Green Up

Greetings campus community member,

We wanted to take a moment to update you on PSU’s many efforts to reduce the University’s environmental impacts. In May of 2007 President Steen signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment for carbon neutrality along with 578 other colleges and universities from around the country. The commitment requires various actions and reports by the institution, ultimately leading to long range plan to achieve carbon neutrality. If you are interested in reading the details of this commitment please click here (www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org ). In order to gather the necessary data and take steps to reduce our environmental footprint, President Steen formed the Presidents Commission for Environmental Sustainability (PCES).

Over the last year the PCES worked to create a database of PSU’s major carbon contributors (heat, electricity and solid waste), the database includes academic years 2001 through 2007. The commission also prepared a formal report summarizing the data, highlighting PSU’s efforts to date, as well as providing background and direction. This report was written by Danielle Ross, a PSU student who graduated last year. We are very pleased and excited to present this report and our initial findings. The report shows that the campus, particularly Physical Plant, has been working very hard to reduce PSU’s energy consumption despite the growth in facilities and the student body. pces-final-2007-report (more…)

Related items

• ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU
• Second Annual ‘Do it in the Dark’ Competition Under Way
• ‘PSU Need2Know’ Utilities update for summer 2008
• ‘PSU Need2Know’ Campus Energy Update
• PSU Summary: Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change

Filed by Bill Crangle at 4:14 pm under Campus Communications, News Stories
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PSU’s 2nd Annual “Do it in the Dark” energy saving competition between residence halls is underway.  This year the competition is two months instead of one, running from October to December.  Energy saving updates will be announced every two weeks, and the residence hall that saves the most energy during the competition will receive ½ price laundry for one month.  To help save energy, turn off lights when you leave a room, shut off power strip at the end of the day, and unplug any unused appliances (more…)

Related items

• PCES Annual Report
• ‘PSU Need2Know’ Utilities update for summer 2008
• ‘PSU Need2Know’ Campus Energy Update
• ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU

Filed by cwilliams at 12:28 am under Campus Communications
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Greetings,

This is my third update for spring /summer 2008 concerning utility consumption and cost. The prvious two are also posted here.

First the good news. I want to thank everyone on campus who has helped to reduce our energy consumption.

We have the utility data for the past academic year and we are using less energy:

1. Electricity consumption is down from last year by 273,956 KWH and down from our forecast by 389,373 KWH, or 2.25% and 3.2% respectively. A KWH costs us about $.16 each so we beat our forecast by $62,300. Physical Plant has done a number of projects that can account for some of this reduction, but I believe that many on campus have taken measures in their daily life that have reduced the amount of electricity we consume. I encourage everyone to join this effort so we can further reduce consumption in FY09 by an additional 3 to 5%.
   (more…)
   

   Related items

   • PCES Annual Report
   • Second Annual ‘Do it in the Dark’ Competition Under Way
   • ‘PSU Need2Know’ Campus Energy Update
   • ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU

   Filed by cwilliams at 11:56 pm under Campus Communications
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Greetings,

Several weeks ago I sent an e-mail to the campus concerning the increased cost of fuel oil with a request for all of us to conserve energy. I appreciate the many responses that I have received since and I have shared them with the folks in the Physical Plant and the President’s Commission for Environmental Sustainability.

There is more work that needs to be done.

(more…)

Related items

• PCES Annual Report
• Second Annual ‘Do it in the Dark’ Competition Under Way
• ‘PSU Need2Know’ Utilities update for summer 2008
• ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU

Filed by cwilliams at 1:33 pm under Campus Communications
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Plymouth State University is a regional comprehensive university with a strong record of teaching, research, and service focusing on the environment and sustainable development. This document highlights some of the many exciting initiatives specifically pertaining to mitigating and adapting to climate change. These activities represent every aspect of the University, and it is particularly relevant to note key PSU programs that have strong impacts in this area, namely: The President’s Commission on Environmental Sustainability, The Center for the Environment, The Environmental Science and Policy Department, the University Environmental Committee, and the Center for Rural Partnerships. (more…)

Related items

• PSU Students Do It in the Dark, Save Big On Energy
• PSU Students Do It in the Dark
• Bill Crangle to Lead PSU’s Environmental Sustainability Initiative
• PCES Annual Report
• ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU

Filed by blyndes at 11:19 am under News Coverage, News Stories
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PCES Meeting Minutes
28 March 2008

Present: Ellen Shippee, Trevor Chandler, Bill Crangle, Steve Whitman, Linda Dauer, Danielle Dustin, Brian Eisenhauer, Brad Allen, Bill Bayard, Bruce Lyndes, Len Reitsma

The February 22nd meeting minutes were accepted as written.

Dwight Fischer, Ted Wisniewski, and Jo-Ann Guilmett from ITS (Info Tech Svcs) attended to discuss green strategies:
• Ted overviewed the effort to keep clusters updated for sleep mode functions, and a new “virtual server” strategy that allows us to run fewer servers.
• Jo-Ann reviewed use of paper and other supplies in the student clusters (handout). 12% of the paper users account for over 30% of the ¾ million pages used last semester (one of those 12% was a faculty member). (more…)

Related items

• 2/22/08 PCES Meeting Minutes
• PCES Meeting Minutes, 10/26/2007
• PCES Meeting Minutes 9/14/07
• PCES Meeting Minutes 8/29/07

Filed by blyndes at 2:51 pm under ESC Meeting Minutes
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Energy Conservation – Be Energy Conscious…

With the oil prices rising, we need to conserve energy on campus. The University burns #2 oil to produce electrical power for the campus. The price of #2 oil has risen from $2.05/gallon in September 2007 to $3.32/gallon in March 2008 which is a 62% increase in costs. A truck load of oil in September cost $19,000 and our last load in March was $31,000.

We need your help in reducing electrical power consumption on campus: (more…)

Related items

• PCES Annual Report
• PSU Students Start New Recycling Competition
• PSU Students Do It in the Dark, Save Big On Energy
• PSU to Study Feasibility of Co-Generation Plant, Switching from Fossil Fuel to Wood Could Save Money, Reduce Pollution
• Mary Lyon Hall - Back to the Future, Saving Money and Energy

Filed by blyndes at 3:14 pm under Campus Communications, News Stories, Press Release, Uncategorized
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PCES Meeting Minutes
22 February 2008

Present: Don Perrin, Ellen Shippee, Danielle Dustin, Trevor Chandler, Bill Crangle, Linda Dauer, Nancy Pettengill, Peter Laufenberg, Brad Allen, Bill Bayard, Thad Guldbrandsen, Danielle Ross.

Updates: (more…)

Related items

• PSU Students Do It in the Dark, Save Big On Energy
• PSU Summary: Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change
• PSU Moves to Reduce Paper and Ink Waste
• ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU
• PSU Students Start New Recycling Competition

Filed by blyndes at 3:48 pm under ESC Meeting Minutes, News Coverage, Uncategorized
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PSU is taking another significant step forward in environmental sustainability efforts, with students taking the lead. Sunday, January 27, marked the beginning of the 10-week long RecycleMania competition at PSU. Residents from each residential area on campus are encouraged to recycle glass, #1 & #2 plastics, and cans. Special “RecycleMania” bins are located in the lobby of each residence hall, and in several locations around the University Apartments, which members of Residential Life staff will empty and weigh on a daily basis. (more…)

Related items

• ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU
• PSU Students Do It in the Dark, Save Big On Energy
• PCES Annual Report
• PSU Summary: Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change
• 2/22/08 PCES Meeting Minutes

Filed by blyndes at 1:49 pm under News Stories, Uncategorized
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Plymouth State University students saved nearly 12,000 kilowatts of electricity in a very successful energy-saving competition.

Danielle Dustin, Samuel Read Hall residence director who organized the ‘Do It in the Dark’ contest, reports students saved 11,764 kilowatt hours of energy during the one-month competition that ran during the month of November. Dustin reports the combined energy savings from all residence halls are the equivalent of 196,067 60-watt light bulbs burning for 16 hours each. (more…)

Related items

• PSU Summary: Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change
• ‘Help Us Save!’ Energy Conservation Plea for PSU
• 2/22/08 PCES Meeting Minutes
• PSU Students Start New Recycling Competition
• PSU Students Do It in the Dark

Filed by blyndes at 10:40 am under News Coverage, News Stories, Uncategorized
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