Kenmare House (where the Environmental Office and other Estate Management units are housed) like almost every building at the University - has a water meter, making it easy and possible to track monthly consumption and cost. Kenmare is quite small and water costs are rather low, so water savings from water reduction efforts are small.
Nevertheless, the toilets appear to be quite old and flush violently for what is probably 30-40 seconds if not a minute. This leads me to believe they are probably using at least 13 liters (or roughly 2.86 gallons which actually doesn't sound as impressive as how long and loudly it flushes) per flush.
Estate Management has a program for employees to make suggestions for improvements, called "Staff Suggestion Scheme." The other day Martin showed me a suggestion made by the building's maintenance lead to eliminate plastic cups from the building (except for guests) by supplying everyone with a reusable water bottle like a Sigg. Anyhow, Martin suggested I write up something to reduce flush rates in the male and female restrooms and so as a very small and last mini-mini project, I've written a "staff suggestion." Perhaps, at a minimum, water hippos which are provided free from the local water agency will be put in to displace some of the water in the tank.
An additional conclusion is that it'd be great for UC Berkeley to have a water meter on each building and to be able to get data off the meters online, which is something that we are working toward after the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability's water study and reduction recommendations report.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Water Sampling
Today Martin and I took water samples from several streams on University property. While Martin took samples which were sent off to a lab to check for nitrates, ammonia, organic matter, and phosphates, I recorded dissolved oxygen and temperature. It was quite fun!
Water samples are taken on a monthly basis, especially because of possible contamination from both agriculture and laboratory-related practices. High levels of ammonia are of particular importance as it is harmful to the many fish and plants.
It began to rain so we didn't go to all the sites, but even in the rain the grounds look beautiful.
Martin Whiteland, Environmental Officer.
The tools: recording devices, water sampling bottles, dissolved oxygen meter.
The next day, Martin tested one of the water samples collected close to the physics building for glycol, which is anti freeze. Several years ago there was a leak and some glycol got into the water system. Glycol isn't regularly toxic, but in water it readily breaks down and depletes the oxygen supply.
The next day, Martin tested one of the water samples collected close to the physics building for glycol, which is anti freeze. Several years ago there was a leak and some glycol got into the water system. Glycol isn't regularly toxic, but in water it readily breaks down and depletes the oxygen supply.
This is the glycol testing kit. Even the slightest trace of glycol (far left, or nearly clear with just a tinge of purple) is cause for concern and action.
Glycol free!!
Glycol free!!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Meetings and Goodbyes
Last week was Wei hong's last week here in Cambridge. He is on his way back to Singapore to make it in time for the beginning of term and today is my last day.
Due to this, we've been quite busy the past two weeks!
1. We met the director of Estate Management, Michael Bienias. This is the equivalent of meeting Facilities Services Vice Chancellor Ed Denton. Director Bienias asked us how we're enjoying Cambridge (which we said we were enjoying a lot!) as well as some detailed questions about what we've been working on. We thanked him for making this program possible and took a picture (below)!
Left to right: Wei hong Tan, Michael Bienias, Irene Seliverstov
Due to this, we've been quite busy the past two weeks!
1. We met the director of Estate Management, Michael Bienias. This is the equivalent of meeting Facilities Services Vice Chancellor Ed Denton. Director Bienias asked us how we're enjoying Cambridge (which we said we were enjoying a lot!) as well as some detailed questions about what we've been working on. We thanked him for making this program possible and took a picture (below)!
Left to right: Wei hong Tan, Michael Bienias, Irene Seliverstov
2. We also presented our findings to a handful of senior managers and the three Santander students.
Wei hong presented on the large amount of data about campus buildings' electricity and gas consumption which he had combed through and analyzed. Cambridge has meters which feed directly into an online program which generates graphs and figures. A most interesting finding was that in laboratory-dominated buildings, the baseline load is high even in the middle of the night and weekends. During typical work hours, there is an increase in energy consumption, but it is not as significant as the constant energy consumption when the building is relatively not in use. Additionally, there is no significant difference in energy consumption between term months and off-term months. That is, in July, when one would expect there to be fewer building occupants, the energy usage remains high due to the year-round high level of research activity.
For the air travel study, I analyzed roughly 5000 flights taken by University staff and students in order to calculate actual (versus theoretical) air travel emissions in the Carbon Management Plan. By looking at flights recorded by the insurance office and travel agents, we estimate that we've captured 75% of all flights, which is quite good. The 'missing' 25% we assume is when people book flights on their own and don't take out insurance. Therefore, it appears that air travel emissions could be calculated using solely insurance information with an uplift factor to account for travel agent data and “unaccounted for” flights. To calculate emissions we decided to use the ClimateCare online calculator. A productive future goal, I believe, would be to consolidate emission factors across reporting entities as they vary quite a bit . By far, the majority of flights are between European countries, but the majority of CO2 emissions come from flights to America.
Wei hong presented on the large amount of data about campus buildings' electricity and gas consumption which he had combed through and analyzed. Cambridge has meters which feed directly into an online program which generates graphs and figures. A most interesting finding was that in laboratory-dominated buildings, the baseline load is high even in the middle of the night and weekends. During typical work hours, there is an increase in energy consumption, but it is not as significant as the constant energy consumption when the building is relatively not in use. Additionally, there is no significant difference in energy consumption between term months and off-term months. That is, in July, when one would expect there to be fewer building occupants, the energy usage remains high due to the year-round high level of research activity.
For the air travel study, I analyzed roughly 5000 flights taken by University staff and students in order to calculate actual (versus theoretical) air travel emissions in the Carbon Management Plan. By looking at flights recorded by the insurance office and travel agents, we estimate that we've captured 75% of all flights, which is quite good. The 'missing' 25% we assume is when people book flights on their own and don't take out insurance. Therefore, it appears that air travel emissions could be calculated using solely insurance information with an uplift factor to account for travel agent data and “unaccounted for” flights. To calculate emissions we decided to use the ClimateCare online calculator. A productive future goal, I believe, would be to consolidate emission factors across reporting entities as they vary quite a bit . By far, the majority of flights are between European countries, but the majority of CO2 emissions come from flights to America.
From left to right:
Emilia (Santander), Paul Hasley (Energy Manager), Wei hong, Martin Whiteland (Environmental officer), Thomas (Santander), Chloe (Santander) and Irene (me).
Reducing Waste at Meetings
There is one large meeting room at 74 Kenmare House where Estate Management is housed. The room is connected to a kitchnette with a sink, fridge, coffee maker(s), water dispenser, etc. What I really like is that there is a set of coffee cups with little saucers and spoons that are taken out for each meeting for coffee.
Of course, there is someone who is responsible to bring the cups out and wash them afterwards, and the person isn't necessarily an attendee of the meeting. It appears the responsiblity is included in the duties of one person. I witnessed the same procedure when we visited Oxford for meetings there, though in that case it was the receptionist who did this because the meeting rooms were right next to her desk. Kenmare House has a receptionist as well, but the meeting room is on the 2nd floor (or perhpas 3rd -- it's difficult to say with all the stair cases)
Though this post can seem mundane, this small detail eliminates the waste associated with throwing away paper/plastic cups, looks professional because the cups match, and promotes the idea of reusing items, even if there is composting established which could potentially divert cups from landfill were they compostable. There are still plastic cups made available for water, and it's certainly possible to replace those with small glass water glasses as well. In fact, there is a a form any staff member can fill out called a "staff recommendation" to improve the sustainability of any aspect in Estate Management, and the head custodian/handy-man wrote up a plan to eliminate plastic cups for everyone except for guests.
Of course, there is someone who is responsible to bring the cups out and wash them afterwards, and the person isn't necessarily an attendee of the meeting. It appears the responsiblity is included in the duties of one person. I witnessed the same procedure when we visited Oxford for meetings there, though in that case it was the receptionist who did this because the meeting rooms were right next to her desk. Kenmare House has a receptionist as well, but the meeting room is on the 2nd floor (or perhpas 3rd -- it's difficult to say with all the stair cases)
Though this post can seem mundane, this small detail eliminates the waste associated with throwing away paper/plastic cups, looks professional because the cups match, and promotes the idea of reusing items, even if there is composting established which could potentially divert cups from landfill were they compostable. There are still plastic cups made available for water, and it's certainly possible to replace those with small glass water glasses as well. In fact, there is a a form any staff member can fill out called a "staff recommendation" to improve the sustainability of any aspect in Estate Management, and the head custodian/handy-man wrote up a plan to eliminate plastic cups for everyone except for guests.
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