East Valley Tribune

by Mike Branom

Arizona has plenty of sunshine, but that has yet to translate into an equal amount of solar energy production.

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Why has Arizona State University installed six parapet wind turbines on the roof of the recently remodeled Global Institute of Sustainability building?

Wind turbines generate electricity from a free and clean renewable resource. They don't add to global warming. And unlike solar power, the wind is often available both day and night.

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The Arbor Day Foundation is recognizing ASU for its best practices in campus community forestry through the Tree Campus USA program.

The Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota held a tree-planting event on the ASU Tempe campus to officially kick off Tree Campus USA. Eight other college campuses across the U.S. are also being recognized this fall for their efforts.

To celebrate this achievement, more than 100 students, faculty, and staff at ASU's Tempe Campus participated in a tree planting celebration hosted by the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota.

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ASU Surplus Property has identified Zero Waste as an area that we believe can have a big impact on for ASU and the environment. Evaluating our trash tonnage over the past years led us to believe that we could make substantial contributions to this goal with new uses for discarded material. We evaluated various areas in the operation and found opportunities to reduce waste and increase revenue.

We now harvest as many varieties of metal from retired university property as possible. Chairs, tables and desks are made up of a lot of metal. We separate the metal from the wood and sell the metal at our auction to the highest bidder. The revenue covers the additional labor involved in the tear down and the profit is several times more than the cost of the labor.

Cardboard and paper coming into the department are now aggressively removed from the waste stream as well. These items reduce our trash tonnage and the captured materials are sold to local recycling companies.

ASU Surplus waste tonnage for January 1, 2007 through April 30, 2007 was 46.93 tons. Waste tonnage for the same period this year was 20.16 tons. This is a reduction in waste of 26.77 tons which equates to a 57% decrease. The savings in landfill fees was $1,873.63. Projecting these numbers for the year we come up with a total cost savings of $5,620.90 totaling 80.31 tons of material diverted from the landfill. These new recyclables are made up of metals; cardboard and paper to a lesser degree. A majority of the items removed from the waste stream are recycled with some being sold for reuse.

So remember, send your unwanted items to Surplus, we’ll sell it if we can, if not we’ll do everything we can to recycle it. Also, if you are looking for items for your department; filing cabinets, chairs, tables, etc, look to Surplus first for HUGE savings!

Kerry Suson

Property Manager

When you think about it, the theater department in any university is potentially one of the biggest producers of waste on campus.

Every production needs new sets, costumes, and a lot of lights. That means a great deal of paint, wood, fabric, steel and other construction materials, not to mention the paper for programs and scripts. There’s not a big market for used sets, or costumes an actor has worn under the hot lights.

However, changes can be made, to “green” the stage and ASU is in the forefront of taking action to do so. Some changes can be done immediately, but some take more time. For example, the investment for new lighting takes a long time to recoup, but paint can be recycled and re-used immediately.

When Linda Essig joined the ASU faculty as director of the School of Theatre and Film in 2004, she looked into buying more sustainable lighting, which is expensive, so the department is now seeking $140,000 to replace the current lighting with more energy-efficient fixtures.

The Theatre Department faculty and staff have inaugurated a “Go Green” campaign. Steps are under way to recycle steel, re-use old paint, minimize the use of volatile organic compounds, exchange materials with other organizations, recycle costumes and complete many other initiatives.

“It’s a beginning,” Essig said. “We’re in the process now of working through what we can do to move our efforts to the next level, but I’ve given the staff until January to come up with their plans.”

Stay tuned for the next act.

Judith Smith

ASU Media Relations

Beginning January of 2008, ASU Paint Services started a Recycled Paint Program. Throughout the years, the Paint Shop accumulates a surplus of perfectly usable water-based paint. Our paint is received from numerous sources, including campus departments, outside contractors, and on occasion it is just left outside our doors.

The Paint Shop has very limited storage space. At one time, we were able to send overstock to Surplus Property. However, in the Fall of 2007, the criteria had changed, and so hundreds of gallons that we attempted to deliver to Surplus could no longer be accepted. We were told that if the paint buckets had been opened, they were no-longer acceptable.

We considered pouring the paint into our 55 gallon hazardous waste containers, and having Environmental Health and Safety take it away. The downside to this, is that it is a costly service, and we learned that the containers are delivered to an unspecified location somewhere in Utah. It became apparent that this plan would be expensive on many levels, and all for the disposal of good, useable paint.

That is when we decided to start our Reclaimed Paint Program. So far, hundreds of gallons of paint have been condensed and consolidated, strained and then stored in 5-gallon buckets with a sample of the color painted on the lid. In addition, each full bucket has a recycled vinyl label, courtesy of the ASU Campus Signage.

The Paint Shop has been using the recycled paint for a variety of work so far, including covering graffiti, painting restrooms, handrails, exterior doors, and as a primer for new construction and accent walls. Some of the recycled paint has been donated to ASU students for various campus projects.

We have been and continue to keep records on dates, and on the quantity of paint coming in and going out. So far, we have accounted for having used 315 gallons of this paint.

Roseann Barton

Painting Supervisor

Sustainability is All About Efficiency

These days most of us are consumed with budget concerns and the economy. It’s times like these that people often question the relevance of sustainability. Yet, the very tenants of sustainability can help us reduce costs. I like to say that we have the greatest opportunity in our challenge areas, but it takes some creativity; the opportunity here is to take a thoughtful look at our practices and make changes to save money while also reducing waste.

WalMart has emerged as a leader in sustainability. If you look at their long-standing business model, this is not surprising. A major component of their operating philosophy has been to save costs and increase profit margins by maximizing efficiency. They designed their approach to sustainability with a focus on mitigating waste – solid waste, wasted energy, and transportation dollars are examples. ASU shouldn’t be any different.

I’ve observed on campus what I call “NMBS” or “Not My Budget Syndrome”. Most of the operating costs for the university come from a centralized pool of money, not from individual departments and yet those departments’ actions influence the expenditures. There are savings all around us – and especially in areas that in the past have seemed beyond our purview.

ASU’s utility budget is the pool of money that pays for water, purchased electricity, generated electricity, and waste disposal (among other things) on all four campuses. It is also one of the largest non-personnel expenditures of the university budget which we can actually influence. However, it takes all of us working together to make significant change. Turning off lights and computers when they are not needed is an example. Fewer kilo-watt hours used is actually dollars saved.

Looking at our solid waste footprint, we can do even more. ASU is charged less to handle recycling than to handle trash and actually receives a rebate on cardboard. We can also save money by producing less trash/recycling in general – fewer water bottles and less paper going into the waste stream means an automatic savings to the university. Changing printing practices reduces the amount of paper you need to purchase for departments, as well as fewer printer cartridges.

My advice, look at the “waste” in your department to capture the savings for the entire university that will propel us into the future while practicing the very core of sustainability.

Bonny Bentzin

Manager, University Sustainability Business Practices

If there had been a Global Institute of Sustainability, or a similar program, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte when Dawn Ratcliffe was a student in the mid-’90s, life would have been different for her.

Ratcliffe would not have majored in English and communications. She would have gone straight to her first loves, the environment and human and animal rights, without taking the slightest detour. So why didn’t Ratcliffe, who is now ASU’s Tempe campus recycling coordinator, simply change schools? “I really liked that college,” she said.

After she graduated from UNC Charlotte, Ratcliffe had a variety of work and volunteer experiences, ranging from planting and harvesting organic vegetables to manning a spay-neuter hotline.

So how did Ratcliffe get from North Carolina to the Southwest? She came to Arizona in 2006 to serve as campaign manager for Arizonans for Humane Farms (Prop 204), which was on the 2006 ballot. After the election she worked briefly at the ASU Office of Sustainability Initiatives, helping create databases of foundations that fund environmental and community development projects. There were no jobs at ASU, so I moved back to North Carolina.”

Not too long after she returned east, Kerry Suson, ASU’s former manager of recycling, took a job as program manager for ASU Surplus Property. Because of this move, Ratcliffe’s dream was realized, and she started work at ASU March 31.

Her biggest challenge in the last few months has been “trying to get multiple facets of the newly expanded recycling program up and running simultaneously.” Though the pace is slow, Ratcliffe is optimistic that one day ASU will have zero waste.

Ratcliffe learned recycling as a child collecting cans. “I produce very little waste,” she said. “The main problem is that a lot of companies use material that should not have been used in the first place, like Styrofoam.”

Dawn Ratcliffe

Program Coordinator, Grounds Dept, Recycling

DO recycle all of the items listed in this link in your commingled bins: http://uabf.asu.edu/recycling_commingled. Please note that aerosol cans will most likely not be accepted  with the other commingled items in the near future – we are waiting on a final confirmation from ADEQ.

DO recycle toner cartridges, ASU-generated batteries, packaging peanuts, bubble wrap, cardboard, shredded paper, etc. For more info, visit:http://uabf.asu.edu/recycling_at_asu.

DO break down and flatten all cardboard boxes before recycling them and remove all trash or other recyclables and place those items in the appropriate container.

DON’T put the following items in the commingled or cardboard bins: glass, pizza boxes, plastic wrap, plastic bags, Styrofoam, packaging peanuts, food, liquids, rubber bands, paper clips, or trash of any kind.

DON’T put hazardous waste in recycling or trash cans. When in doubt about what chemicals constitute hazardous waste, please contact Environmental Health and Safety

DON’T ask custodial staff to empty the larger 96 gallon and 40 gallon bins. As your building comes on board with the new program, custodial staff will start servicing your seven gallon desk side bins and 23 gallon bins. After the new program debut in your building, we will permanently pull your 40 gallon bins and 96 gallons (with the exception of a few areas that ASU Recycling will continue to service) when we are able to get to them.

Dawn Ratcliffe

ASU Tempe Campus Recycling Coordinator

Carpet America Recovery Effort names Shaw Industries the Large Recycler of the Year. Shaw has recycled more than 100 million pounds of post-consumer carpet through the Evergreen Nylon Recycling facility, gaining industry recognition.

The ASU Sign Shop (Environmental Graphic Design Group) has been designing and maintaining sustainable signage on the ASU campus for over twenty years. The vast majority of the signage on all campuses has either been recycled from older sign parts, or will be refurbished to become another sign in the future as they are maintained. The standard ASU office sign is already made from some sustainable materials such as the Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) backer board, which is comprised of 100% reclaimed wood fibers from mills in California and uses a non-formaldehyde binder. The information portion of the sign consists of the plastic ADA compliant tactile/Braille room number.

For the GIOS building we eliminated all of the adhesives and acrylic from each sign, with the exception of the adhesive-backed tactile/Braille portion of the sign and the vinyl inserts. This new more sustainable sign consists of the same MDF backer board. The sign is easily maintained by pulling the sheet of steel out of the sign and running it through a sander to remove any scratches or vandalism.

Although the Sign Shop doesn’t have an exact number, the estimate is there are likely over 20,000 J-types spread across all of the ASU campuses. Hypothetically, each one of these J-types could be modified to the new sustainable version should the need arise. As spaces are remodeled, the signs often need to be upgraded. Most of the aluminum on the office signs before 2000 was painted, and now all of the aluminum is left raw and is brushed for aesthetics. Instead of recycling the aluminum and buying new aluminum sign parts, the paint is removed with a soy-based non-toxic paint stripper, and then the often scratched plastic is replaced with 400 series stainless steel.

In addition to the redesigned J-type sign, the sign shop sent less than 10% of the manufacturing waste products to the landfill. All of the scrap plastic from the tactile/Braille manufacturing process is recycled, as well as the plastic sheeting the vinyl comes on. Some of the scrap plastic was also utilized to make the GIOS building directories and stairwell fire code signage.

Ryan McFadden

Environmental Graphic Designer

ASU Recycling has a new addition to our team thanks to volunteers and private contributions, and we need your help in naming it! Once you choose the name, our newest team member (a late 60’s golf cart) will be converted into a permanent roving recycling exhibit that will make its first public appearance at ASU’s Homecoming Parade. Please keep in mind that we can paint it, with recycled paint of course, to match the name.

Please click on the circle in front of the name you like the most:

Please visit our website and simply click on Take the Survey! The last day to vote will be Wednesday, November 5.

Dawn Ratcliffe

Program Coordinator, Grounds Dept, Recycling

Interview by Sean Briggs and Kari Utley

[audio:http://sustainability.asu.edu/media/podcasts/sustainability_practices_bentzin_2008.mp3]

> Link to podcast

Kari Utley: Welcome to a special edition of iPopping Podcasts from the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at the campus of Arizona State University, I'm Kari Utley.

For thousands of years the human species has called planet earth home. Within the past few decades, the health and vitality of our planet has been threatened. Perhaps now more than ever the term sustainability is being explored. Our very own Sean Briggs sits down with Bonny Bentzin, Manager of Arizona State’s Sustainability Business Practices, to find out more.

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Do you have a great idea for a sustainable product, business or service? If so, the Global Institute of Sustainability is hosting an internal Arizona State University competition to select a representative to compete in the 2009 Walmart Better Living Business Plan Challenge and the chance to win up to 20,000.

> Information, deadlines, and how to apply

The ASU Sun team, composed of MBA students from the W.P. Carey School of Business and PhD candidates from the School of Sustainability, has been chosen as one of the 10 finalists from a total of 138 teams that entered the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s Sustainable Innovation Summit Challenge. Sun team members include Kushal Chawda and Andrew Harbut from the School of Business and Laurence Rosenberg and Wayne Porter from the School of Sustainability.

The Summit’s mission is “To foster learning environments that enable creation of sustainable (economic, social, and environmental) value through innovative solutions to real-world business challenges.”

The Sun team members, along with the other finalists, will present their innovation challenge responses during the Challenge's Final Round to be held November 13-15, 2008 at the Thunderbird School campus in Glendale, Arizona. For more information go to http://www.thunderbird.edu/sites/tsis/index.htm.

The Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) has been tapped as one of a handful of institutions worldwide to receive this year’s Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. DCDC will split the $133,000 (SR 500,000) award with one other institution.

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By Michelle Schwartz

Communications and Marketing Coordinator

Global Institute of Sustainability

It's a bright idea.  Monitor a building's energy use, put the information under the noses of the building's occupants, and use it to persuade them to reduce their energy consumption. Brilliant!

ASU research engineer Joby Carlson thought so, too. But the lab manager for ASU's National Center of Excellence on SMART Innovations wanted to take it one step further.  Or really several steps.  He wanted to incorporate water and waste with energy data, he wanted to compare multiple buildings on campus, and he wanted to teach people exactly how they could reduce their resource use.  Oh, and he wanted to use ASU talent to put it all into a web-based tool that anyone could understand.

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New Global-Reach State-of-the-Art Venture to be Launched with International Invitation-Only Events Featuring Company, Government, and Solar Industry Dignitaries — Stay Tuned for Details

PHOENIX/TEMPE, Ariz.; NEWTOWN, Conn.; YOKOHAMA, Japan; COLOGNE, Germany; SHANGHAI, China – TUV Rheinland Group has joined forces with Arizona State University (ASU) to create TUV Rheinland PTL, LLC, the most comprehensive, sophisticated, state-of-the-art facility for testing and certification of solar energy equipment in the world.

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This blog has been developed in partnership with many of the operational departments at ASU. GIOS, Purchasing and Facilities have taken the lead to bring you the latest information on sustainability that is not always apparent or available to the university community. We hope that this will give you a better understanding how different areas of the university are working for a sustainable ASU. Feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions that will make this a better site. Our email address is sustainabilitypractices@asu.edu.

Vampire Energy is not a ghoulish Halloween prank but a serious loss of energy in all areas of the modern world.

What is it?  “Vampire Energy” or “Phantom Power” is energy that is consumed by an appliance that is not operating for use or is in a “stand-by” mode. Some examples of appliances at risk for this energy loss are computers, televisions, cable boxes, and cordless phones. The loss of energy per appliance isn’t much but when you compound it with the millions of appliances being used today the energy and dollar loss can be significant. Alan Meier of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that a typical home loses 50 watts to these appliance “vampires,” which accounts for approximately five percent of the total household energy bill or approximately one percent of the global CO2 emissions. Compare this to the airline industry, which produces three percent of the global CO2 emissions.

Are we alone? No. Countries worldwide are making efforts to reduce the impact. In 2000, Australia adopted a “one-watt” standard as a target for standby power, becoming the first nation to do so. In 2005, Korea adopted a standby warning label and Energy Efficiency Label and Standard Program for consumers with full implementation of the program to occur in 2010. Korea’s CO2 emission reduction target is 53 million ton by the year 2010.

How can we stop this energy loss? Currently, the greatest loss of power is attributed to power transformers and intentional leaks. Intentional leaks exist by design to keep appliances ready to turn on at a moment’s notice. Transformers cannot be turned off because the manufacturer finds it either more convenient or cost effective. However, technology currently exists that can reduce energy loss with a new type of power transformer that uses only one-tenth of the power of previous generations. “Smart Electronic Switches” that turn power off and on by demand also can help to reduce energy loss. Additionally, Energy Star-rated appliances and testers that display energy losses can help consumers determine if they should invest in a new appliance.

Interested in finding out more? http://localcooling.com/info/facts.