3/15/2010 SA Sustainability Meeting Minutes

Topic

Discussion

Follow up

Debrief Green Challenge Conference

Philip mentioned that the Green Challenge Conference provided insight for the SA green team. He mentioned Damon's address as being very useful to the group. He suggested having it on the website..

Beth mentioned that the mock up is on April's webpage and that a blog is setup.

Beth reviewed her ideas for a team mission. She also said there would be links to the following: Damon's speech, the presentations from the conference, Energy Conservation/Clean Air policy, PSU Green Website, Sustainability Website, We Are Central PA Green Website and others.

Philip suggested having a tag of "DGT" for the blog.

Beth will send out a mock up of the site to look at.

Boucke Green Team

Philip mentioned that Student Affairs Staff in Boucke have started a Green Team. Peg suggested inviting someone from there to join this group. Philip said that Betty Harper had mentioned to him that she'd like to be involved.

Peg will invite Betty to join this group.

Other Updates

Beth reported that she will be meeting with Stacy Levi, a "green" artist to possibly see about her working with UHS to have "green" artwork in the building. Peg  suggested that UHS might ask   her to complete a piece that would  be educational and include information about LEED certification..  Beth also mentioned that students from Healthworks will be working with her to see if they can tie into Healthy Green Week initiatives.

Mary mentioned that they are looking into water fountain/hydration station combos.  They have ordered one for an area that has neither a water fountain or hydration station.

Next Steps

It was suggested that we use the green challenge tool kit which included MOST : Mission, Objective, Strategies, and Tasks and AUDIO: Aspect, Upstream, Downstream, Issues and Opportunities.

The committee needs to develop an overall Student Affairs sustainability strategic plan which forms the basis for  individual unit teams.

Assessment/Audits

Baselines

Mary mentioned that baselines measures were taken from her area for water and recycling.  Composting has just begun in her area and it will be interesting to see how the numbers change from the baseline measures.

Peg suggested that we try to get baseline measures for each of the buildings within SA that has a green team established.  This could include waste reduction and energy and water use.  Peg mentioned that UHS is looking at ways to reduce the paper towel waste in exam rooms and the amount of water used each day at UHS.

Philip also mentioned the "BIG Fix" that would involve computer software to power down all computer systems at night but allow for updates to still be done.

Philip also mentioned that PSU has an energy monitoring dashboard that can help in reducing energy costs.  It was suggested that Bruce Smith be invited to the next meeting.  Philip mentioned for members of the committee to look at the energy.opp.psu.edu site for more information. He also mentioned that Allegheny Power has rebates for customers who buy energy efficient appliances.  The list of those appliances is on the Allegheny Power website.

Beth will add these links to the main site.

Peg will invite Bruce Smith to the next meeting.

Purchasing Strategies

Future meetings

Many areas were discussed where purchasing strategies could be modified to be more green.  It was suggested that eventually someone from purchasing be invited to a meeting to discuss these issues.

We agreed that the plan going forward would be to have additional discussion about energy measurement, the blog and purchasing issues and then develop a strategic plan.