Berkeley College Works to Reduce Carbon Footprint
Berkeley College has completed the initial step in meeting the New York City Mayoral Challenge to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% in 10 years. Midtown Campus, Annex, and Extension Center carbon emissions for 2006, 2007, and 2008 were reported to the NYC Mayor's Office on June 2, 2009. Compiled by Berkeley College Director of Operations and Project GreenPath Committee member Jeff Ehalt, with help from the Operations Department and New York City Campus staff, the 2006 data will serve as the baseline measurement for Berkeley's New York City carbon emissions. Thanks to new energy-efficient lighting and other energy-saving equipment, Berkeley's carbon emissions were reduced 6.5% in two years, from 6.81 kg of CO2 per square foot in 2006 to 6.36 kg of CO2 per square foot in 2008 — in spite of an increase in space of more than 8,400 square feet. The next step in the Challenge will be to prepare a strategic plan to continue reducing emissions to the goal of 4.77 kg of CO2 per square foot in 10 years.
Berkeley College has also joined the New Jersey Meadowlands Challenge, which is sponsored by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. This program encourages area businesses to improve their energy efficiency and recycling efforts. In addition, the Operations Department, under the leadership of Associate Vice President of Operations Ron Slagle, will be measuring carbon emissions at each of Berkeley's campuses, with the aim of reducing emissions across the board.
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Student Energy Audit Addresses Concerns at GMT
Students in Dr. Krassi Lazarova's Winter Quarter Environmental Conservation class were assigned to perform an energy audit of the Garret Mountain Campus. The results of their efforts were summarized and sent to the Project GreenPath Committee. Below are some of their concerns, as well as responses from the Project GreenPath Committee.
1. Many computers (example: rooms 104, 201) are on and unused. Students and professors tend to leave computers on when they are done with them.
Computers are shut off every night at 10:00 pm to save energy. They are turned on manually by students or faculty and do not automatically power up by themselves. The Information Systems Department is currently looking into adding a "time out shutdown policy" for the classroom PCs and is also exploring other ways to balance the goals of reducing energy usage with the needs of the professors and students in classrooms.
2. Lights in many rooms (example: rooms 101, 104, 105, 301, 303, M103, M104, M202) are on during the day with no students or instructors present in the rooms.
The Operations Department is working on replacing light switches in classrooms with motion sensors and researching infrared sensors. In the meantime, static cling signs have been posted over most of the light switches. Everyone is reminded to turn off the lights when no one is in the room.
3. Projectors are on in some rooms (example: room 013) without being used or with no one present.
Staff are reminded to shut down projectors when they are not in use.
4. Some room windows are open (in cold weather) allowing heat to escape.
The temperature in the Academic Support building is kept too high.
All thermostats are set to the same temperature. Since each room doesn’t have its own thermostat, it is often difficult to regulate the temperature.
5. Hallway and restroom lights are on during the day even in places where there is plenty of light coming from the windows (example: third floor of building 1).
By law Berkeley must provide a certain amount of light per square foot. Thus, hallway lights should remain on. However, those using the restrooms may turn the lights off and on when coming and going. All lights at the GMT Campus have been replaced with energy-efficient lighting and ballasts, which will provide a savings of more than 10,000 watts each year and a 10-year savings of more than $50,000.
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Carpool and Vanpool Help for New Jersey Commuters
The New Jersey Department of Transportation and Meadowlink, the Transportation Management Association serving most of northern New Jersey, have partnered to assist commuters with carpooling and vanpooling options. Car/vanpooling helps you save money and wear and tear on your car, plus reduces traffic congestion, pollution, and carbon emissions. There are also financial incentives. If you form a carpool with at least one other commuter, you can earn a $100 gas card. And NJ Transit's Vanpool Sponsorship program provides $175 per vanpool, per month. Meadowlink also offers $60 per month per empty seat on new vanpools, for the first three months, and three free rides through the Emergency Ride Home program. For more information, visit NJcommuter.com (click on the Ridesharing link) or call 1-866-208-1307.
Earth Day Celebrated Across the Campuses and Online
This spring, Berkeley students and staff celebrated Earth Day with a variety of activities, including tie-dying, a film festival, an essay contest, and a "trash to treasure" workshop. Pictured below are a few of the 21 entries made of recyclable materials that were submitted to the Bergen/BES art competition.
Thanks to everyone who planned and participated in campus Earth Day events. For more photos and details about the individual campus celebrations, click here.
Art projects created from recyclable materials (pictured clockwise from top left) include magazine spiral pins by BES Traffic Manager/Senior Graphic Designer Kathleen Thornton; "Dazzling Duo," by student Maria Benitez; "Green Phoenix," by BES Senior Web Designer Eric Serviss; "Pinky," by student Anthony Peterson; "Shoe Design," by student Julianne Campbell; and "Mr. Roboto," by the Business Club.
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