SUSTAINABLE
FSU
March/April 2015
March/April 2015
IN THIS ISSUE: Campus Greenspot: FSU Facilities - p.1 Program Highlights: STARS - p.2 Nole in Action: Holly Kouns - p.4
March/April 2015
Campus Greenspot:
FSU Utilities gets a
Boost of Sustainable Support Though the majority of the utilities and energy management at FSU occurs behind the scenes out of glimpse of the typical student, the daily work of the utilities programs is critical to the overall measurement of sustainability at FSU. Because FSU’s utilities and energy program is the area in which we have the largest opportunity for saving of both money and resources on campus, Sustainable Campus works closely with FSU’s Utilities and Engineering Services, with the common goal of striving for maximum energy conservation and efficiency. Another key player in our energy efficiency and sustainability impact is the multinational energy company, Siemens, who has been involved with FSU for over 25 years as an investor in our utility program. Siemens works with Utilities to provide a building automation system that has helped FSU lower its energy usage by 10% per square foot since 2007. A new grant from Siemens will now directly impact FSU student’s ability to be sustainabile around campus. Siemens announced early this year that they will be providing FSU with a grant to support the Green Fund and Energy Fellows initiatives. The Green Fund is a program which sponsors student-led sustainability projects that have real impacts around the campus. Student recipients of the fund are given the opportunity to develop and implement a wide range of projects, all of which lead to advancements in sustainability that we can see in tangible ways. The projects vary widely in scope and topic, and address a myriad of eco-friendly needs around campus while giving the student practical, hands-on experience. (For an example of the type of project the fund makes possible, check our interview later in this issue with student recipient Holly Kouns).
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March/April 2015
Left to right: Marc Craddock, Siemens, Charley Cohen, Siemens, Mark Evans, Siemens, Dennis Bailey, FSU Facilities, Elizabeth Swiman, FSU Sustainable Campus, Greg Eaton, Siemens, Don Pittman, Siemens, Matthew Taylor, FSU Foundation, Jim Stephens, FSU Facilities, Jessica Blackband, SGA Office of Student Sustainability.
In addition, the grant will also make possible an Energy Fellows class, taught by the directors of Sustainable Campus and FSU Utilities. When the course kicks off, students interested in gaining hands-on, technical energy expertise will be able to increase their practical knowledge while learning alongside experts in the field. Here’s just a glimpse at what the recently-announced grant and partnership with Siemens will mean for FSU students and faculty: Kick off financial support to help the Green Fund become a reality. Increased opportunities for students to address sustainability needs and see their ideas for sustainability projects come to life A collaboration between Sustainable Campus and Siemens to ensure maximum effectiveness of the Green Fund program and expose students to experts in the field This grant allows the Green Fund to come to fruition and will give students the opportunity to bring their sustainability ideas to life. Now that the groundwork is set, the future of the Green Fund will depend on additional partnerships, collaborations, and individual support. Check out our March issue for additional info on how you can get involved with the fund and have the chance to implement your sustainability ideas. www.sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/greenfund 2
March/April 2015
STARS ranks FSU on
Sustainability Achievements
FSU students are all-too familiar with grades and test anxiety, but students aren’t the only ones on campus being graded. Though not in the form of the familiar scantron or bluebook, FSU undergoes rigorous assessment as well in order to measure the comprehensiveness and success of campus-wide sustainability efforts. STARS-- The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, is a self-reporting framework that more than 690 campuses around the world report to measure their sustainability performance and find out where they could improve. The all-encompassing report examines every minute aspect of a school’s sustainability strategies and rewards them accordingly with a bronze, silver, gold or platinum rating. FSU Sustainable Campus director Elizabeth Swiman, who’s at the helm of the reporting operation, starts the process of reporting to STARS by first rounding up a variety of campus representatives to lend their expertise and provide info from their department. Once everyone’s on board, Swiman “lets everyone loose for a couple of months to compile data.” From start to finish, the process takes about a year. 3
March/April 2015
Why so long? Consider just one of the questions on the report, which asks: Of all campus vending machines, concessions food and beverages, and on-site franchises, what percentage of the food purchases are local and community-based? Calculating that number is a laborious task on its own, and it’s only a small part of the multi-faceted report that FSU compiles. Not only does the report meticulously document areas that might come to mind when we think of sustainability, like our recycling program or how renewable energy is used on campus, but everything down to our dining hall’s use of recyclable packaging and how many offices use eco-friendly cleaning products is taken into account. Swiman says the data she and others must round up is scattered across an expansive campus, as FSU is a much larger school than many others participating in STARS. The task can be daunting, but ultimately the results of STARS provide a valuable and in-depth look at how FSU’s sustainability efforts are working, and where we could do better. For example, Swiman recalls “the 2011 report showed we could work on decreasing the amount of waste generated per person on campus – this helps us look at waste reduction strategies.” Other areas we excel in include campus and public engagement and health and well-being, while Swiman says the assessment has helped point out that we can continue to push for an increase in the sustainability included in FSU’s curriculum. Much like a test, it’s not always a flawless measurement of progress, but STARS still provides schools with the most comprehensive tool available. Other reports or surveys can become just another “ranking”, Swiman points out, but STARS provides participating schools such as FSU with an honest and realistic look at how to improve and move forward for the future. Data collected during STARS reporting process will provide the information needed to help create a sustainability plan and Climate Action Plan for FSU – both of which the Sustainability Advisory Council have been charged with developing. See for yourself how FSU measured up, at https://stars.aashe.org/institutions/florida-state-university-fl/report/2015-01-30/ 4
March/April 2015
Nole in Action:
Holly Kouns’s Hydration Stations
Holly Kouns, a Library and Information Services master’s student and the Outreach Services Specialist for University Libraries, has been making an effort to incorporate sustainability into her life ever since she took a fieldtrip as a kid to the city landfill. She says the shocking sight of the trash and enormous waste opened her eyes to the fact that each of us contribute to this daily. So to help alleviate this problem, she launched an initiative to get hydration stations installed around Strozier and Dirac libraries, which make it fast and effortless to fill up a reusable bottle, funded by last year’s mini Green Fund program. Kouns hopes the hydration stations will make it will help us all kick our habit of reaching for a single-use plastic bottle of water, which can take over 1000 years to decompose in a landfill. From a practical standpoint, when calculated per ounce (using the single 16.9 ounce bottles that most of us buy), bottled water is twice as expensive as gasoline, and sometimes found to just be tap water with a fancy label. Luckily, hydrations stations like the ones Holly installed give us an easy way to fill up our own, even when we’re in a rush and on-the-go. We spoke to Holly about her project, and why she feels making FSU a bottle-free campus is so important. facebook.com/takebackthetapFSU 5
March/April 2015
How did the idea for your project come to you? Have you always cared about this particular issue? I had never seen hydration stations until a couple of summers ago when a few were installed in Oglesby Union. I can honestly say it was love at first sight. I rarely go anywhere without my reusable water bottle and they made it so convenient to refill quickly and without getting my hand soaking wet from using the fountain. I wanted to do something that would encourage students to stop and think about how we contribute to waste and what steps we can take to minimize that amount.
What was the process of working with and receiving the Green Fund like? It is easy to see a problem and think it should be fixed, but putting actions to words can be daunting. Luckily, University Libraries values sustainability and were incredibly supportive from the beginning. Receiving the Green Fund was awesome because it allowed me to give back to my community by providing a way for everyone to contribute to a cleaner campus.
How have you seen your hydration station projects make a dierence (in the libraries)? I hardly ever use it without waiting for someone to finish, or someone coming after me. The last time I looked at the bottle counter there was around 30,000 bottles saved at the Strozier station by people refilling rather than buying. That roughly equals three-fourths of the student population at FSU. That is incredible to me.
Do you have any other sustainability-related goals or ideas that you'd like to see implemented around campus? Something I would really love to see around campus is more awareness about the ways FSU and Campus Sustainability are making a difference. So much of what they do keeps our campus beautiful and promotes a more beautiful world. I want students to know how much one person really can make a difference when they make even the smallest step towards living a greener life. For more information about the bottle-free movement, check out the Take Back the Tap initiative, which educates students on the environmental drawbacks of bottle water and points out ways to embrace tap water for good.
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