Location: Facilities Conference Room

Time: 12:00 pm

Present Ray McGaughey, Martha Larson, Rhys Lindmark, Chris Remley, George Vrtis

Absent Fadi Hakim, Sydney Weydemeyer, Dan Hernandez, Mark Kanazawa, Steven Spehn

Secretary: Martha Larson

1.     Meeting Minute Approval

a.     Minutes from the April 28, 2011 EAC meeting were approved.

 

2.     2010 – 2011 Year in Review

a.     The committee reviewed a list of initiatives related to the EAC charter and mission that were accomplished during the 2010-2011 school year:

                                               i.     ($) indicates EAC provided full or partial funding)

 

                                             ii.     Climate Action Plan

                                            iii.     Wind Turbine #2

                                            iv.     Trayless Tuesdays > Trayless Everyday in LDC ($)

                                              v.     Composting in Dorms ($)

                                            vi.     GHG Air Miles Calculator ($)

                                           vii.     STA Residence Hall / Study Break Programming ($)

                                         viii.     MPIRG Waste Documentary ($)

                                            ix.     Real Food Calculator Project ($)

                                              x.     Real Food Conference ($)

                                            xi.     Eat the Farm Bill Discussion ($)

b.     Unfinished business to be carried into the 2011-2012 school year includes:

                                               i.     Electric vehicle parking (pending City of Northfield direction)

                                             ii.     Green roof (potential fall 2011 project)

3.     Portable Water Fountain Update

 

a.     Student Activities ended up funding the portable water fountain since it is anticipated they will be the primary user of the fountain and can lend or rent it out to other student groups hosting outdoor activities.

 

 

4.     2011-2012 STA Roster  

a.     Libby Nachman, ‘12 – ENTS 

b.     Ryan Noe, ‘12 – ENTS

c.     Max Miller-Timm, ‘13 – Economics

d.     Laura Henry, ’13 – American Studies (Fall OCS)

e.     Nina Whitney, ’13 – Geology (Winter OCS)

f.      Alex Lai, ‘13 – Chemistry (Fall OCS)

g.     Courtney Dufford, ’14 – Undeclared

h.     Amber Kim, ‘14 – Undeclared (Fall Term Only)

5.     EAC 2011-2012 Roster

 

a.     Hannah Heavenrich, CSA Senate Representative

b.     Student #2 – CSA appointed, fall 2011

c.     Student #3 – CSA appointed, fall 2011

d.     Student #4 – CSA appointed, fall 2011

e.     Kim Smith, Associate Professor of Political Science & 2011-2012 ENTS Director  

f.      Dan Hernandez, Assistant Professor ofBiology

g.     George Vrtis, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies & History

h.     Steven Spehn, Director of Facilities

i.      Martha Larson, Manager of Campus Energy / Sustainability

j.      Chris Remley – Hall Director, Cassat & Memorial

 

 

6.     EAC 2011-2012 Questions to Consider

a.     The EAC reviewed a list of questions to consider as context for planning next year’s committee agenda and actions.  These questions will be reviewed in greater detail at the beginning of the 2011-2012 academic year:

b.     Are there specific conferences or project initiatives that the EAC should fund and advertise or promote via applications?  EAC members agree the committee should select 1-2 conferences and dedicate money to subsidize student attendance at these specific events.  The EAC could solicit applications for grants to these specific conferences, increasing Carleton attendance at these regional and national events.  AASHE, UMACS  and Power Shift were suggested as potential conferences for EAC funding.

c.     How should the EAC be involved in monitoring or administering the Climate Action Plan objectives?

d.     Should the EAC continue allowing funding requests for food at environmentally-related events?  EAC members determined that there is value in funding food requests to increase attendance and awareness of sustainability-related events but that there should be a cap on the amount of EAC project funds that approved for such requests.

e.     How much involvement should the EAC have in designating STA work assignments?

f.      What projects are a priority next year?  What projects from 2010 – 2011 should be continued (or discontinued)?

g.     The EAC has a high level of involvement in student initiatives.  How can we increase EAC involvement in operations initiatives?  EAC members were interested in learning more about how this committee can serve as a sounding board for operations initiatives conducted by STAs or in support of the Climate Action Plan recommendations.

 

7.     Sustainable Revolving Fund (SRF) Update

 

a.     Current Fund Balance

                                               i.     SRF Member Martha Larson reported that the Carleton SRF began with $71,100 and the account balance including project paybacks from all 2008-2010 projects is now $68,275

b.     Project Audit

                                               i.     STA Ryan Noe updated the committee on the status of active SRF projects based on an audit of actual project implementation vs. the original SRF proposal:

 

                                             ii.     CFL Replacement – The project proposed replacing 86 total bulbs in the Chapel, Music Hall, Art Gallery and Nourse for a calculated savings of $838.  Audit results revealed that 35 bulbs had been replaced in the Chapel Music Hall and Nourse, none in the Art Gallery.  Many planned replacements were conducted due to architectural nature of the lighting which does not allow them to use a CFL.  Given an adjustment to the actual price of electricity and bulbs replaced, this projected yielded an annual savings of $322.

 

                                            iii.     Vending Machine Shut-Down – The project proposed shutting down Pepsi and Coke vending machines during summer and winter break in unoccupied buildings.  Audit results revealed 15 machines had been shut down for 42 days during summer 2010, winter break was too short to be worth the shut-down.  This project yielded an annual savings of $469.

                                            iv.     Low-Flow Shower Heads – The project proposed replacing a total of 94 2.5 gpm shower heads in Myers, Nourse, Watson, Musser, Burton with 1.5 gpm shower heads.  Audit results revealed that 84 shower heads were replaced (all proposed buildings except for Nourse).  Also, due to the water pressure in these buildings, Facilities used 2.0 gpm shower heads in lieu of the proposed 1.5 gpm shower heads.  Based on actual water meter data, Myers / Watson used 366,203 more and Burton / Musser used 307,924 less gallons of water during the 2009-2010 academic year. Net savings for all four buildings was 58,279 gallons valued at $425.   Noting we can’t identify the source of the anomalies (i.e. large increases in water use) nor factor in specifics of human behavior (i.e. exact length of personal showers) Mr. Noe posed the question of whether calculated values or actual water meter data should be used for SRF accounting.  He also asked whether the net savings or just the dorms with positive results should be included in the calculations.   Answers to these questions were not confirmed at the meeting.

 

                                              v.     Drying Racks in Dorms – The students in charge of this project reported a calculated spring term savings of $6.25.  They attributed this to lack of awareness and enforcement of the sign-out sheet.  They expect this value to increase during the 2011-2012 school year with increased advertisement of the initiative.

 

 

c.     Biodiesel Reactor:

                                               i.     SRF member Martha Larson noted that the biodiesel reactor project as proposed by Engineers Without Borders (EWB) meets the charter of the SRF which is that projects have a less than six year payback period and contribute to reducing Carleton’s carbon footprint.  Approval of the project by SRF is pending EWB confirmation of the following details:

                                             ii.     Costs: obtain actual material quotes to confirm up-front project cost (current proposal includes estimates), identify which department will fund the proposed work-study position, confirm annual demand for biodiesel meets or exceeds production (assume biofuel not used in winter). 

                                            iii.     Logistics: confirm Earth Tub location with Facilities, identify a faculty or staff advisor for the project, confirm which vehicles will be served by bio-diesel and submit a written project schedule.

                                            iv.     Approvals / Sign-offs: obtain project approval by associated governing bodies (EAC, V.P. / Treasurer, CF&PC), risk management requirements (insurance, waivers) from Randie Johnson, permit requirements from City/State (if needed), approval for added work-study position from Student Financial Services and the department who will fund the position, sign-off from department who will utilize bio-diesel in their vehicles, approval from Facilities and CF&PC on location, and a written contract with Bon Appetit for the input material.

8.     Announcements

 

a.     May 27 (3:00) – Honors Convocation, Stewsie Award Announcements

b.     May 27 (9:00) – Northfield Grassroots Transit Initiative Meeting (Northfield Community Room). Contact mlarson@carleton.edu for details

c.     September 23-24- UMACS (Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability) Conference at UMN Morris.

d.     October 9-12 – AASHE Conference (Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) Pittsburgh, PA

 

                                               i.     END OF MINUTES