GREEN Bag Lunch
"Enough for Everyone"
Sustainability at the UI

presented by UI Sustainability Director, Liz Christiansen

September 24, 2009

After the event Ms Christiansen answered a few questions from Education Staff Council Chair Jim Verry.

Verry: What are the greatest challenges for our campus regarding sustainability?

Christiansen:

• Conserving energy - everywhere and as much as possible - and developing renewable energies that help us migrate away from burning coal.
• Sustainable materials management: not generating as much waste, recycling more and using recycled content materials in all areas of our operations and campus life. This can impact everything from wasting less water to buying high-percentage recycled content paper, to employing better construction methods.
• Educating these next generations to live and thrive in a world that will face significant environmental, social and economic challenges.

Verry: What are THE most important actions we can take as individuals, in our offices and activities?

Christiansen: Simple: Print less, recycle more and at the end of the day, turn off your lights and computer.

Verry: Explain how an energy audit might work using the campus "HAWK TEAM" tell us what happens next after an audit and how we can help be a "driving force" for sustainability?

Christiansen: The UI Energy Hawks is a fast-action energy management and building operations team designed to identify opportunities for energy efficiency improvements and reducing energy costs. The team draws its specialists from Facilities Management building maintenance, commissioning, energy controls, metering and engineering units. Short-term projects will focus on tuning building systems, and will be performed. These projects represent a minimal investment and immediate cost avoidance. Example of short-term projects include:

• occupancy schedules for HVAC systems
• evaluation and tuning of direct digital control systems, and improvements to systems sequence of operations
• repair/replacement of leaky chilled water, hot water, and steam valves
• repair of air handling unit dampers that are not operating properly
• repair of compressed air leaks

Longer-term projects will be identified, prioritized and implemented based on their payback analysis. They require greater capital investment, and generally include contract work. Examples of longer-term projects include:

• installation of variable frequency drives
• large scale controls enhancements
• lighting upgrades
• improvements to building envelopes

As for becoming a force for sustainability, remember that this is a cultural change - one that is bolstered by knowledge and community. Learn about what's happening to the environment and how it affects people and our livelihoods. Find out what you can do to help and actually do something about it. In our jobs at the UI, we can serve as role models for students. What better gift could we give these young people than a sustainable world?

Bibliography of selected reference materials (pdf).