrees F.

The most obvious benefit is monetary, with the savings calculated to be $10,000 per day. But the program doesn’t come without its challenges. Many buildings have essential personnel who work on campus even when the students are gone. File servers, in over 70 separate spaces, require fixed temperatures. And laboratory and research areas cannot tolerate temperature fluctuations.

Some campus locations currently have push button overrides, allowing occupants to set thermostats to occupied status for two hours. It’s anticipated that future monitoring and control programs will allow building managers to review a building’s setback schedule and adjust it as necessary.

But the responsibility for saving energy doesn’t have to fall solely on staff and faculty shoulders. Students are asked to turn off their lights, adjust their thermostats, and unplug their refrigerators before a long break. Even electrical appliances and stereos should be unplugged to avoid the phantom load effect. The US Department of Energy estimates that 6 to 10 percent of a home’s electrical use is for phantom loads, or electronics that are slowing draining electricity to run internal and external clock displays, remote control sensors, and maintain base to unit communications. So unplug your electronics and send the phantom packing during long breaks from school.

Gators Winning for Sustainability

It seems Gators are not just champions in sports. Many of our students are winning national and international awards for their work related to sustainability at UF. We want to thank the following students for their hard work, and congratulate them on their accomplishments:

Sara Hutton was awarded a 2008 Morris K. Udall Scholarship for her studies in sustainability and wildlife ecology and conservation.

Ryan Graunke won the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's (AASHE) 2008 Student Sustainability Research Award for his work on the bio-digestion of Broward Dining Hall’s food waste to create methane fuel.

Hal Knowles was named the 2008 National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Fellow for his work on the UF Carbon Neutrality Action Plan.

Alison Erlenbach won the oikos Student Award 2008 in the 'Sustainable Campus' category for her project Campus Climate Solutions, which trains students to calculate carbon offset needs for events and businesses.

Diamond in the Rough

Diamond Village Graduate and Family Housing Community is going green. It has been chosen by Housing and Residence Life as the pilot project for a campus-wide campaign to increase the sustainability of the university's living areas. Kiera White, a third-year graduate student in Interior Design, is currently working on the project as an intern with the Offices of Sustainability and Housing. White was part of a design studio project team last fall that worked to develop ideas for Diamond Village, such as the rain barrels and herb gardens that are now commonplace in the community.

Currently, she is working with Diamond Village on the re-development of the entire area, which the university wants to develop as sustainability-themed housing. Their main focus is the "breezeway" or common area, which is used by many of the residents for meetings and recreational time.

"We are working to revamp and redesign the area with sustainability in mind." says White. The plan transforms the common area into a place that will educate the residents, get them involved, and allow them to practice day-to-day applications of sustainable living. White wants the area to be easily-accessible to all the residents, even to the younger ones, and plans to have children's activities available to those families interested.

White says that by the end of the fall semester, she hopes to have a design proposal, established budget, and specs for sustainable products ready for the continued work on the effort. She hopes that the success of this project will motivate the housing department to carry these ideas to current and future on-campus living communities.

"It’s a different way to look at design" says White about the combination of traditional and sustainable concepts--"it’s a way to merge the two together."

Erase the Waste

The University of Florida has set an ambitious goal – to be zero waste by the year 2015. Reaching this goal will undoubtedly require an effort from all fronts.

Gator Dining Services, as part of its “Erase the Waste” campaign, is encouraging students, faculty, and staff to sign a pledge to reduce their individual contribution to food waste generation on campus. The pledge, running during the months of October and November, gives some helpful tips on waste reduction and signatories will be eligible for prizes at the end of the campaign.

As part of the campaign, Gator Dining is also working closely with employees on training and education aimed at ensuring efficient use of food during meal preparation. A series of internal competitions between the two dining halls will encourage employees to cut down on the amount of waste generated during preparation.

To sign the pledge, visit Erase The Waste. Prize winners will be notified by e-mail at the end of the campaign.

Light Bulb Battle

Gainesville residents have a chance to offset the pollution from Saturday’s University of Florida football game, help their mayor win a bet with Tallahassee’s mayor and save money, too. All they need is an old incandescent bulb and $1.

Now through Tuesday, residents can stop at one of several area businesses to purchase up to 30 money-saving, energy-efficient, carbon-reducing light bulbs known as compact florescent lights or CFLs. The lights last about 10,000 hours, saving $50 and half a ton of greenhouse gas emissions per bulb.

The effort, called the “Gator vs. Seminole Light Bulb Battle,” is part of an ongoing effort by the Neutral Gator initiative to offset the carbon footprint from UF’s home football games. The initiative has united Gainesville Regional Utilities, the UF Office of Sustainability, the nonprofit Earth Givers and seven local businesses to distribute 50,000 lights before Wednesday.

A diverse range of businesses have agreed to help the cause by providing exchange stations: Indigo Green Store; Lighting Gallery; Zell’s Ace Hardware; Volta Coffee, Tea and Chocolate; Satchel’s Lightnin’ Salvage; Ward’s Supermarket; Rides Auto Sales; and Stubbie Shirt Pub. Gainesville Publix locations will also sell the bulbs from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday. The bulbs also will be on sale at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during the football game. Only cash will be accepted. For more information, visit Neutral Gator.

Giving Gators

UF has a new online resource for the community. Here you'll find outreach programs – local, national and international – sponsored by each of the 16 colleges.

Reaching out to the community is a tradition at the University of Florida, which is a land-grant institution. Serving our neighbors is central to our goal of being an excellent university.

If These Planks Could Talk

The 2006 Gators Championship Basketball floor is gone. After selling a little over a third to an avid Gator fan in the Jacksonville area, the UAA was looking to get rid of the rest of the old planks to free up the storage space they occupied. With the help of the Office of Sustainability, the UAA found Bearded Brothers – Demolition and Salvage Services. With their help, 100% of the floor will be re-used - some as flooring, some as souvenirs, and some will be used by local carpenters here in the Gainesville community. Overall, approximately 27 tons of wood were diverted from the landfill. The memories of those historic national championship seasons will live on.