Green Campus Currents

October Residential Carbon Statements!

2008-11-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

Big Savers:

You recently received an email regarding your "Residential Carbon Emissions- October 2008," from your Green Living Coordinator! This is an educational piece to inform you about the environmental consequence from living in Student Housing in October, according to historical data.

Your "Total Per Student Emissions" was calculated from monthly data Student Housing collects of four utilities: electricity, natural gas, steam, and water. Each of these utilities has a related "Emissions Factor," which represent the resultant CO2 released into the atmosphere from their generation and distribution from our campus power plant, Cardinal Cogen.

As you utilize these energy "currencies" in the form of "energy services" (like illumination, space heating, showers, cooking), global warming pollution is released into the atmosphere. The numbers you see represent the impact of per-capita consumption at your building: your own Residential Carbon Footprint!

Why is this important? Students pay for utilities in a line item, Room and Board, in our Quarterly University Bill, the cost of which is determined by the amount of energy we're projected to consume. This rate structure is unlike back home, and in the future, where we'll pay for utility services based on our consumption...but this up-front payment doesn't mean we shouldn't save energy and water! We cannot be disconnected from our consumption--it has an environmental and economic impact whether or not we know about it! See our list of tips to the right for ways to be energy conscious--conserve and be energy efficient!

To answer your questions:
1) This data represents a month's consumption for a baseline year for purposes of comparing our consumption to Cal's during The Big Save.
2) Unfortunately, this data is not online, but Green Campus is installing a Building Dashboard to display real-time consumption (see post below) in Storey House later this year.
3) How do you compare to other Big Save dorms at Stanford?

Total Per-Student Carbon Emissions (lb CO2):
Toyon: 399.19
Yost: 389.79
EBF: 363.84
Tri-Delta: 357.11
Donner: 275.24
Loro: 275.24
EAST: 267.37
Hammarskjold: 259.41
Synergy: 195.03
FroSoCo: 194.69

Keep conserving! The winner of The Big Save will be determined by the greatest percentage reduction in personal electricity use summed for all participating dorms during October and November!

JOIN THE ALLIANCE! SAVE ENERGY...BEAT CAL.

2008-10-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

Back in February during the Energy Efficiency Summit in San Diego when the Stanford Green Campus Program was only a month old, the Berkeley Green Campus interns challenged our school to a friendly energy-saving competition. Now, with a bit of experience, we're teaming up with Students For A Sustainable Stanford and are ready to take them on in THE BIG SAVE, which launches this week and continues until the week of The Big Game, November 22, at Berkeley.
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The Green Campus Programs at Stanford and Cal are vying to see which universities' can achieve the greatest decrease in per-capita consumption of electricity. What does this mean for you?
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Stanford is counting on motivated sustainers like YOU!
If you're a Green Living Coordinator, (or know of one--tell them), you can sign up with Noel at stanfordgreencampus@gmail.com so that your dorm's electricity is metered for the competition. There is a prize for those who take on this task: pride, fame, and possibly a sustainable party.

"Cal Sucks...electricity."
If we win, you can say that confidently at Big Game. (Don't worry, we'll provide data to prove it.)

Stanford can truly call itself an "Overall College Sustainability Leader."
If we win, you can prove that Stanford earned the title on the Green Report Card, and that we can edge out our peers at Berkeley.

We CAN conserve and live in comfort- we just need to use our resources efficiently and be energy conscious...Take a look to the right for a list of simple things we can all do that will really add up in saved carbon emissions.

The banners were created with 100% post-consumer recycled fabrics.

JOIN THE ALLIANCE.

SAVE ENERGY.
BEAT CAL.

The Building Dashboard

2008-09-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

With U.S. buildings consuming 2/3 of electricity generation and contributing up to 36% of greenhouse gases, its easy to see importance of conservation and sustainable behavior. Connecting building occupants to their energy use can be challenging, but a hands-on, high-tech solution has yielded consumption reductions of 10-56%. The Building Dashboard is a "web-based display technology that provides real-time feedback on resource use and helps us to improve the environmental performance of buildings." The Building Dashboard allows you to visualize consumption real time and over extended periods. It also converts consumption of electricity and water into more tangible measurements like dollars, pounds of CO₂ , trees, and other equivalents.

A Building Dashboard will be installed in Storey House this year.

For more information visit the Lucid Design Group.

Vanquish Energy Vampires...Use a Smart Strip!

2008-09-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Some of your appliances are consuming energy even when they're turned off, in stand-by mode! This often unforeseen drain on resources is called "vampire energy" or "phantom plug loads." These cost U.S. consumers more than $4 Billion annually, or for a single household, approximately the amount of a month's electricity bill. Learn more by watching this:

Luckily there are things you can do!

Minimize plug load demand: Choose Energy Star appliances when purchasing. They'll help you reduce utility costs.
Plug your appliances (printer, cell phone charger, microwave, lamp, computer) into a power strip and "Flip the Switch" off when you leave the room.
Use a Smart Strip that allows you to keep an lamps or clocks always "hot" or plugged in but others shut off at the same time! The key is an appliance (computer, TV) plugged into the "control" switch that activates your peripherals. When you turn that one on, your peripheral appliances will be energized and ready for use!

The Green Campus Program piloted Smart Strips in Chi Theta Chi last May and after demonstrating a 15% reduction in electricity use, they are being piloted in Branner Hall in hopes of getting Student Housing to distribute them to all future Freshmen.

Dining in the Daylight

2008-09-22T00:38:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this logo around the seven Stanford Dining halls?
The Dining in the Daylight campaign, first launched in Spring 2008, continues this Fall Quarter in Stanford Dining. Dining in the Daylight promotes electricity conservation by urging students to take advantage of the available daylight so that lights can be kept off until 6:30 PM.

Did you know:

Sunlight has been proven to increase productivity, to facilitate learning, and to therapeutically benefit wellness?
This conservation effort affected at least 1,013 lamps, can annually save nearly 21,000 kWh, and cut demand by 22kW?
More than 3,600 students, faculty, and staff pass through Dining Halls daily? By utilizing daylight smartly, they are experiencing conservation without deprivation - an important part of institutionalizing sustainability.

Click to learn more about Dining's Sustainability efforts in Conservation.

The Green Campus Program is now online!

2008-09-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the official blog of the Stanford Green Campus Program, an online edition of the Green Campus Currents! You can now keep up with the SGCP's activities in energy efficiency, conservation, and education, in real time. Features to look out for:

Posts: Read through the blog to learn about what we're doing around campus to make our community more energy efficient, conscious and sustainable.

Join the Alliance: We'll keep an updated list of energy-saving tips you can do at home and work to Save Energy and promote energy efficiency.

Links: Visit our sponsors to learn about their efforts on energy, climate change, and sustainability.

Email our five interns at stanfordgreencampus@gmail.com with questions, comments, and suggestions for possible projects!