Gainesville News from UF Office of Sustainability

Orange and Blue Goes Green E-newsletter, Issue #31 February 2010 In This Issue :: Solar Cyclists at University of Florida :: Campus Kitchens: UF Chapter :: UF Launches "Chomp Down on Energy" :: NASA awards University of Florida $870,000 grant to study land use cover change :: 12th Annual Sustainable Florida Best Practice Awards Now Accepting Nominations :: New UF parking garage wins design award, sustainability citation :: Announcements :: Second Annual Sustainable Solutions Awards :: UF Department of Housing a Leader in Campus Sustainability :: Sustainability Forum Orange and Blue Goes Green is an e-newsletter from the University of Florida's Office of Sustainability. We aim to bring you all the latest and greatest in sustainability on campus and around town. The goal of sustainability is to meet today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The Office of Sustainability supports faculty, students, and staff in implementing more sustainable practices. Solar Cyclists at University of Florida Libraries' Green Team hosts eco-event SolarCycle Week, hosted by the Smathers Libraries, recently wrapped up its week-long series of events, culminating with the arrival of the Solar Cyclists. Groups came together January 25th-31st from all over campus to learn more about sustainability, solar power and the incredible around-the world cycling journey of the Solar Cyclists, Susie Wheeldon and Jamie Vinning. The program, made possible by the George A. Smathers Libraries in partnership with the UF Office of Sustainability, worked to engage faculty, staff, students and the local community around renewable energy topics. Read more about Solar Cycle Week... UF Launches "Chomp Down on Energy" Campaign encourages new conservation habits The Office of Sustainability has just launched a new effort to reduce electricity use throughout campus. "Chomp Down on Energy" includes educational resources about energy consumption and the associated cost savings that can be affected through minor behavioral changes, and encourages students, staff and faculty to be more energy conscious. The main campus of the University of Florida uses approximately 470,000 megawatts of power annually, and spent roughly $38 million for electricity in 2008, with lights and equipment, such as computers and copiers typically accounting for roughly 30-40% of a building's energy use. Currently, UF is conducting a number of building retrofit projects, including replacing T-12 fluorescent fixtures with T-8 ones, with a projected costs savings of $1.4 million over 10 years. Read more about Chomp Down on Energy... 12th Annual Sustainable Florida Best Practice Awards Now Accepting Nominations Program honors sustainable efforts around community Sustainable Florida is now accepting nominations for its annual Best Practice Awards program to honor and promote outstanding examples of sustainable development principles (e.g., water and energy conservation, waste diversion, community engagement, building social capital, building green, transportation alternatives, historic preservation, healthy initiatives, organic farming, landscape innovations, and more.) The nomination deadline is at the end of March. Find the nomination form here. The awards program will held June 4 at the Florida Green Building Coalition Green Trends conference. And, the Governor and Cabinet usually honor the winners with a resolution at a later meeting. Read more... New UF parking garage wins design award, sustainability citation First LEED Gold garage in nation GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Florida's new $20 million Southwest Parking Garage Complex has won the 2009 Award of Excellence for New Design from the Florida Parking Association. The award was presented to UF, PGAL and James Cummings Inc. for their strong collaboration. PGAL, a national architecture and engineering firm, designed the complex. James A. Cumming Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, was the design/build team leader. Read more... Announcements News, Events and Opportunities *Sustainable UF is now on Facebook and Twitter. Become a fan or follow us today! *Remember to collect pop-tops and bottle caps for the 40 Days of Change Kickoff Event March 16th. Materials can be dropped off at Tigert 204 anytime up to March 15th! * FloridaWorks Green Career Training- Sign up today! * February 25 - 27 - 16th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference, UF Levin College of Law * March 16 - 40 Days of Change Kickoff Event, Recycled crafts and games on the Reitz Union Colonnade and North Lawn * March 17 - Womens Lacrosse Green Game, Donald R. Dizney Stadium at the Florida Lacrosse Facility * March 18 - Alternatively-Fueled Vehicles Panel Discussion and Display, 1:45-3:30 PM, JWRU Rooms 361-363 * April 12-13 - Florida Food Summit, Reitz Union * March 16-April 24 - 40 Days of Change In honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, we will be promoting sustainability events and programs, in addition to our Annual Earth Day Celebration. Please see the Calendar of Events for all event listings. More events and happenings... Campus Kitchens: UF Chapter Organization helps meet local hunger needs, promotes sustainable food use At the intersection of sustainability and community service, the student group Campus Kitchens is hard at work helping to meet hunger needs in Gainesville while promoting sustainable attitudes towards food use. Campus Kitchens at UF was founded in 2007 as a chapter of the national organization with the mission to both recycle food and address hunger issues in the surrounding area. Campus Kitchens works with a strong volunteer base that meets periodically in the Reitz Union kitchen to put together nutritionally balanced meals from the surplus food they acquire, including unused food from campus dining and catering services. They have an output of around 150-200 meals a week, which are delivered to various locations around the community. Read more about Campus Kitchens... NASA awards University of Florida $870,000 grant to study land use cover change Study hopes to enhance planning for sustainable resource use GAINESVILLE, Fla. - University of Florida researchers have received an $870,000 grant to study how to better adapt to climate change. The NASA Land Use Land Cover Change Program grant will fund an interdisciplinary project that will analyze relationships among climate variability, climate change, land use and land cover change. Read more about NASA grant... Second Annual Sustainable Solutions Awards Nominations run 2/15 through 3/26 The Office of Sustainability will host the 2nd annual Sustainable Solutions Awards as part of the "40 Days of Change for the Earth" for Earth Day 2010. Award recipients will be announced Wednesday, April 21 at the Earth Day Celebration, following President J. Bernard Machen's annual State of Sustainability address. Nominations opened Monday, February 15 and run through Friday, March 26. Nominate here! The awards recognize individuals or teams which have made significant contributions toward advancing sustainability at UF. Qualifying projects will have helped to realize the Vision for a Sustainable UF in the categories of Waste Reduction, Water Conservation or Energy Conservation. Nominate today! UF Department of Housing a Leader in Campus Sustainability Energy Conservation, Student Involvement are key tenets to efforts The Department Of Housing is helping to set the bar for Green Teams and sustainability on campus. They have been actively participating in their own energy conservation campaign since last year, in addition to numerous other efforts that reflect their commitment to cutting UF's carbon footprint. Housing placed light switch covers throughout residence halls and Student Affairs facilities to remind students and staff to turn off lights when not in use, and initiated a "Computers Off!" campaign for staff and residents. Residents are educated on power-saving practices for their personal computers and encouraged to be more mindful of consumption. Read more about Green Team's efforts... Sustainability Forum Send us your sustainability questions Q: What types of paper can I recycle? A: UF accepts a wide array of paper for recycling. The basic collection list for paper recyclables on campus includes office paper (basic white and multi- colored paper), copy and notebook paper, junk mail, envelopes (with and without windows), index cards, manila folders and computer paper, newspapers and magazines, soft cover books, pasteboard (i.e., cereal boxes) and corrugated boxes. An extensive list of acceptable and unacceptable items is available through the Physical Plant Division. Small amounts of shredded paper can be placed inside a permanent paper bin, as long as it does not fill it up and prevent others from being able to dispose of their paper. It is preferred that offices get in touch with the Physical Plant Solid Waste Management Office to arrange pickup of shredded paper waste. UF also accepts items with both staples and post-it notes. Other paper binding items such as binder clips and paper clips should be removed but can be reused. While cardboard is also a recyclable product at UF, unless it can be compactly placed in an internal collection bin, we recommend that large cardboard boxes be broken down and placed in an outdoor cardboard baler. This simply helps to maximize the space available for newspaper and office paper collected indoors by sending bulkier cardboard items into their larger, designated bins. Pizza boxes however cannot be recycled. Unfortunately, paper products that have held food and liquid products cannot be recycled alongside regular paper products. This is referred to as contamination in the recycling business and applies to all paper products that have come into contact with grease, oils and other residues. During the recycling process, the paper fibers are broken down for reprocessing. When paper is contaminated, the fibers do not separate from the oils and the integrity of the resulting paper product is compromised. Please dispose of these items in trash receptacles. Read more frequently asked questions... "The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." -Marcel Proust University of Florida Office of Sustainability email: info@sustainability.ufl.edu phone: 352.392.7578 web: http://www.sustainable.ufl.edu