Please see below for a sampling of presentations that will be offered at the 2020 California Higher Education Sustainability Conference. Many of these presentations will be matched up with other presenters to form 75 minute panel presentations. CHESC Staff are still working hard on the schedule which we hope to post shortly. Presentations listed below will be within the “Concurrent Sessions” portion of the agenda.
Applying the Living Building/Community Challenge to Planning & Design at CSUMB
Through a presentation of the 2018 Architecture at Zero Award-winning Wellness and Recreation design solution, we will share the concepts, data, and final design shaped by the Living Community/Building Challenge. Our presentation will include discussion with the design team, and video responses from key staff at California State University, Monterey Bay.
Thermal Efficiency Project at Brown University: progression toward carbon neutrality
Brown University and Ecosystem will share key insights from the campus district energy system transformation, driven by an innovative building-level retrofit strategy. This project was made possible by the integration of Sustainability and Facilities departments, and an institutional commitment to carbon reduction goals. Brown’s $24 million Thermal Efficiency Project (TEP), paid for in part by asset renewal budgets, transformed its central heating plant, distribution and buildings to a lower temperature hot water system to significantly increase campus energy efficiency.
Optimizing the Business Case for Carbon Neutrality and Climate Resilience
Cal Poly’s Climate Action Plan aims to achieve carbon neutrality and climate resilience, but how long will it take and what will it actually cost? To optimize the technological and financial path to carbon neutrality while supporting Master Plan growth, Cal Poly undertook two transformative studies – a comprehensive Utility Master Plan and deep customization of the Climate and Energy Scenario Analysis (CESA) tool originally developed by UC Santa Cruz. Come learn how to optimize your campus’ path to carbon neutrality.
Campus Resiliency Planning & Strategies- Higher Ed in End Times
Widespread wild and urban fires, floods, pandemics and power shutdowns are the new normal in California. How are our places of higher education planning and preparing to adapt in response to these times? Acknowledging that resiliency is three-dimensional practice, we will address and also go beyond physical infrastructure issues to examine strategies and practices to cultivate emotional & spiritual resiliency with our students and staff. Higher-ed veterans of recent disasters will share their experiences in this discussion.
GHG’s and EIS: Automating the Greenhouse Gas Inventory Process
California State University Northridge (CSUN) utilizes an Energy Information System (EIS) to track its consumption of electricity, water, natural gas, refrigerants, fleet fuels and more. Because much of this data is used in calculating greenhouse gas emissions, CSUN worked with its EIS service provider to develop a tool within the system that would automatically calculate scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. This presentation will focus on the process, technical needs and advantages of using an EIS-integrated GHG tracking system.
Indoor Lighting Replacement with LED
Replacing T8 fluorescent 32W lights with 12.5 W LED lights.
Climate Action Night
Climate Action Night is a climate legislation awareness event sponsored by Santa Rosa Junior College. Students present posters on current climate-related bills in the California legislature (science fair style) to the broader public. Members of the public can then write postcards to elected officials. Students then lobbied state and local elected officials by visiting their offices to present the posters and the postcards.
UCLA’s Carbon Neutrality Ambassador Program
UCLA’s Carbon Neutrality Ambassadors Program was initiated by the campus’ Carbon Neutrality Fellows in 2018 to integrate more voices into the CNI and expand the Initiative’s impact at UCLA. The ambassadors program onboards six undergraduate students to learn the science behind the climate crisis, current solutions, and how to communicate those solutions to UCLA’s population. Over the course of two months, the ambassadors will be trained through a curriculum developed by the Fellows and implement projects of their own.
CCC’s to Open a Can of Sustainability
Presenters will cover the intent and content of the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Board of Governors Climate Action and Sustainability Policy. We will highlight the framework and discuss the progress of the committe assigned to help the policy come to life. Attendees will be asked to help refine and give input on the policy.
Behind the Scenes of Student Sustainability Activism
The students of any university drive change. This panel will explore how two students in the California higher education system have gotten involved in sustainability work and activism at their institutions. The students and panel leader, Dave Karlsgodt of Brailsford and Dunlavey, will discuss the students’ sustainability projects, the challenges, school/life/activism balance, teamwork and student-admin relationships, and much more.
Nudging Consumer Demand Toward Sustainable Eating
For California universities to be global leaders in climate change mitigation, sustainable food purchasing must become part of their emissions reduction strategies. But how can we make sure our demand shifts towards climate-friendly food as well? This panel will explore new, creative strategies to engage our diners and dining teams to make plant-based eating more delicious, exciting, and most importantly—the new norm.
Carson House Sustainable Futures: A Student Community Learning, Living Sustainability
Carson House is a living learning community: a year-long immersive course and residence experience for first year students that focuses on sustainable principles. Carson House imbues an economic, social and environmental way of living today, and for future generations. Students live together and build a peer community connection to shared educational experiences, including participating in directed and self-directed events and programs. Supported by dedicated instructors, faculty, and staff, the students collaborate to realize a new sustainable vision for the future.
Sustainability, Diversity, and Social Justice as a Graduation Requirement
In Fall 2018, as Cal State East Bay transitioned from Quarters to Semesters, a new graduation requirement was implemented – the General Education (GE) Overlays for Sustainability, Social Justice, and Diversity. An “Overlay” is fulfilled by completing an approved course. This requirement “lays-over” the GE and major programs, because an Overlay course may be lower division, upper division, and may satisfy a GE or major requirement. Thus, students should not need to take additional courses to meet the Overlay requirements.
Institutionalizing Teaching Sustainability/Campus as a Living Lab Faculty Learning Communities
Based on the success of two Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) in infusing sustainability into the curriculum of twenty-one courses from nineteen disciplines and in recognition of the crucial role that sustainability in the curriculum plays in empowering students with tools to address challenges resulting from the interconnectedness of environment, society, and the economy, Stanislaus State’s Teaching Sustainability/Campus as a Living Lab FLCs were institutionalized in support of the university’s strategic plan to prepare students for careers related to sustainability.
Student-led Education for an Environmental Revolution
Solutions for a Sustainable Future is a comprehensive environmental education program curated for the average person. It focuses on actionable, scalable, and hopeful solutions aimed at providing students with the working tools and knowledge necessary for creating real change in their own lives and in the systems they live in. This project has served 600 students at UC Berkeley thus far and student testimonials will prove that the programming has had a further reach in their families, communities, and careers.
Sustainability Blitz; Empowering Future Sustainability Leaders in Industry and Academics
Realizing curriculum that meets ambitious sustainability goals, administrative directives, and cutting edge pedagogy, is no easy task. This session highlights a replicable model realized at Skyline College to implement interdisciplinary sustainability curriculum, the Sustainability Blitz. Integral to this approach is identifying key faculty and professionals to collaborate on lesson design and leveraging problem-based and project-based learning techniques. This session includes the tenets of the model, examples of lesson modules, and the long-term educational and cultural benefits on and off campus.
Sustainable Curriculum: Action and Interdisciplinarity in a Capstone Course
At CSUN, new approaches to integrating landscape as a sustainable infrastructure have been designed, budgeted, rendered, and presented by students in a Sustainability capstone course. Working collaboratively with faculty, Facilities, and the Institute for Sustainability, students in this course incorporated theory, design, and sustainability principals to create a “tune up” of the existing campus map featuring permaculture lawns, orchards, and tree canopy which may significantly reduce CO_2, lower ambient temperature, capture groundwater, increase nitrogen in the soil, and overall biodiversity.
Informal STEAM Education with Museum of Exploration & Innovation Apprenticeship
The MOXI apprenticeship program is a combined internship and course through UCSB Extension. Participants learn about facilitating, designing, and conducting research and evaluation of informal STEAM learning in different settings. Learners get to experience interactive and engaging activities that encourage the development of STEAM practices, and increased exposure to such practices starting at younger ages and beyond formal spaces. By increasing people’s familiarity and comfort with STEAM, we build their relationship with and confidence in the sciences.
CSUMB Botanical Garden Project
Qualitative research methods such as key informant and semi-structured interviews are used to discover the desired aspects and limitations of a botanical garden at CSUMB from stakeholder perspectives. These stakeholders include students and staff in the Applied Environmental Science Department and CSUMB campus planners. Document and cross theme analysis is also done to discover the benefits and required elements of the garden as per the CSUMB Master Plan and 2020 Sustainability Plan.
Environeering: Preparing teachers to prepare children for environmental innovation
We are transforming a course within the elementary Teacher Education Program (TEP) to include an integrated approach to helping children develop ideas about engineering while also learning about environmental sustainability. This solutions-focused approach to teaching about climate change culminates with student teachers creating an activity for children focused on environmental sustainability and engineering, and implementing this activity in an event that engages children in hands-on problem solving around issues related to climate change: the MAKEarth Faire.
Decarbonization Education and Action in California Colleges
California has among the most ambitious decarbonization targets in the US. California Colleges participate in this effort as both key players in campus decarbonization and, as providers of engineering and Career Technical Education, to prepare a workforce capable of designing and implementing next generation energy systems. This presentation will give an overview of curriculum for decarbonization careers, as well as guidance on engaging students in campus decarbonization analysis and planning projects to accelerate the adoption of emerging energy system solutions.
Developing Curriculum for the Energy Transition
Over the course of two years, we developed the curriculum for a new, interdiscipliary MS degree in renewable energy. This presentation will explore the approach we took to developing the curriculum and to presenting the new degree to the public, and will provide information on our success to date. This presentation will be of interest to faculty/staff interested in developing cutting-edge programs, specifically related to climate change and energy.
Energy Efficiency Education: Teaching Students to do Building Energy Audits
Building energy audits identify opportunities to enhance the performance of our buildings. While valuable, audits are costly if performed by a consultant. UC Davis has partnered with arbnco to create a building audit app that allows entry-level personnel and our university students to perform building audits, uncovering energy-saving measures in real-time. We’ve also built an educational website for a person of any skill level to learn about, collect, and analyze building energy audit information.
UC-CSU NXTerra – California’s New Climate Crisis Teaching Tool
UC-CSU NXTerra Co-Director Dr. John Foran (Distinguished UCSB Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at UCSB) will introduce NXTerra and discuss the current, second phase of global expansion; Project Leader Richard Widick will give a live tour of the NXTerra digital platform for Transformative Educational Resources for Climate Action, and several NXTerra Topic Curators will discuss their contributions to the project. The presentation will break into an audience input and networking session designed to grow the NXTerra Knowledge Action Network.
Moving Forward by Setting Back: Beyond Energy Savings through Curtailment
Setting back or shutting down equipment in buildings over holiday breaks can be one of the easiest ways to save energy. Planning for a thorough curtailment program, however, is no small administrative undertaking. A strategic process for collecting data and coordination between diverse stakeholders reaps many benefits, including resultant energy savings but also up-to-date records on critical systems. We will share our processes and documentation templates to enable other campuses to create or improve curtailment programs.
Expanding Holiday Scheduling and Energy Savings Beyond Winter Closure
Stanford has managed energy conservation campaigns for winter closure since 2001 but recently expanded this program to include Thanksgiving and three-day weekends. The coordination of these additional weekend shutdowns has cumulatively saved over $460,000 in energy expenditures thus far. The building-level savings data is informing potential curtailment predictions and addressing HVAC inefficiencies. While energy setbacks are common in higher education over winter break, Stanford is one of the first institutions to ensure savings are achieved during other unoccupied times.
Class is Over but Campus AV Equipment Keeps Chugging Along
Audio-video equipment is responsible for a significant amount of electricity in campus buildings and doesn’t drop when people leave the building.
Successful Design Build strategies for process projects.
UC Davis constructed a Cage Wash Facility using Design Build method with a reduced budget, reduced schedule, and was able to meet the requirements while drastically reducing water usage, energy, improving processes, and achieved LEED Gold in the process.
Hot Rods and Net Zero Energy
How do hot rods factor into the design of a net zero energy building? A dynamic high-performance facade, emerging innovations and an integrated energy technology curriculum all enhance the design to ensure that this Automotive Technology Building does not become an energy hog, but rather an exemplary net zero building for the San Bernardino Community College.
Energy Efficiency Education: Teaching Students to do Building Energy Audits
Building energy audits identify opportunities to enhance the performance of our buildings. While valuable, audits are costly if performed by a consultant. UC Davis has partnered with arbnco to create a building audit app that allows entry-level personnel and our university students to perform building audits, uncovering energy-saving measures in real-time. We’ve also built an educational website for a person of any skill level to learn about, collect, and analyze building energy audit information.
Stanford is Getting Smarter in its DDC Upgrades
Stanford has upgraded building control systems in 18 large lab buildings in the past 12 years through its Whole Building Energy Retrofit Program. In two recent retrofits, at the Varian Physics Lab and the McCullough Building, Stanford used innovative approaches to maximize value to the University. These included using fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) software for enhanced commissioning, using lab manager surveys to inform programming choices, and combining energy savings with renewal benefits to improve the business case .
Homegrown Retro-commissioning, Raising a Pony
The UC Berkeley Energy Office (EO) has developed a homegrown RCx program that analyzes energy data, operations, schedules and sequences to show how RCx benefits occupants, maintenance staff, and equipment life – beyond energy savings and carbon reduction. The EO team also tamed a high-energy building by designing and installing a pony chiller. Through the RCx team effort, the EO has revealed a gold mine of RCx and capital improvements that address all the representative stakeholders’ goals.
How to Get Electrifying Energy and Water Savings through Electrification
CSUDH replaced natural gas absorption chillers with electric chillers and one large natural gas boiler with eight small condensing staged boilers in 2019 and was able to quantify the results. While the energy savings were significant (57% reduction in natural gas), there was also a significant cooling tower water savings from the reduced thermal load resulting in 2.8 million gallons per year in water savings.
Thermal Efficiency Project at Brown University: progression toward carbon neutrality
Brown University and Ecosystem will share key insights from the campus district energy system transformation, driven by an innovative building-level retrofit strategy. This project was made possible by the integration of Sustainability and Facilities departments, and an institutional commitment to carbon reduction goals. Brown’s $24 million Thermal Efficiency Project (TEP), paid for in part by asset renewal budgets, transformed its central heating plant, distribution and buildings to a lower temperature hot water system to significantly increase campus energy efficiency.
Decarbonization Education and Action in California Colleges
California has among the most ambitious decarbonization targets in the US. California Colleges participate in this effort as both key players in campus decarbonization and, as providers of engineering and Career Technical Education, to prepare a workforce capable of designing and implementing next generation energy systems. This presentation will give an overview of curriculum for decarbonization careers, as well as guidance on engaging students in campus decarbonization analysis and planning projects to accelerate the adoption of emerging energy system solutions.
Developing Curriculum for the Energy Transition
Over the course of two years, we developed the curriculum for a new, interdisciplinary MS degree in renewable energy. This presentation will explore the approach we took to developing the curriculum and to presenting the new degree to the public, and will provide information on our success to date. This presentation will be of interest to faculty/staff interested in developing cutting-edge programs, specifically related to climate change and energy.
Energy Efficiency Education: Teaching Students to do Building Energy Audits
Building energy audits identify opportunities to enhance the performance of our buildings. While valuable, audits are costly if performed by a consultant. UC Davis has partnered with arbnco to create a building audit app that allows entry-level personnel and our university students to perform building audits, uncovering energy-saving measures in real-time. We’ve also built an educational website for a person of any skill level to learn about, collect, and analyze building energy audit information.
Campus to City: Activating university research for community-scale sustainability solutions
Collaboration between a research unit of the university and expert practitioners (Planning, Law, Engineering, Architecture, Environmental, etc.) developed to undertake an urban sustainability project that aims to prototype a pathway to affordable urban decarbonization by means of block-scale retrofitting. The EcoBlock design includes advanced efficiency measures, a solar-powered microgrid, shared electric vehicles, and a new approach for coordinating these on the scale of a city block.
SRJC Microgrid and the need for Long Duration Energy Storage
To provide an update from last year on the SRJC Microgrid Project and report on the challenges, advancement and insights for 100% renewable energy microgrids. Additionally with the recent Public Safety Power Shutdown Events there is a need to for preparation for multi-day outages. For 100% renewable energy microgird systems this means energy storage systems that can discharge for greater then 10 hr for resource adequacy.
Pushing Plug Load Management in Existing Buildings
Plug loads represent a growing proportion of building energy loads. However, a recent installation of over 600 Advanced Plug Load Monitoring Devices (APMD’s) throughout San Mateo Community College District illuminated that the real value in APMD’s lies in the asset utilization information they provide, not just their energy-saving potential. This presentation shares the story of this project and proposes how future deployments of APMD’s can be successful at other higher education institutions.
Indoor Lighting Replacement with LED
Replacing T8 fluorescent 32W lights with 12.5 W LED lights.
CSUDH’s Sustainable Food System: Because Everybody Eats
The Office of Sustainability has built up an elegant but effective network of sustainable food sources tied with a student-run distribution system. These elements work together to increase access to fresh, locally farmed produce for the campus and community, to directly alleviate food insecurity, and to combat food waste while creating opportunities for engagement and education around sustainability.
Growing Grounds for Food Justice
After 3 years of planning Cal Poly opened the first campus community garden that was built in partnership with Campus Health and Wellbeing, Sustainability staff, and University Honors students. The goal of the garden was is two-fold; to create space for student residents and staff and faculty to grow their own food and to allow those students, staff and faculty to grow food for food insecure students who visit the Food Pantry.
Community Garden to an Urban Farm Learning Center
In this presentation we will talk about the transition of a Community Garden to an Urban Farm. We will also discuss the challenges and roadblocks that we have encountered. We will discuss and offer our blueprints to other school how we converted a Community Garden into an Urban Farm in 1 year.
UC Merced Dining’s “UGLY PRODUCE” Rescue and Donation Initiative
A simple question “WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR UGLY PRODUCE?” to UC Merced’s produce vendor, Daylight Foods has turned into a food waste reduction and produce donation program which not only has benefitted UC Merced’s food insecure students and community members, but has also provided nutrient dense fruits and vegetables to food security programs at UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and CSU Chico.
Cooking Up New Programs to “Leave No Food Behind”
UC Merced has launched several waste reduction programs targeting food waste on campus and in the community. The Bobcat Eats Food Waste Awareness and Prevention Program has redirected more than 2 million pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to the landfill. After the success of this program, other areas of food waste have been identified leading to the creation of new programs which have been highly successful in waste reduction due largely to effective planning, partnerships and communications.
Food Recovery From the Dining Commons to the Food Pantry
In October 2018, Miramar Food Pantry opened its doors to help address food insecurity. To continue our efforts to address food insecurity, we started a food recovery program. This program utilizes food items that would otherwise be composted from Portola Dining Commons and saves these items to provide at the Food Pantry. By redirecting unspoiled food, we can continue to be leaders in our community, supporting our students by continuing to address food insecurity while also reducing our environmental impact.
Updating the University of California’s Sustainable Foodservice Policy
In 2018-19, over 26 percent of the University of California’s (UC) food and beverage spend in residential dining, retail, and health systems, over $27 million, was sustainable. The 10 UC campuses came together in 2019 to increase these numbers and set new sustainable foodservice goals. This session will describe the new goals in detail and the multi-month process the campuses underwent to reach consensus around these goals.
Improving the Healthfulness and Sustainability of UC Vending Machines
The University of California Healthy Vending Guidelines were developed as a Global Food Initiative project and disseminated across all campuses for voluntary implementation. Campuses have adapted and adopted the guidelines in a variety of ways, finding synergy with campus sustainability efforts and other health and wellness initiatives. Vending machine sales data provide insight into which programs are related to greater purchases of healthy snacks/beverages, how vending purchases have changed over time and whether that translates to improving our carbon footprint.
Nudging Consumer Demand Toward Sustainable Eating
For California universities to be global leaders in climate change mitigation, sustainable food purchasing must become part of their emissions reduction strategies. But how can we make sure our demand shifts towards climate-friendly food as well? This panel will explore new, creative strategies to engage our diners and dining teams to make plant-based eating more delicious, exciting, and most importantly—the new norm.
Hot Rods and Net Zero Energy
How do hot rods factor into the design of a net zero energy building? A dynamic high-performance facade, emerging innovations and an integrated energy technology curriculum all enhance the design to ensure that this Automotive Technology Building does not become an energy hog, but rather an exemplary net zero building for the San Bernardino Community College.
Science Done Right
The Sac State Ernest E. Tschannen Science Complex offered an opportunity to bring together our design and construction partners, campus constituents and local agencies to prioritize sustainable solutions that minimize our environmental impact on a building type that usually proves to be energy intensive. This included efforts as simple as material selections to complex energy systems, all with the goal of achieving LEED Gold and setting a standard for science laboratory design and operational success in the CSU.
A Sustainable New Laboratory Building at Berkeley Lab
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will present the sustainability features of a 80,880 square foot genomics laboratory that was completed on its main campus in fall 2019. The design includes a broad range of sustainability strategies and exemplifies two key strategies in the UC Policy on Sustainable practices: (1) Using whole building performance targets to drive deep efficiency and (2) eliminating the use of natural gas for space and water heating.
Applying the Living Building/Community Challenge to Planning & Design at CSUMB
Through a presentation of the 2018 Architecture at Zero Award-winning Wellness and Recreation design solution, we will share the concepts, data, and final design shaped by the Living Community/Building Challenge. Our presentation will include discussion with the design team, and video responses from key staff at California State University, Monterey Bay.
Planning For Change- Open Buildings
Open Building advocates the creation of a resilient building stock capable of change and adaptation over time while facilitating decision making on multiple levels. In the context of education architecture – in particular schools and colleges – this means creating facilities that accommodate change as the communities around them evolve. This presentation is an exploration and discussion of how campus master planning and/or individual building design today can prepare for the unknowns of the future.
Successful Design Build strategies for process projects.
UC Davis constructed a Cage Wash Facility using Design Build method with a reduced budget, reduced schedule, and was able to meet the requirements while drastically reducing water usage, energy, improving processes, and acheived LEED Gold in the process.
Fusing Sustainability and Facilities Maintenance
Properly maintained buildings are energy efficient, while poorly maintained buildings increase energy use by up to 60%. This project aims to connect energy efficiency with supporting a facility department’s maintenance of complex green building systems. The focus is creating a resource for facilities workers with accessible and accurate facility data, enabling efficiency in both maintenance and energy use, institutionalizing a culture of sustainability in building operation and providing a low capital investment way to decrease energy use in built systems.
Campus Resiliency Planning & Strategies- Higher Ed in End Times
Widespread wild and urban fires, floods, pandemics and power shutdowns are the new normal in California. How are our places of higher education planning and preparing to adapt in response to these times? Acknowledging that resiliency is three-dimensional practice, we will address and also go beyond physical infrastructure issues to examine strategies and practices to cultivate emotional & spiritual resiliency with our students and staff. Higher-ed veterans of recent disasters will share their experiences in this discussion.
Sustainability Blitz; Empowering Future Sustainability Leaders in Industry and Academics
Realizing curriculum that meets ambitious sustainability goals, administrative directives, and cutting edge pedagogy, is no easy task. This session highlights a replicable model realized at Skyline College to implement interdisciplinary sustainability curriculum, the Sustainability Blitz. Integral to this approach is identifying key faculty and professionals to collaborate on lesson design and leveraging problem-based and project-based learning techniques. This session includes the tenets of the model, examples of lesson modules, and the long-term educational and cultural benefits on and off campus.
Carson House Sustainable Futures: A Student Community Learning, Living Sustainability
Carson House is a living learning community: a year-long immersive course and residence experience for first year students that focuses on sustainable principles. Carson House imbues an economic, social and environmental way of living today, and for future generations. Students live together and build a peer community connection to shared educational experiences, including participating in directed and self-directed events and programs. Supported by dedicated instructors, faculty, and staff, the students collaborate to realize a new sustainable vision for the future.
Institutionalizing Teaching Sustainability/Campus as a Living Lab Faculty Learning Communities
Based on the success of two Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) in infusing sustainability into the curriculum of twenty-one courses from nineteen disciplines and in recognition of the crucial role that sustainability in the curriculum plays in empowering students with tools to address challenges resulting from the interconnectedness of environment, society, and the economy, Stanislaus State’s Teaching Sustainability/Campus as a Living Lab FLCs were institutionalized in support of the university’s strategic plan to prepare students for careers related to sustainability.
University of California’s New Recommendations on the Use of Pesticides
Concerns over the herbicide glyphosate prompted the University of California to issue a temporary suspension of its use in most campus settings and convene a systemwide taskforce of experts to examine glyphosate in more detail in 2019. The “Herbicide Taskforce” put together 11 recommendations on pesticides, which were approved in 2020. The speakers – two individuals who served on the Taskforce – will explain the process the Taskforce went through to develop recommendations and then explain the recommendations in detail.
Herbicide Free Campus: Transitioning Away From Synthetics on Campuses
Pesticides harm living organisms, as well as our natural environment. Workers who apply pesticides are often the most vulnerable to these chemicals due to their close proximity through mixing and spraying. We will share how students can bring the campaign to their school. We are now at 15 schools in nine states, and the foundation of this campaign is student work days where students work with their campus grounds crew to pull weeds and implement other alternative management practices.
Increasing Campus Biodiversity using the Campus as a Living Lab
Facilities, staff, students and professors at College of the Canyons are working together using the Campus as a Living Lab model to increase biodiversity on the campus grounds. Projects include habitat enrichment through introduction and maintenance of native plants, student constructed housing for several bird and native solitary bee species, monitoring of both bird and solitary bee species, and transdisciplinary project based learning to document the bird species on campus in an illustrated book.
My Cardinal Green: A Sustainability Engagement and Behavior Change Tool
Stanford’s Office of Sustainability developed My Cardinal Green, an individual online platform that incentivizes users to take action to reduce their environmental footprint while supporting the university’s sustainability goals. There are over 300 actions – ranging from easy to more challenging – and once users earn 100 points, there are eligible for an incentive. Initially launched in 2017, program underwent enhancements in 2020 to improve usability and data collection.
From Education to Recognition: Engaging Employees to Advance Campus Sustainability
CSU Northridge has been working to institutionalize sustainability on campus for many years. In the 2019-20 academic year, employee engagement was made a priority to further elevate and advance sustainability on campus. We took a multipronged approach to provide sustainability education and recognition for staff through two innovative platforms – developing an employee educators program and offering a sustainability-related staff service award. This presentation will cover how these programs were implemented including timeline, budget, partners, and lessons learned.
Analyzing CSU STARS Reports to Inform Sustainability Strategic Planning
Cal State East Bay (CSUEB) completed its first STARS Report in April 2019. In Fall 2019, the Office of Sustainability analyzed the results of this Report to: 1) Identify areas of overlap between STARS and the CSUEB Climate Action Plan Action Steps 2) Understand the correlation between CSUEB and other Cal State Universities Reports 3) Outline priority areas for campus sustainability-related projects and programs based on STARS, the CSUEB Climate Action Plan, and various metrics such as time, cost, and impact.
Fusing Sustainability and Facilities Maintenance
Properly maintained buildings are energy efficient, while poorly maintained buildings increase energy use by up to 60%. This project aims to connect energy efficiency with supporting a facility department’s maintenance of complex green building systems. The focus is creating a resource for facilities workers with accessible and accurate facility data, enabling efficiency in both maintenance and energy use, institutionalizing a culture of sustainability in building operation and providing a low capital investment way to decrease energy use in built systems.
Plug and Play: Institutionalizing Green IT in the Modern City-Academy
Reestablished in 2018 UCLA’s Green IT Taskforce is tasked with identifying ways to establish good sustainability practices regarding information technology across UCLA. With UCLA being a large city-academy with a tradition of innovation and excellence through distributed authority and resources, a strategic approach that would invite experts and interested parties from across the institution was adopted. This presentation describes the “4E” strategy that is being used successfully to engage the diverse UCLA community in our common journey toward sustainable IT.
Bridging Staff Professional Development through Faculty Scholarship
Have staff and faculty engagement on your campus been limited due to constrained bandwidths, resources, and indifference? As a sustainability professional how do we engage more staff and faculty who have competing workload priorities. The Bobcat Certificate Program leverages employee professional development as an opportunity for staff to explore the intersections of sustainability through the lens of faculty research. Immersing staff in the disciplinary and interdisciplinary work of faculty, staff are encouraged to promote and incorporate sustainability into the workplace.
Connecting Academic and Administrative Units through Sustainability Professional Development
The Sustainability Certificate program was developed in 2017-18 to foster meaningful dialog and empower leadership in sustainability among campus employees. The program connects a diversity of departments and initiatives engaged in sustainability research, teaching, and action, and fosters community and leadership through knowledge sharing, skill building, and problem solving. As a professional development and engagement strategy, this program has been a powerful way to help employees make connections between the many facets of sustainability when identifying solutions to sustainability challenges.
Sustainable Purchasing Simplified
Purchasing products for higher education research, administration, and operations that simultaneously meets the needs of the University while meeting an increasingly complex set of sustainability certifications and standards can be daunting. This presentation will discuss the pilot project of a new tool to assist buyers in making quick, smart, sustainable purchasing decisions that align with the UC’s new Sustainable Procurement Policy and Guidelines.
Sustainable Procurement Practices in Formal Bid Events or Solicitations
UC Santa Cruz has been an advocate for the use of sustainability evaluation criteria for competitive bids over $100k since 2010. Since 2010, UC Santa Cruz Procurement has led the way in incorporating UC’s 15% sustainability criteria policy requirement into competitive solicitations – pressing suppliers on their sustainable management policies and product offerings. This presentation will include an overview of UCSC’s experience incorporating sustainability into Requests for Proposals (RFPs), key lessons learned and tools for others organizations to do the same.
Tackling Plastic from Policy to Implementation
The California State University and the University of California have taken a monumental leadership step towards reducing our negative impact on the environment by phasing out the purchase and distribution of select strategic single-use plastics. Systemwide offices have adopted and are implementing policies to address the timeline for product phase-out restrictions. Achievements, opportunities, lessons learned, and model practices will be shared to provide applicable and accessible advice to universities and organizations interested in adopting similar policies.
Merging Social and Environmental Sustainability in UC Supply Chains
Historically, social and ethical sustainability of UC suppliers and licensees has been assessed and managed separately from their environmental sustainability practices and policies. After UC Procurement’s completion of a 2-year pilot with a corporate social responsibility monitoring platform for its strategically sourced suppliers, UCLA Trademarks and Licensing is leveraging the tool for its licensing program. This presentation will demonstrate how UCSB and other UCs can follow the model of UCLA, and the potential impact the UC system could have.
Updating the University of California’s Sustainable Foodservice Policy
In 2018-19, over 26 percent of the University of California’s (UC) food and beverage spend in residential dining, retail, and health systems, over $27 million, was sustainable. The 10 UC campuses came together in 2019 to increase these numbers and set new sustainable foodservice goals. This session will describe the new goals in detail and the multi-month process the campuses underwent to reach consensus around these goals.
Improving Sustainable Purchasing Through Business Services Systems and Practices
The purchase of supplies by universities is connected to the use of energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste. The types and quantities of supplies purchased can be influenced by administrative processes. Universities can establish or modify business systems and practices to make it easier for staff to reduce the quantity of supplies purchased or transition to environmentally-friendly supplies. This presentation will summarize recent initiatives at Stanford University to improve the sustainability in its purchasing through system and process changes.
Beyond business as usual: sustainability and social equity in procurement
Sustainability and purchasing staff from the San Mateo County Community College District will share lessons learned from their ongoing journey towards sustainable procurement. They will discuss considerations for implementing a sustainable purchasing board policy and for developing an administrative procedure to increase green spending. The presentation will highlight challenges and best practices to increase the responsible sourcing of materials, products, and services in higher education to realize the environmental, social, and economic benefits of campus procurement processes and activities.
Staying Green While Staying Woke: Creating Inclusive Sustainability Communities
Equity is a pillar of sustainability. It is crucial that folks in the field are being intentional with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. This session will examine identity, privilege, power, and oppression and set a foundation for DEI knowledge. Participants will be able to identify the history of DEI in sustainability, examine their own positionality, and reflect on how they can engage in leadership to create inclusive communities by transforming their curricula, marketing and outreach, and hiring practices.
Sustainable Menstruation: Making Periods Zero Waste and Accessible to All
Did you know that the average menstruating person throws away 1,200 menstrual care products during their time in college? Disposable menstrual care products are wasteful and expensive, especially for students on a limited budget. With this statistic in mind, CSU San Marcos and CSU Northridge found an innovative way to connect sustainability to the campus community. This session will share how two universities developed sustainable menstruation initiatives including information about funding, engagement strategies, lessons learned, and long term goals.
Expanding Sustainability: UCSC’s Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program
The UC Santa Cruz Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program educates staff, faculty, and graduate students to undertake in-depth examinations of how we, through recognizing and understanding of our differences, can work together to build a stronger and more inclusive UC Santa Cruz community, where our diversity is the foundation upon which to build environmental sustainability efforts.
Overcoming Socioeconomic Barriers for a Sustainable Future
Each year, hundreds of K-12 students visit Sacramento State to see sustainability in action. Students explore projects in varying lights on the academic spectrum while seeing sustainability in action throughout the campus. Many of these schools serve children from disadvantaged communities. By having students particularly from disadvantaged areas visit Sacramento State, we are providing them an opportunity to consider higher education as an option, while teaching them about sustainable practices all around them.
CSUDH’s Sustainable Food System: Because Everybody Eats
The Office of Sustainability has built up an elegant but effective network of sustainable food sources tied with a student-run distribution system. These elements work together to increase access to fresh, locally farmed produce for the campus and community, to directly alleviate food insecurity, and to combat food waste while creating opportunities for engagement and education around sustainability.
Growing Grounds for Food Justice
After 3 years of planning Cal Poly opened the first campus community garden that was built in partnership with Campus Health and Wellbeing, Sustainability staff, and University Honors students. The goal of the garden was is two-fold; to create space for student residents and staff and faculty to grow their own food and to allow those students, staff and faculty to grow food for food insecure students who visit the Food Pantry.
Community Garden to an Urban Farm Learning Center
In this presentation we will talk about the transition of a Community Garden to an Urban Farm. We will also discuss the challenges and roadblocks that we have encountered. We will discuss and offer our blueprints to other school how we converted a Community Garden into an Urban Farm in 1 year.
How Sac State Students Influenced our City’s Climate Action Plan
Last year, Sac State student sustainability leaders came together to create the first ever Student Climate Change Summit as the City of Sacramento began developing a Climate Action Plan and a carbon neutrality target date. The ideas discussed during the summit on how students would like to see climate change addressed in their city are now being put into the final City of Sacramento Climate Action Plan and will be implemented across the city for years to come.
Climate Action Night
Climate Action Night is a climate legislation awareness event sponsored by Santa Rosa Junior College. Students present posters on current climate-related bills in the California legislature (science fair style) to the broader public. Members of the public can then write postcards to elected officials. Students then lobbied state and local elected officials by visiting their offices to present the posters and the postcards.
UCLA’s Carbon Neutrality Ambassador Program
UCLA’s Carbon Neutrality Ambassadors Program was initiated by the campus’ Carbon Neutrality Fellows in 2018 to integrate more voices into the CNI and expand the Initiative’s impact at UCLA. The ambassadors program onboards six undergraduate students to learn the science behind the climate crisis, current solutions, and how to communicate those solutions to UCLA’s population. Over the course of two months, the ambassadors will be trained through a curriculum developed by the Fellows and implement projects of their own.
Staying Green While Staying Woke: Creating Inclusive Sustainability Communities
Equity is a pillar of sustainability. It is crucial that folks in the field are being intentional with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. This session will examine identity, privilege, power, and oppression and set a foundation for DEI knowledge. Participants will be able to identify the history of DEI in sustainability, examine their own positionality, and reflect on how they can engage in leadership to create inclusive communities by transforming their curricula, marketing and outreach, and hiring practices.
Recycle-L: Online Office Supply Exchange
Recycle-L is a newsletter-based office supply exchange at California State University, Northridge. A program under Associated Students Sustainability, Recycle-L merges the sustainability aspects of a used office supply exchange with the ease of online shopping. Students prepare a weekly newsletter sent to staff members on campus, listing all items that have been donated to the Recycle-L inventory. Members can then request items to be reserved and delivered to their office by the Associated Students Sustainability team.
Climate Change Action Research Group – Undergraduate Student-led Research Group
Tree Trackers: An Urban Forestry Monitoring Team
Climate Change Action Research Group, founded in 2016, fosters meaningful undergraduate climate change research opportunities. Interdisciplinary undergraduate students research student perceptions, sustainability knowledge, waste audits, and efficiency within sustainability initiatives. Founded within the Honors Program, CCARG’s findings enable for informed decisions regarding campus initiatives and programs. Over 45 students have had the opportunity to develop their research skills and collaborate with organizations including the Green Campus Team, Cal Poly Facilities, and the City of San Luis Obispo.
Deep Engagement for Student Sustainability Leadership
Every year Green Campus hosts a Student Summit and a Succession Retreat. After hosting these events for three years, the sustainability community concluded that a link was missing, and sustainability roundtables were born. In between the annual events, Green Campus partners with the ASI Secretary of Sustainability to host roundtable meetings that act as accountability trackers towards the community shared vision and goals. Since institutionalizing these biweekly meetings, collaboration and activity has exceeded expectations and gone beyond past years efforts.
UC Riverside’s Implementation of UCOP’s SLICR Program
Our presentation will encompass our procedure, as the Office of Sustainability at UC Riverside, in implementing UCOP’s initiative, originally facilitated by UC Irvine, SLICR (Student Leadership Institute for Climate Resilience Program) into a retreat for student leaders in sustainability and a workshop series for UCR students to engage in sustainability leadership. We will discuss students’ experiences in the retreat, the positive results, what we learned, what we hope to improve and developing the sustainability leadership workshop series to be implemented.
Connecting with Students to Ensure Green Events on Campus
Since many student organizations host events, our Sustainable Stanford has partnered with environmental student groups on campus to promote green events. We have worked with student leadership to create customized documents that students can reference. We also hold green events office hours each month to answer questions and provide a point of contact for any sustainability needs. Students can also submit actions in My Cardinal Green, Sustainable Stanford’s online conservation program, to receive points for completing green event actions.
Caltech EV Charging: From Research to Industry Leader
Caltech’s California Garage: From EV charging theory to 3 million miles delivered. This is a story of how an EV charging problem at Caltech evolved into advanced EV charging technologies that are now used at hundreds of workplaces and campuses in California.
UC Irvine’s Transition from a Bio-Diesel to Electric Transit Fleet
In 2013, the ASUCI student leadership recognized that the Anteater Express’ fleet of 29 diesel buses were due for replacement. ASUCI students proposed a ballot initiative (entitled “Bus Love”) that would fund a replacement fleet for the Anteater Express. After certain conditions were met by UC Irvine administrators (such as approval for infrastructure and a location to charge the electric fleet using UC Irvine’s self-generating microgrid), the Bus Love Board approved moving forward with the purchase of 20 electric buses
Parking Structure V
Park Smart Certified Parking Structure V: Mitigating Impacts on a Commuter Campus with a growing student population.
Reducing waste & contamination at UC Santa Cruz Commencement
In 2019, UC Santa Cruz institutionalized a number of waste & contamination reduction measures during Commencement weekend, leading to drastic improvements in waste management. Between Commencement 2018 and 2019 weekends, these measures reduced total landfill generation by 55% and 66% at the larger of the two major outdoor venues. This presentation will outline the measures we institutionalized, how we navigated implementing them and gaining staff & administrative buy-in, as well as the positive results we experienced.
Circular Usage of Marketing Materials
Plastic Banners of various sizes procured by most College Marketing departments, hang on street poles, proclaiming the goodness of the schools. When no longer required, they are moved to landfill where because of their content, they will not decompose. Funded by a grant from the San Francisco Department of Environment, the purpose of this project was to investigate, develop, implement and video a model of circularity, redirecting used SFSU banners from landfill to new markets.
CSUDH and Going Plastic Water Bottle Free Before 2023
In response to the CSU Single Use Plastics Policy that went into effect on January 1, 2019, all 23 CSU campuses were faced with the institutional challenge of enforcing a goal of completely eliminating plastic water bottle purchases on CSU campuses by 2023. CSUDH was able to pro-actively rise to the challenge despite a heavily entrenched plastic water bottle culture, and implemented a unique approach with its campus stakeholders to ensure the community embraced this change.
Tackling Plastic from Policy to Implementation
The California State University and the University of California have taken a monumental leadership step towards reducing our negative impact on the environment by phasing out the purchase and distribution of select strategic single-use plastics. Systemwide offices have adopted and are implementing policies to address the timeline for product phase-out restrictions. Achievements, opportunities, lessons learned, and model practices will be shared to provide applicable and accessible advice to universities and organizations interested in adopting similar policies.
Harder than you think! Our zero waste journey lessons learned.
CSU Long Beach has learned that launching a zero waste program is not as simple as it may seem. We knew it would require funding and staff time but we have come to appreciate that collaboration, a comprehensive community engagement strategy, flexibility to adjust to setbacks, and a healthy dose of patience are just as important! We invite institutions who currently have or plan to implement a zero waste program to learn from our mistakes and replicate our best practices!
UC Riverside’s Zero Waste Plan: The Students’ Perspective
UCR’s Zero Waste Plan is a collaborative effort of several campus departments and the Office of Sustainability. The objective of this project is to create a comprehensive plan outlining UC Riverside’ s historical, current, and future waste management and diversion efforts. This presentation highlights the students’ experiences, challenges, and successes with their role in the creation of UCR’s first Zero Waste Plan, as well as advice for students on how they can collaborate with campus officials to implement a plan.
UC Merced Zero Waste Goal by 2020.
This presentation will outline how UC Merced will be achieving zero waste in 2020 by its unique operations, social campaigns, working with living learniing communities, education and outreach programs, and driving zero waste trainings through the campus community.
#MyLastTrash: Engaging Students on Waste Reduction and Diversion
Staff will share strategies and examples of outreach, engagement, and best practices to engage with residence halls students on topic of waste reduction and diversion that help to advance university zero waste goals. The strategies that will be shared include: quarterly initiatives to promote specific reusable items (cups/bottles, utensils, straws, napkin, bags) over their single-use disposable alternatives; workshops, and waste studies.
Sustainable Menstruation: Making Periods Zero Waste and Accessible to All
Did you know that the average menstruating person throws away 1,200 menstrual care products during their time in college? Disposable menstrual care products are wasteful and expensive, especially for students on a limited budget. With this statistic in mind, CSU San Marcos and CSU Northridge found an innovative way to connect sustainability to the campus community. This session will share how two universities developed sustainable menstruation initiatives including information about funding, engagement strategies, lessons learned, and long term goals.
Inspiring Green Fashion in a Fast Fashion Landscape
Using two of the University of the Pacific’s most popular sustainability events, this presentation will explore ways to inspire students and the community to make more sustainable clothing choices. Attendees will walk away with an outline for how to implement clothing swaps and/or a sustainable fashion show on their campuses.
Talking Trash: Tackling The Dirty Job of Centralizing Waste
Last year, UCLA presented approaches to achieve Zero Waste. Cal_State_East_Bay(CSUEB) adopted some of these to further zero waste education. The campuses developed a comprehensive session: UCLA will provide a deep-dive into tactics, pilots, and student programs. CSUEB will discuss leveraging lessons-learned from UCLA to bridge CSUEB Sustainability (based in Academic Affairs) and Facilities Development and Operations (FDO in Finance & Administration) to co-develop a building zero-waste pilot, resulting in FDO inviting Sustainability to contribute to the campus zero waste plan.
Proactively Improving Landscape Ecology: An Onsite Green Waste Compost P.I.L.E
This presentation will describe the process used by California State University Northridge (CSUN) to transition its green waste disposal process to be entirely onsite. Prior to this change, green waste from CSUN’s landscape was trucked almost 100 miles away to the hauler’s compost facility. Now, all of CSUN’s greenwaste is processed onsite and converted into nutrient-rich compost and mulch, which are used on the campus landscape.
Bin There, Done That: Achieving Three Waste Streams Across Campus
Everywhere there’s a trash bin, there should also be recycling and compost bins. This is a long-established best practice in the world of waste. However, scaling this practice across hundreds of acres of grounds and millions of square feet of buildings is easier said than done. This project focuses on how California State University Northridge (CSUN) achieved three-stream coverage in all campus buildings, and the campus’ plans to do the same for its event and sporting venues.
Recycle-L: Online Office Supply Exchange
Recycle-L is a newsletter-based office supply exchange at California State University, Northridge. A program under Associated Students Sustainability, Recycle-L merges the sustainability aspects of a used office supply exchange with the ease of online shopping. Students prepare a weekly newsletter sent to staff members on campus, listing all items that have been donated to the Recycle-L inventory. Members can then request items to be reserved and delivered to their office by the Associated Students Sustainability team.
A Net Zero Waste Approach at Cal State Dominguez Hill
Over the course of two years, students at Cal State Dominguez Hills conducted regular waste audits of campus trash. Using data collected during this analysis, students from the Office of Sustainability led a variety of waste reduction projects and programs that created quantitative changed in the campus diversion rate.
The Hub: Built by a Wagon Full of Starbucks Perishables
The CSUMB Basic Needs Initiative entered into a creative partnership with our on-campus food service provider, A’viands. The perishables at the campus based Starbucks, are pulled from the shelves by company policy, days before the items are actually unsafe to eat. Matching the need with the resources we have developed a system that enables students experiencing food insecurity to receive these luxury food items, that are otherwise scheduled for composting. The Hub has become synonymous with leftover Starbucks for students.
Increasing Campus Biodiversity using the Campus as a Living Lab
Facilities, staff, students and professors at College of the Canyons are working together using the Campus as a Living Lab model to increase biodiversity on the campus grounds. Projects include habitat enrichment through introduction and maintenance of native plants, student constructed housing for several bird and native solitary bee species, monitoring of both bird and solitary bee species, and transdisciplinary project based learning to document the bird species on campus in an illustrated book.
University of California’s New Recommendations on the Use of Pesticides
Concerns over the herbicide glyphosate prompted the University of California to issue a temporary suspension of its use in most campus settings and convene a systemwide taskforce of experts to examine glyphosate in more detail in 2019. The “Herbicide Taskforce” put together 11 recommendations on pesticides, which were approved in 2020. The speakers – two individuals who served on the Taskforce – will explain the process the Taskforce went through to develop recommendations and then explain the recommendations in detail.
Herbicide Free Campus: Transitioning Away From Synthetics on Campuses
Pesticides harm living organisms, as well as our natural environment. Workers who apply pesticides are often the most vulnerable to these chemicals due to their close proximity through mixing and spraying. We will share how students can bring the campaign to their school. We are now at 15 schools in nine states, and the foundation of this campaign is student work days where students work with their campus grounds crew to pull weeds and implement other alternative management practices.
How to Get Electrifying Energy and Water Savings through Electrification
CSUDH replaced natural gas absorption chillers with electric chillers and one large natural gas boiler with eight small condensing staged boilers in 2019 and was able to quantify the results. While the energy savings were significant (57% reduction in natural gas), there was also a significant cooling tower water savings from the reduced thermal load resulting in 2.8 million gallons per year in water savings.
Reimagining Water – Reuse, Renewal, Resilience, and Research
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, is demonstrating the possibility of deep sustainability and resilience by actively developing an on-campus recycled water system. This recycled water system will provide the campus with sufficient new water and waste water capacity to meet the needs of the campus’ 2035 Master Plan, renew and expand agricultural irrigation storage and distribution infrastructure, save $10 million dollars, and create a valuable academic asset that will support curriculum, research, and an innovative waste water operator licensing program.
Reclaiming Nuisance Water The Path Net Zero Non Potable Water
Presentation on SCJCD water reclamation project and goal to get to Zero Net Non-Potable Water. The presentation will describe the college’s Zero Net Non Potable water goal which is to transfer all water use that doesn’t have to be potable to non potable sources. The project will then describe how recycled water is being used at 3/4 SCJCD teaching sites and how at the main SRJC campus the college is reclaiming nuisance water for re-use.
CSULB Reclaimed Water Supply to Central Plant Cooling Towers
In the summer of 2019, the University switched the feed water to the main campus cooling towers from potable water to reclaimed water. This is projected to reduce potable water use by 140,000 gallons and water costs by $22,000 annually.
Successful Design Build strategies for process projects.
UC Davis constructed a Cage Wash Facility using Design Build method with a reduced budget, reduced schedule, and was able to meet the requirements while drastically reducing water usage, energy, improving processes, and acheived LEED Gold in the process.