Location: Facilities Conference Room

Time: 12:00 pm

Present Ray McGaughey, Rhys Lindmark, Kim Smith, George Vertis, Sydney Wedemyer, Martha Larson

Absent Mark Kanazawa, Libby Nachman, Steve Spehn, Chris Remley, Dan Hernandez, Fadi Hakim, Nina Whitney

Secretary: Martha Larson

               I.         Approval of Minutes

 

Minutes from the 9/30/10 meeting were approved.

 

 

              II.         STA Project Updates

 

Residential Life STA Laura Henry summarized her planning efforts related to campus outreach and communication.  Suggested initiatives include regular movie nights, preparation of Residential Life “activity modules” for use by R.A.s, campus postings and a sustainability competition between club sports teams.

Residential Life STA Michelle Hesterberg and EAC STA Alex Lai, provided an update on the trayless dining initiative.  They compiled a petition of over 500 signatures in favor of trayless dining and plan to present a “Trayless Tuesdays” proposal to CSA and the Dining Board.   The EAC provided their endorsement of the initative.  Committee member Kim Smith questioned the role of the EAC to approve and/or endorse STA activities.  Martha Larson will refer to the Committee charter as a potential resource for this information, but suggested that by endorsing the proposal the Committee was granting STAs permission to cite EAC support when presenting the Trayless Tuesday proposal to CSA and Dining Board.

Committee Chair Martha Larson reported on behalf of Facilities STA Nina Whitney that the building information matrix is in the process of being compiled and color-coded to note where energy conservation measures have already been undertaken in campus buildings and where there is opportunity for future improvements.  This information will inform the Energy Conservation Measures section of the Carleton Climate Action Plan.

Facilities STA Ryan Noe reported on the Energy Information Database, noting that a kick-off meeting with ITS occurred on October 13.  The objective is to develop a way to compile all campus energy data into a single database for use by faculty, staff and students in evaluating campus energy consumption and exporting select data sets.

            III.         Sustainable Revolving Fund

 

Committee Chair Martha Larson noted that Engineers Without Borders plans to submit a Sustainable Revolving Fund proposal for a biodiesel project which would utilize waste kitchen oil to power campus vehicles.  The Committee requested confirmation of who is on the 2010-2011 Sustainable Revolving Fund evaluation committee.  Ms. Larson did not know but will research this information and inform the Committee.

            IV.         Wind Turbine Site Selection

 

As follow up to a request in the 9/30/10 meeting, the Committee reviewed in detail the site selection criteria for the second wind turbine project, recorded comments from the 2009 turbine site selection committee and a letter from site selection committee member Nancy Braker summarizing the evaluation and results.  The selected site is a leased parcel of land located approximately 1/4 mi. southeast of the Carleton Arboretum boundary. 

             V.         Climate Action Plan Timeline

 

Climate Action Plan next steps and timeline were reviewed.  The Climate Action Plan Steering Committee is scheduled to meet twice in November (11/4 and 11/16) and a focused group will participate in a December Winter Break Workshop to peer review the assembled draft.  Draft copy will be distributed to the Climate Action Plan Steering Committee in mid/late December for final review and discussion when they re-convene in January 2011.  Draft plan will be distributed to the Board of Trustees for comment and discussion during their February 2011 meetings.  Comments will be incorporated into a final plan for distribution in the May 2011 Trustee materials.  The Committee reviewed a draft Climate Action Plan Table of Contents and discussed potential authors for various sections of the plan that focus on particular areas of expertise.

 

 

            VI.         2010 – 2011 Priorities

 

The Committee reviewed the following list of proposed 2010 – 2011 sustainability initiatives:

–      Climate Action Plan

–      Wind Turbine Project

–      Campus Events

–      STA Projects

–      Rating/Ranking Surveys

–      Sustainable Revolving Fund Projects

The Committee also reviewed the 2009-2010 year-end report which included efforts in the areas of  Campus Projects/Events, Energy Saving Initiatives, Sustainability Surveys, Facilities Collaboration and the Stewsie Award.  Members proceded to discuss Campus Events in further detail: 

SOPE member, Ray McGaughey noted that SOPE generally leads facilitation of Earth Week activities in coordination with the STAs and other campus environmental groups. 

The Committee suggested that past Dorm Wars competition suffered from difficulty collecting sufficient and accurate data.  There was also some question as to how effective the competition was in maintaining momentum for a full month-long period.  It was noted that the new dorms [Cassat and Memorial] are more energy efficient structures to begin with and are therefore at a disadvantage when competing to reduce baseline energy consumption.  Committee members suggested that prizes should be given for categories other than energy reduction, such as most creative energy reduction techniques or actions with the most long-term effect.  Consensus was that Dorm Wars should be continued but shortened to a week.  The objectives should emphasize education and raising awareness.  Prizes would need to provide sufficient incentive and could potentially include cash raised through fundraising, a dorm-wide picnic/meal or donations from local businesses.  It is anticipated that the new building electrical meters will simplify data collection and increase accuracy of results and ability to compare with past years. 

          VII.         Meeting Adjourned (Next Meeting Date: 10/28/10)

 

END OF MINUTES