Time: 9:00 am
Present Richard Strong, Wayne Beierman, Dennis Easley, Laila Parker, Laura Hmelo, Phil Camill, Max Wilson, Julie Klassen, Ben Lum
Absent Norm Vig?
Secretary: Max Wilson
Buying Local With Marriott
Max Wilson’s report on Hendrix College’s local food program:
Hendrix College’s program in which it purchased the majority of its produce from local farms was discontinued when the director of food service who had set it up left for another job
Representatives at Hendrix said that there had been issues with quality and maintaining a consistent supply of produce
Not much information available as the program had ended several years ago and most involved with the program are no longer with the college
Bon Apetit – the food service provider at St. Olaf – uses apples from Fireside Orchards we should try to get in touch with them about why this arrangement is possible
Also look at the possibility of Carleton running their own food service program which would open up all sort of possibilities with buying local food and such
If we were to demand that local food be purchased how much would supplemental insurance cost?
Could we find a large distributor of locally grown food in the cities with the necessary insurance?
1) Garden of Eagan as a possibility
2) Roots and Fruits – warehouse type supplier in the cities www.rootsproduce.com
The decision not to have local food is purely economical – local food would cost everyone more
Possibly start small and look at using only those products which are readily available in the area
Sysco – the current supplier is the commercial side of the Supervalue company
Composting in the Dining Halls
Report on the discussions with Endress Processing – Wayne Beierman
Last spring their plant was destroyed in a series of 8 or 9 explosions
So far they have only gotten back up to process vegetable and grain waste
They will not be able to process anything with meat until next September if there is meat in the kitchen the waste must be processed in the meat line
It is estimated that we produce 600-1000 lbs. of food waste every day
Waste would be stored in 30 gallon containers on wheels lined with plastic
Waste would be picked up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
Transportation costs are roughly $25 per ton the only way to make costs reasonable is to find partners in town to fill the truck
St. Olaf, the hospital, and schools are possibilities for partners
Endress is not prohibitively expensive especially with foreseen rises in water/waste costs
Currently cheap water is exploited to an obscene degree
The costs of partnering with St. Olaf to build a composting facility are huge
Phil Camill’s class might look at this as a Service Learning project in the winter
Sustainable Living House
Should be used as a laboratory for determining the best sustainable technology
Will the $250,000 from the Luce Grant buy us much?
– would the college invest more into sustainable features?
– could this be the cost of converting an existing house?
– could we get additional grants form NAP and others?
How is the house going to be a unique learning experience?
– Incorporate a campus common area for ENTS/ENTSy meetings and events to be held
– make it a showcase and testing ground for new technology
— partnership with industry?
— make it easy to manipulate components to test new technology
– make the house multi-functional
– insure that students are involved in all aspects of planning, design, changes, etc.
Would there be demand to live there?
– in the recent past about 40 people have applied to live in greenhouse and farmhouse
Energy Use Reduction
A baseline of energy usage should be established
1) pre-rec center
2) with rec center but before Language and Dining and Townhouses
3) post L&D and Townhouses
standardize energy consumption to $ / square foot
A goal could be to try to offset the rising costs of energy through conservation strategies
Issues of controlling the temp in individual rooms local control v. central control – which is more efficient?
What can individuals do to reduce energy use and how can we get them to do it?
Use NSW to raise awareness of issues
Meeting Adjourned