Sustainability at UofL

For many years now, I've been involved with sustainability initiatives for the University of Louisville. Back in 2007, for example, I became a university member of a Utility Regulations, Policies and Procedures Subcommittee of the Climate Change Committee working under the Partnership for a Green City. We produced a Climate Action Report in 2009 for the city of Louisville.

I was also listed as a member of the Education and Outreach Subcommittee, but I honestly didn't attend many of their meetings. The Education group included many individuals who had already worked with the Honors program to develop a number of new classes on campus. I taught on Honors seminar on "The Geopolitics of Climate Change" in fall 2007 and then used that class to reorient my regular Political Science course on Global Ecopolitics.

While serving as Acting Department Chair in 2007-2008, I joined with Barbara Burns (chair of Psychology at the time) and a number of other interested faculty and staff at UofL to form the A&S "Green Team." We met regularly to discuss initiatives that are now often taken for granted at the University: a vastly improved recycling program, energy conservation measures, a free bike program, etc. We talked a great deal about behavioral programs, but limited resources precluded implementation of many of them. Still, we helped conduct multiple programs on climate change, promoted simple energy conservation measures, audited energy use in 700 A&S offices, created a model green dorm room, etc. The Green Team's “12 by 12” energy conservation plan aimed at reducing energy use by 12% in 2012 from a 2006 baseline.

Most importantly, under the leadership of Barb Burns, Russ Barnett, Joy Hart, and other members of the A&S community, the group helped pressure the University to create a Sustainability Council. Barb Burns was the first chair of that group and I succeeded her as head of the "Green Team" in 2009. The A&S group continued to meet for about a year or so, but it quickly became apparent that the need for the group had been largely met by the Sustainability Council. University-wide budget cuts forced A&S into some difficult budget cuts and the Green Team suffered for it.

In any case, virtually the entire leadership group for the Green Team became members of the Sustainability Council. I was named to the Sustainability Council and its Administration, Finance, and Outreach Committee in 2009 -- a group that I have chaired since fall 2012. In a related development, I served next on the Provost's Ad Hoc committee on Socially Responsible Investing. We produced a document recommending a number of specific changes in the University's money management, but the followup has been slow in coming.

This January, however, the Operations Committee reported some of the University's major successes:

A long-term project to save energy at UofL is outpacing its original goals, according to a progress report released last week. Belknap Campus fuel use dropped 48 percent while electricity and water use dropped 27 and 31 percent, respectively, from their annual usage before the project started...

The reported energy savings is from 2011, the first full year after workers installed more efficient lighting; updated heating, cooling and ventilation systems; and found ways to cut water consumption in 71 campus buildings and outdoor areas. The overall reduction in energy use has trimmed the greenhouse gas emissions emitted on Belknap Campus by an annual 53 million pounds — an amount equal to removing 4,400 cars from the road for a year, Siemens officials said.

Though those documented gains are attributed almost exclusively to a service contract with Siemens Industries, at least some of those energy savings should be credited to behavioral initiatives promoted by the A&S Green Team. Of course, there is room for more to be done. The University aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and wants to be carbon-neutral by 2050.



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Applying Skinner's Behavior Modification

As I've sometimes mentioned, I've been serving on the University's Sustainability Council for some years. Throughout that time, the group has often discussed the prospects for influencing behavioral change in the students, staff, faculty and administrators.

The June 2012 Atlantic Monthly had a piece by David H. Freedman about "Skinnerian" behavior modification. Freedman demonstrates that psychologist B.F. Skinner's ideas have earned a bad reputation over the years, but they potentially offer a good deal for the modern world. Many people fail to understand that "Skinner sought to shape only consciously chosen, directly observable behavior, and only with rewards."

Readers of this blog might want to check out the lengthy article as it is filled with interesting anecdotes and explanation.

I found the following paragraphs to be especially useful as they suggest practical application of Skinnerian thinking to address contemporary problems related to sustainability and health:

At Palo Alto’s storied University Coffee Cafe, I recently found myself sitting next to a young fellow named Yoav Lurie, who turned out to be running a Boulder-based company called Simple Energy, which uses Facebook as a social-reinforcement tool for conserving energy by tracking, sharing, and reinforcing certain behaviors. The product, like many of its competitors in the booming field of energy-related apps, is sponsored by large utility companies incentivized to reduce their reliance on conventional power sources.

Government agencies are in a similar position to benefit. I was speaking with a manager at the U.S. Department of Transportation about public transit when he mentioned that the agency is testing an app that provides local travelers with various transportation options for specific trips and that could gently reinforce decisions to use public transit by pointing out the extra calories commuters would burn by walking to the station and the carbon they’d avoid emitting by leaving their cars at home.

Once we reconvene, I'll bring this to the attention of some others on the Council.


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Is LEED misleading?

Photo credit = University of Louisville.
Pictured: Center for Predictive Medicine, LEED building


The September/October 2011 Mother Jones has a short article challenging the notion that LEED-certified buildings use less energy. University of Louisville, along with many other institutions, have embraced Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the US Green Building Council as a key means by which to achieve sustainability in their operation practices. If LEED is a fraud, then that's a huge story.

You can get electronic access to the MJ piece by providing your email address, but here's a key excerpt for those who want to be saved the trouble:

According to 2008 study commissioned by USGBC, LEED buildings are 25 to 30% more energy-efficient than conventional ones. But when Gifford looked at the study, he found that it had compared the meaning of one group of buildings to the median of another-what seemed to him a classic apples-to-oranges mistake. He got some of the data and calculated that LEED buildings actually used 29% more energy. “Going to so much trouble and expense to end up with buildings that use more energy than comparable buildings is not only a tragedy, it is also a fraud,” he wrote in a trade magazine. The USGBC stood by its numbers.

Henry Gifford is identified in the piece as a NY energy efficiency consultant.

An Oberlin College physicist, John Scofield, is also quoted in the article -- and he does not think much of LEED certification either: "This is like requiring people to wear copper bracelets for arthritis!" Another blogger, Erich Vieth, has poked around at Scofield's website and helpfully provides a link to the academic work by Scofield backing this claim.

When I return to the Sustainability Council after my sabbatical, I'll be asking about this.


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YERT

Thursday night, I'm attending the Louisville premier of "YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip." Here's a short description from the webpage:

YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip): 50 States. 1 Year. Zero Garbage? Called to action by a planet in peril, three friends hit the road - traveling with hope, humor, and all of their garbage - to explore every state in America (the good, the bad...and the weird) in search of the extraordinary innovators and citizens who are tackling humanity's greatest environmental crises. As the YERT team layers outlandish eco-challenges onto their year-long quest, an unexpected turn of events pushes them to the brink in this award-winning docu-comedy. Featuring Bill McKibben, Wes Jackson, Will Allen, Janine Benyus, Joel Salatin, David Orr, and others.

IMDB information here.

Here's the trailer:


Some tickets remain for the 9:15 showtime. It's free, but they are asking for donations to support the project. The film is showing at the Louisville Science Center,
727 West Main Street.




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2010 Nissan Altima Hybrid

2010 Nissan Altima Hybrid
Originally uploaded by Jerry Durant Auto Group

Update: We bought this same Navy Blue car in Maryland. It got over 35 mpg on the trip home!

My experience with the dealership wasn't 100% positive and our relationship is not finished. Once my check clears, they have to send me a certificate of ownership and a completed form for registering the car in Kentucky.

Please help me buy a hybrid car

Cross-posted at Duck of Minerva.

I've been doing some car shopping this past week and it appears as if one of the best bargains around is the 2010 Nissan Altima Hybrid. The base car's invoice price is a bit less than $26,000. However, Nissan is offering $5000 (!!) cash back in some areas of the country -- $4000 that has been available for many months, $500 that is a generic Nissan incentive over the next month, and $500 more for the holiday weekend.

That means that some dealers are offering the vehicle for under $20,000.

Additionally, because Nissan hasn't sold many of these cars, they are still eligible for a nice tax credit from the federal government: $2350.

We're now talking about a midsize Sedan Hybrid for $17,500. The non-hybrid version of this car is the top-rated vehicle in its class according to Consumer Reports. Prius may be a better mobile billboard, but the Altima seems like a very good car. Plus, Nissan licensed Toyota's hybrid technology.

Personally, I'd add the K01 "convenience package" to the base brice, which provides an electrically adjustable driver seat and some other stuff for $1300. Indeed, including that option, I've been quoted $21,280 from a dealer I found on-line. The tax credit would reduce the price another 10% next year.

Here's the catch -- and the reason for my bleg: I apparently cannot buy (or even test drive) the car in Kentucky. Or anywhere near here. The dealership I linked is geographically the closest to my home and it is over 400 miles away.

Nissan is only marketing this vehicle in states that have adopted the "California emissions standards." These are mostly in the northeastern U.S. -- or on the west coast.

Thanks to cars.com, I found a used 2009 version of the car in Louisville and gave it a test drive. As some reviewers had warned, the vehicle hesitated (jerked?) a bit when switching from electric to gas-power. However, the car I drove had over 30,000 miles on its odometer as it was a former fleet car. I presumed the automobile had been worked hard and was not an especially good representative of the model.

Has anyone been behind the wheel of a 2010 Nissan Altima Hybrid? Rental agencies sometimes have them. Does anyone own an older model? If so, I'd really appreciate your feedback. I'm seriously thinking of heading east to get this car -- and that with the knowledge that the closest certified Nissan service technician for its hybrid is in Indianapolis, just over 100 miles away. Local dealers could only work on the non-hybrid parts of the car. In my view, AAA would provide any needed towing if something major went wrong.

Most reviewers disliked the vehicles limited availability and relatively high price (before rebates). Doesn't it seem as if those problems can be resolved?

Anyone want to talk me back from the brink?

Hurry!

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Bike to Work Month

May is Bike to Work Month and various groups in Louisville are promoting it. At University of Louisville, I've joined fellow Sustainability Council members as part of a group challenge on the Greenlight website.

It will be difficult for me to accumulate miles as I do not actually go into the office all that often in May. The semester ends prior to the Kentucky Derby. My grading is finished and I'm working on the Grawemeyer entries for 2011 and some writing and research projects.

May 21 is Bike to Work Day if you want to join in the festivities.


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Energy pledge

The University of Louisville spends about $1 million per month on energy. Since spring, I've been part of a campus team of faculty and staff attempting to figure out behavioral changes that might save energy -- and money. The slow economy has forced budget cuts, though energy conservation is a good idea for a variety of non-economic reasons.

The campus has its own coal-fired electrical plant, so reducing energy usage means reducing harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

Anyone affiliated with the University is strongly encouraged to complete the Energy Reduction Pledge.


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