As a hotel offers an airport shuttle, they not only make traveling more convenient, they decrease auto emissions but putting more people in one vehicle. Most universities also offer a shuttle or transportation around and between campuses. For those with a larger commuter population they offer many other “green” commuter benefits.
It has been a common practice to pay for health benefits on pretax income. Temple and Penn offer similar programs for public transportation. This is another simple benefit employers can offer employees that will save them money on travel or parking and also promote the use of public transportation. This offers great cost saving to the traveler and also reduces emissions. Ask if it is available at your workplace or if there are enough people interested to join another group.
Penn offers students a ten percent discount on Transit Passes and also offers them on a semester calendar making them more convenient for students. Temple also has similar student benefits available because of close relationships with SEPTA. It may be possible if enough people in your workplace use public transportation to find discounts for buying through your employer.
Very popular among college students and many young adults is the use of bikes to commute around the city. Bike racks were once seen as a childhood thing kept near the playground. But, as use increases amongst young adults’ bike racks perceptions are changing. Temple has a system in place for evaluating bike rack use and adding more spaces for students and employees to securely lock their bikes.
Public Transit is not possible for some people living beyond the reach of SEPTA. This leaves the option of carpooling to work or even to a regional rail or public station. Penn has a number of online partner programs that it uses to match carpool members up. Investigating one of these programs can save you and others money and also help save us all gasoline.
Temple University has a program in place investigating how to reduce the environmental impact commute of its employees and students through new means of public transportation and the revaluation of measures already in place. This project has the potential to reveal some valuable results.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Green In Higher Education: Recycling and Reducing
The most common “Green” program in place is recycling. When recycling was the only leg of the “being green” spectrum most institutions took it seriously. There is a national college recycling competition called Recycle Mania. Local institutions involved include: Arcadia, Drexel, St. Joes, Temple, UArts, and UPenn. This is a national competition to compare per capita recycling and waste reducing activities.
To complete the recycling cycle many institutions, including Temple University use suppliers who also offer products made from recycled materials. This allows them to choose green products as they begin to fit into budgets.
Computers and other electronics are hazardous to the environment when not disposed of properly. Some municipalities offer free pick-up of these items from your curb. Local Universities also help in this effort. Many including Penn and Temple offer low-cost recycling and also offer refurbished computers at discounted prices.
Drexel University is currently using solar powered compacting trash cans across its campus. Similar containers are also in use in the Center city District of Philadelphia. With talks of weekly trash pickup bag limits, trash compacting can be a valuable cost cutting strategy. Not only does compacting reduce the number of bags used, it also reduces the space trash will take up.
A potential large cost cutting green habit is using a plastic bottle for drinks. Many schools offer them at dining halls as a replacement to plastic or paper cups. They also offer reusable totes, which can be used for books, groceries, or anything in place of plastic bags. Campus bookstores offer all of these items available at low prices to help students adopt reusable practices.
At Temple the Students for Environmental Action organized a farmers market on a central street of campus. This is similar to the farmers market at City Hall offered in the past. Farmers markets offer local produce and often many organic foods, cutting back on chemicals in our food.
One final very common practice is at home or local composting of yard waste and also of food waste. Harder to do in the city, home composting saves on disposal fees and can also be used in the spring for potting soil.
To complete the recycling cycle many institutions, including Temple University use suppliers who also offer products made from recycled materials. This allows them to choose green products as they begin to fit into budgets.
Computers and other electronics are hazardous to the environment when not disposed of properly. Some municipalities offer free pick-up of these items from your curb. Local Universities also help in this effort. Many including Penn and Temple offer low-cost recycling and also offer refurbished computers at discounted prices.
Drexel University is currently using solar powered compacting trash cans across its campus. Similar containers are also in use in the Center city District of Philadelphia. With talks of weekly trash pickup bag limits, trash compacting can be a valuable cost cutting strategy. Not only does compacting reduce the number of bags used, it also reduces the space trash will take up.
A potential large cost cutting green habit is using a plastic bottle for drinks. Many schools offer them at dining halls as a replacement to plastic or paper cups. They also offer reusable totes, which can be used for books, groceries, or anything in place of plastic bags. Campus bookstores offer all of these items available at low prices to help students adopt reusable practices.
At Temple the Students for Environmental Action organized a farmers market on a central street of campus. This is similar to the farmers market at City Hall offered in the past. Farmers markets offer local produce and often many organic foods, cutting back on chemicals in our food.
One final very common practice is at home or local composting of yard waste and also of food waste. Harder to do in the city, home composting saves on disposal fees and can also be used in the spring for potting soil.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Green In Higher Education: Energy Management
In our region there are many institutions of higher education with “Green” policies. The two institutions that seem to have the most adaptable and most rapidly implementable programs are Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University. Each has a Sustainability Department with some level of authority in enforcing energy policy.
The most common policy is the prohibition of incandescent light bulbs. Already illegal in most parts of Europe, these are our old fashion light bulbs that cost around one dollar each. Replacing these with the light bulbs that have a higher upfront cost, LED or fluorescent lights, not only save the amount of energy used to light a bulb, but also cut back on residual heat created by the light. An incandescent light bulb costs around $7.00 a year to keep lit, while an LED or fluorescent light costs around $1.60. There is a huge savings here for Universities and for individuals.
These Universities also require quality thermostats and keep in place strict policies on heating and cooling systems. The higher cost of a better thermostat saves energy and makes up for itself in the long run. The policy of Temple University is to keep all occupied rooms around 76 degrees in peak summer hours. In winter 68 is the target temperature. At night all institutions keep temperatures in their buildings around 10 degrees cooler than during the day. This has saved a great deal in energy consumption and costs. Having a higher quality thermostat can give you greater control of temperature and also energy costs.
The biggest uses of energy can be our computer, printers, faxes, scanners, and monitors. Another lesson learned from our institutions is keeping all of these devices on a surge protector. Not only does this help if you overload an outlet, but using the switch on the protector to disconnect these devices from the outlet when not in use can save ghost energy costs. It may seem like a pain bending down to flip that switch, but there are surge protectors with a foot switch to power off. Also very important is maximizing the sleep setting on these devices. Having devices in sleep mode for five minutes saves a substantial amount of energy over having them sit on for five minutes.
Penn has also started an experiment in student dorms, which involved students monitoring their own energy uses and having it analyzed for saving potential. This project can have some exciting finds when finished.
In the next piece we will be looking at some creative ways to recycle and reduce and balance our want of convenience with costs and waste.
The most common policy is the prohibition of incandescent light bulbs. Already illegal in most parts of Europe, these are our old fashion light bulbs that cost around one dollar each. Replacing these with the light bulbs that have a higher upfront cost, LED or fluorescent lights, not only save the amount of energy used to light a bulb, but also cut back on residual heat created by the light. An incandescent light bulb costs around $7.00 a year to keep lit, while an LED or fluorescent light costs around $1.60. There is a huge savings here for Universities and for individuals.
These Universities also require quality thermostats and keep in place strict policies on heating and cooling systems. The higher cost of a better thermostat saves energy and makes up for itself in the long run. The policy of Temple University is to keep all occupied rooms around 76 degrees in peak summer hours. In winter 68 is the target temperature. At night all institutions keep temperatures in their buildings around 10 degrees cooler than during the day. This has saved a great deal in energy consumption and costs. Having a higher quality thermostat can give you greater control of temperature and also energy costs.
The biggest uses of energy can be our computer, printers, faxes, scanners, and monitors. Another lesson learned from our institutions is keeping all of these devices on a surge protector. Not only does this help if you overload an outlet, but using the switch on the protector to disconnect these devices from the outlet when not in use can save ghost energy costs. It may seem like a pain bending down to flip that switch, but there are surge protectors with a foot switch to power off. Also very important is maximizing the sleep setting on these devices. Having devices in sleep mode for five minutes saves a substantial amount of energy over having them sit on for five minutes.
Penn has also started an experiment in student dorms, which involved students monitoring their own energy uses and having it analyzed for saving potential. This project can have some exciting finds when finished.
In the next piece we will be looking at some creative ways to recycle and reduce and balance our want of convenience with costs and waste.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Green in Higher Education
Finding the right employer in this market is now taking the form of finding the employer who is most stable and will outlast our economic turmoil. Recent events have us looking for a stable employer over the greenest or most socially responsible one. Not too long ago that was a key factor for many job seekers. Tighter budgets have meant fewer efforts are being put into corporate “green” efforts, but higher education has kept the path alive. Being sustainable and being green ultimately means being focused and stable in the long term.
In the Philadelphia region many green groups have turned into councils and associations and finally into Sustainability Departments. It was a development that came of pressure from students and the public that local and nationally known colleges and universities have created and funded Sustainability Departments.
Temple, Drexel, Penn, Community College of Philadelphia, University of Philadelphia, all of these institutions in addition to offering “green” or “sustainability” courses have found it customer (student) and budget friendly to focus on sustainability and going green in their business practices.
A reason green projects get dropped during tight budget periods is that they require greater upfront investment and cash. Universities and colleges are focused on the long term and it is therefore they can take the extra initial steps for greater long term strength. We can learn from them as they continue the innovation and implementation of green projects.
In a four piece series you will be shown recent successful “green” practices that are in place at our local institutions of higher learning. The pieces will focus on these four main points found common among institutions: Energy Management, Waste and Recycling, Built Environment, and Transportation. Some have great cost savings to businesses and individuals. Practices that will be familiar to the incoming job market as they graduate from these institutions.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Changing School Systems
Both of my parents are public school teachers. My late grandfather was the assistant superintendent for personal in my home town before I attended school. My grandmother was a school lunch lady. My Aunt is a school nurse and Uncle a teacher. Education has been a major part of my life since i was very young. It has had many affects on my life. I'm not a big nerd , I like old maps, collect flags, and have the habits of an old man, but I am very social and love people. I was the extremely involved in my high school, but behind the scenes. I was president of our chapter of the national honor society, Editor of the school newspaper, Captain of Scholastic Scrimmage, and President of our Class. I feel I have a very strong interest in education and as a business major I am extremely into the business of education.
My parents made me very curios and a quick study. I liked to learn and was curious. This, and I guess some genes, made me a quick study. I could figure things out and do tasks well because I could study them. I was curious about business and how things work. I took a liking to economics because it involved action and reaction and a little bit of experimenting. I tried and am trying marketing because it also involves action and reaction. You can experiment with messages and see how people react, but in much larger numbers its more how these people react as a group. I have also recently had my interest in risk management and insurance. It seems to me that Risk involves searching the past and planning for the future. Evaluating decisions and finding solutions.
I believe both have given me skillsets that are useful in each
My parents made me very curios and a quick study. I liked to learn and was curious. This, and I guess some genes, made me a quick study. I could figure things out and do tasks well because I could study them. I was curious about business and how things work. I took a liking to economics because it involved action and reaction and a little bit of experimenting. I tried and am trying marketing because it also involves action and reaction. You can experiment with messages and see how people react, but in much larger numbers its more how these people react as a group. I have also recently had my interest in risk management and insurance. It seems to me that Risk involves searching the past and planning for the future. Evaluating decisions and finding solutions.
I believe both have given me skillsets that are useful in each
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