Carleton College: Environmental Audit

1. Carleton College: Environmental Audit  Miller Cochran  Jamie Long  Lauren Miller  Stephanie Pimm  Damian Winters 2004 ENTS Capstone Presentation Authors:

2. Introduction

3. Environment and Health • Energy and Water • Materials and Waste • Environment, Health, and Safety

4. Energy and Water

5. Energy Use Performance: • Carleton is well within the Good Company’s Benchmark • Problems with monitoring of individual buildings and off-campus housing • Use of MN Sustainable Design Guide Recommendations: • Better monitoring • Provide feedback and information to campus users • Look towards meeting Kyoto standards

6. Renewable Energy Performance: • Carleton does not currently purchase renewable energy • Wind turbine project Recommendations: • Use any profit from wind turbine to buy green energy • Offer students/faculty/staff option for “taxing” themselves in order to purchase green energy.

7. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Performance: • Air emission estimates • Global Change Biology project • Carleton has never completed a full report on GHG inventory that includes travel, transportation, etc. Recommendations: • Encourage student project on environmental footprint for Carleton College

8. Transportation Performance: • Current changes in parking regulations recommend that no new parking lots should be built • Yellow Bike Club • Carleton meets suggested benchmark for car/bike spaces Recommendations: • Dead storage for cars should be reviewed and enforced • Coordination of Yellow Bike Club should be compensated as a student job • Make commitment for hybrid vehicles in the future

9. Water Use Performance: • Within or below the 90-120 gallons/SCU/day benchmark • Some water-saving devices implemented • Toilets, urinals, showerheads • Buildings monitored separately, but residential and most irrigation combined • Little or no feedback to campus users Recommendations: • Establish system for better monitoring and reporting • Provide feedback to campus users

10. Materials and Waste

11. Recycling Systems Performance: • Offer wide range of services: commingled, paper, batteries, cardboard, ink cartridges • Good campus infrastructure – bins in key locations • About 65 tons of waste per week, 30% recycling rate Recommendations: • To reach the goal of a 50% recycling rate, which some institutions have achieved, Carleton should compost food waste and be more vigorous about our recycling education.

12. Paper Use and Printing Performance: • Paper purchased through Printing and Mailing • Eucalyptus or 30% recycled options • Efforts in past to increase recycled content – discontinued due to concerns about printing, brightness • No fee for printing on campus, creates wasted paper Recommendations: • Carleton should offer higher recycled-content paper options in the future as product quality increases • Carleton should strongly consider adopting a fee system for printing, which could significantly decrease paper use on campus

13. Computer Hardware Purchasing and Disposal Performance: • Largely switched from large CRT monitors to LCD (flat-panel) displays in an effort to comply with Kyoto protocol – high initial cost but high energy savings • All used electronic parts sent to Materials Processing Corporation for break down into reusable/recyclable parts • NEO – formed to distribute old/used computers to students Recommendations: • Communicate with Dell and other hardware suppliers to find out what materials they can take back themselves • Recycle CDs • Redirect NEO’s efforts at more practical computer distribution • Consolidate “machine rooms” for better energy efficiency

14. Food procurement/disposal Performance: • Some produce from Midwest Food Alliance • Earth Day organic meal, fair trade coffee • Little pre-consumer food waste, no food recovery program • Approx. 500-600 lbs/day post-consumer food waste, currently no composting of cafeteria food waste Recommendations: • Continue efforts to compost cafeteria food waste • Increase labeling and self-serve where possible • Consider expanding organic and local food options • Consider donating pre-consumer waste to food bank

15.  Environment, Health, and Safety

16. Conservation & Restoration Performance: • Unusual size & scope: Arb 880 acres, McKnight 35 acres • Habitat for threatened species, buffer zone for Cannon • Active restoration program, but work is slow-going • Chemical use for invasive removal is low and declining • Limited interpretive program Recommendations: • Continue expanding interpretive program to better educate students about Minnesota’s natural history and Carleton’s role in preserving biodiversity and natural areas

17. Grounds maintenance Performance: • No data available on irrigation water use • Two rain sensors and minimalist philosophy • Broadleaf herbicide use fairly low, increasing corn gluten use • Campus master plan promotes native, low-maintenance landscaping • No construction policies regarding minimizing storm water runoff Recommendations: • Better monitoring system for irrigation water use • Continue to reduce chemical herbicide use • Explicit policies regarding minimizing runoff with new construction

18. Chemical Use: Custodial and Maintenance Performance: • All chemicals used come from one company, Ecolab • All the impacts of a product are considered • The college stays up to date with current product developments and innovations • The safety of staff and others is considered Recommendations: • The college should continue to stay current with products that minimize environmental impacts. • Carleton could consider a more formalized process of product selection and evaluation.

19. Chemical Use: Hazardous Materials Performance: • The college does a good job of handling hazardous materials. • Only very small amounts of hazardous materials escape down drains or are otherwise not properly disposed of. • Facilities and the college work through the chemistry department for disposal. Recommendations: • The college should consider using micro-sizing in labs and using a more “green curriculum.”

20. Indoor Air Quality Performance: • The college has recently begun an aggressive program to assess and combat indoor air quality issues. • The college has in place policies to prevent indoor air quality issues before they arise. Recommendations: • The college could speed up the IAQ assessment program with additional funding and attention. • Once the IAQ program has been completed, the college should continue to focus on prevention.

21. Governance, Learning and Policy • Planning and Purchasing • Learning and Governance

22. Planning and Purchasing

23. Campus planning Performance: • Recent completion of 100-year plan • Integration of Arboretum with campus, Northfield • Green space Recommendations: • Work out specific plans for deconstruction – materials, etc. • Develop specific College goals/guidelines for sustainable design, working from MN Sustainable Design Guide and/or LEED evaluation points

24. Purchasing Tools and Strategies Performance: • Purchasing is very decentralized – departments and offices exercise most of control • Little effort for sustainable purchasing campus wide • Facilities department has purchased sustainable wood, recycled paint Recommendations: • Carleton should work towards implementing a strategy to reduce the environmental impact of its purchasing decisions, and adopt the proposed Environmentally Responsible Purchasing Policy.

25. Learning and Governance

26. Governance and Leadership Performance: • Environmental Advisory Committee • Active in making recommendations, reviewing campus issues, budget to make campus improvements • Environmental Statement of Principles • Largely unknown, non-binding Recommendations: • Continue to support the work of the EAC and ensure that its recommendations are considered carefully and in a timely manner through the appropriate chain of command. • Consider adopting more specific goals in its pursuit of sustainability.

27. Investment Policy Performance: • Currently no formal process for considering the social and environmental consequences of its investment practices Recommendations: • Carleton should create a formal structure, such as a committee, to engage in an ongoing discussion of investment responsibility

28. Environmental Studies Curriculum Performance: • ENTS exists as program (not dept.), concentration • 2004 ENTS program review document just completed • High enthusiasm from faculty, students • Recent loss of faculty • Requires more organization Recommendations: • 2004 review document as starting point • Maintenance as viable concentration requires input • Increase in staffing should be seriously considered • Clearly delineate organizational structure in writing

29. Campus Culture and Environmental Awareness Performance: • Strong support from students and faculty • Many groups with environmental affiliation: SOPE, MPIRG, Green House, Farmhouse, ENTS Program, EAC • Requires greater organization Recommendations: • Reestablish Green Network • Encourage dialogue and cooperative projects among student groups, faculty and administration • Greater integration with campus as a whole

30. Overall Performance • Energy and water monitoring and information dissemination are similar problems across campuses • Many colleges are now at least looking further into food procurement and composting • Larger universities have more concrete sustainability and environmental plans • Chemical awareness seems higher at Carleton than at other schools • Many schools are now looking at using 100% post consumer recycled paper • Reasonable number of car/bike spaces • Renewable energy use/interest high at Carleton • Green chemistry more widely used in larger universities

31. Overall Recommendations High Priority Tasks The College should: • improve its monitoring and reporting of water and energy usage and provide better feedback and information to campus users. • continue working towards composting the post-consumer food waste generated by the dining halls. • consider expanding local and organic food options in the dining halls. • adopt the proposed Environmentally Responsible Purchasing Policy, and work towards creating and implementing a strategy to reduce the environmental impact of its purchasing decisions. • create a formal structure, such as a committee, to engage in an ongoing discussion of investment responsibility • adopt specific goals and targets in its pursuit of sustainability.

32. Thank you… The Good Company  Myles Bakke Phil Camill Kirk Campbell  Chuck Carlin Joel Cooper Dennis Easley Diane Fredrickson Ari Guha Fred Hagstrom Randie Johnson Issa Kawas Robert LampaBrian Mars Jim Pence Mary Savina Joshua Skov Loretta Springer  Richard Strong Alison UngerJoseph Winegardner Global Change Biology students