Western Town Hall Meeting Topic: Sustainability

1. Western Town Hall MeetingTopic: Sustainability Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:30pm-4:30pm Room ARC-200

2. The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment • www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org • “An effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions, and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate.”

3. The Commitment: • Major aspects and deadlines: a). Within one year of signing, complete a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions and update the inventory every other year thereafter. b). Within two years after signing, develop an institutional action plan for becoming climate neutral, which will include: - Target data for achieving climate neutrality as soon as possible. - Interim targets for goals and actions that will lead to climate neutrality. - Actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experience for all students. - Actions to expand research or other efforts necessary to achieve climate neutrality. - Mechanisms for tracking progress on actions and goals. c). Two or more tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gases must be addressed while the more comprehensive plan is being developed.

4. Western’s Progress and Tangible Actions • Tangible Action 1: Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver standard or equivalent. • The Facility Development Policy--sustainable facilities and LEED • Lunda Center • Residence Hall • Tangible Action 2: Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist: • ENERGY STAR--procurement policy • Computers changed to flat panels and programmed to shut off at night= $30,000 in savings

5. Western’s Progress and Tangible Actions continued • Tangible Action 3: Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by the institution. • No good measuring system • Tangible Action 4: Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors to the institution. • Free MTU passes to all faculty, staff, and students • Biking and walking to campus are encouraged • Charging for parking spaces

6. Western’s Progress and Tangible Actions continued • Tangible Action 5: Within one year of signing, begin purchasing or producing at least 15% of the institution’s electricity consumption from renewable sources. • Angelo Dam Project --Sparta Campus • Cashton Wind Project • New Student Government Sustainability Fund • Tangible Action 6: Establish a policy or committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our institution’s endowment is invested. • Western addresses this through procurement by attempting to select vendors who have sustainable attributes and practices.

7. Western’s Progress and Tangible Actions continued • Tangible Action 7: Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste. • Participate in RecycleMania (2010) • Recycling Committee • Plastics 1 &2, paper, aluminum, steel, tin, and glass can be recycled • Confidential papers --shredded and recycled

8. What is “Climate Neutrality?” • Climate neutrality means having no net greenhouse gas emissions. This can be achieved by minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, and using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the remaining emissions.

9. What is a Carbon Footprint? • A carbon footprint is, “the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product.” (UK Carbon Trust 2008). • Online, you can calculate various carbon footprints at sites such as: www.carbonfootprint.com, www.terrapass.com, www.footprintnetwork.org, and many others. • How it works: You add in factors such as size of your living accommodations, commuting choices, food choices (meat and local), air travel, waste generation, and the like.

10. What is a Carbon Footprint? cont. • Carbon footprint calculators generally tell you how many tons of carbon your lifestyle produces per year, how many planets we would need if everyone lived like you, and how many acres of land you would need to support your lifestyle. • For example: I live in a 500 sq. ft. apartment, use my car rarely, live modestly, buy somewhat locally produced food, eat mostly produce, poultry and fish, and enjoy weekend entertainment. My footprint is: 8.1 tons of carbon per year, it would take 3.8 planets to support everyone on my lifestyle, and I would need 17 acres of arable land to support myself. (FootPrintNetwork and CarbonFootprint). The average US citizen’s footprint is 23 tons.

11. What is a Carbon Footprint? Cont. • The average carbon footprint for a family of four living in one house with two automobiles is 16.2 tons of CO2 per person per year. It would take 4.8 planets per person to support the entire world population at this standard of living. 21.5 global acres per person is needed to feed each person at this standard of living as well (CarbonFootprint and FootPrintNetwork).

12. What is Western’s Footprint? • Still to be determined.

13. Sustainability Navigation Session Results • Johnson Controls Inc. hosted a Sustainability Navigation Session on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at Western Technical College. • There were 38 participants, composed of staff, faculty, students, and a few community members. • Participants went through Visioning and Objectives, a Needs Assessment, a Practices Assessment, and Idea Generation. • The purpose was to find out what environmental, economic, and social practices and needs the college has, and how Western can use this information for future planning.

14. Sustainability Navigation Sessions cont. • Western’s “Top 10” Sustainability Needs (Based on needs assessment): • 1. Reduce energy usage across all operations • 2. Obtain adequate funding for sustainability projects • 3. Increase the use of energy from renewable sources • 4. Provide effective occupant training on energy and environmental issues • 5. Increase the level of waste recycling • 6. Reduce the impact of energy cost volatility • 7. Increase use of energy-efficient building systems and equipment • 8. Reduce operating costs across the organization • 9. Attract new customers through sustainability initiatives • 10. Reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions

15. Sustainability Navigation Sessions • Western’s “Top 10” Sustainability Practices (Based on practices assessment): • 1. Energy and Environmental Education Program • 2. Distributed Power Generation • 3. Employee Sustainability Communications Program • 4. Sustainability Marketing and Public Relations • 5. Sustainability Funding Grants and Initiatives • 6. Renewable Energy Systems Design and Operation • 7. Recycling Program • 8. Demand-side Energy Management • 9. Sustainability Strategic Planning • 10. Green Products and Services

16. Improvement Opportunities-relative impact (based on statistical model)

17. Sustainability Navigation Sessions • Recommendations & Next Steps: • Review needs and practices data for opportunity to: • Corroborate information already gathered • Prioritize goals that are identified based on cross-functional feedback gained from Sustainability Workshop • Fold into an overall sustainability plan • Address Barriers to Success • Acknowledge barriers in your Sustainability Plan • Determine which can be overcome and create plans or task force to do it • Identify which barriers are more systemic and will need to be managed to minimize their impact on the success of your Plan implementation • Turn Plan into Action • Assemble implementation teams that own various high priority goals in the plan and assign completion timeline

18. Recycling Committee • Co-chairs– Julie Dahl & Cindy Kartman • Members: Dennis Deml Kay Kastenschmidt Shannon Havlik Erica Black Steven Meger Pete Bemis Mark Harris

19. Recycling Committee

20. Recycling Committee • Phase ONE Begin with Staff & Faculty Participation and Our Work Areas • Phase TWO Focus on Student Participation and Classroom Areas • Phase THREE Start to Examine More Areas; Contracts with Vendors, College-wide Purchases, etc.

21. Recycling Committee • New Website: http://www.westerntc.edu/green • Has information about Western’s sustainable initiatives, Recycling Green Team resources, Frog Blog, classes, etc.

22. Recycling Committee • New Bin Labels! • Co-Mingled labels are blue with materials listed that are acceptable. • Paper labels are green with materials listed that are acceptable. • Blue and green “NO” signs list what is not acceptable. • It’s Easy Being Green frog on all labels.

23. Recycling Committee • On average, Western (La Crosse Campus) has been generating 286,960 pounds of trash per year. This equates to about 1,550 adult males, or 0.71 blue whales! • On a happier note, Western has been recycling an average of 40,760 pounds of cardboard and paper, and 4,540 pounds of co-mingled material per year. • We can do better!

24. Western’s Green Energy Initiatives • Cashton Greens Wind Farm Project • Angelo Dam Hydroelectric Turbine (Sparta Campus)

25. Cashton Greens Wind Farm Project • Partnering with Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools (CROPP) and Gundersen Lutheran • Two 2.5 Megawatt (MW) turbines to be placed in the Cashton Greens Business Park, near Organic Valley’s Distribution Center

26. Cashton Greens Wind Farm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxOYwWu7Xcc

27. Angelo Dam Project • The Angelo Dam will be retrofitted for a hydroelectric turbine • The dam is located near Western’s Sparta Campus • The turbine will be able to supply up to 948,500 kilowatt hours of renewable electricity per year, which is more than enough to power the Sparta Campus • Excess electricity will be sold back to the power grid • The project will allow Western to meet its renewable energy goals for the Presidents Climate Commitment

28. Angelo Dam

29. Programming • Western is striving for across-the-curriculum sustainability involvement. • Classes will be asked to address sustainability and make students more aware of Western’s efforts and environmentally conscious practices and issues. • In the future, Western seeks to offer courses and programs related to renewable energies and “green” technologies.