The 2010 Green Grades Office Supply Report Card from Dogwood Alliance and ForestEthics can help your library made “informed paper purchasing decisions.”
2010 Green Grades Office Supply Report Card
Reply
Author Archives: Rebekkah
Green Signage
Those of you who have been to my presentations know I’m big on telling the story of a green building with signage. Came across some great sources providing signage made from sustainable materials I thought I’d pass along:
Keep it local: ask you local sign maker what they can do to provide you with signage made from sustainable sources. Look for eco-friendly inks, biodegradable signs, recycled-content…
Green Team Meeting #3
Today’s Green Team meeting at MHLS was a little bittersweet.
I’ll start with the sweet, there was lots of it!
1) We reviewed the content for the new staff web page that will orient staff to what we did with their 300+ ideas they submitted as part of the “MHLS Goes Green” Initiative we launched earlier this year.
- I noticed a bunch of suggestions were for things we already do so I found a gentle way to convey this and coupled that with a list of short term and long term items we’re acting on that people suggested. These are things that take more research or a bucket load, or even handful, of cash that we just don’t have right now. (Thanks NYS Budget.)
- Summarized the “Recycling Rules” for the building so there’s one central place to double check if it’s ok to recycle paper with staples (it is).
- A “Demystification of Myths” Q&A for things we’ve heard that people misunderstand – whether it saves more energy to turn off an office light for an hour or leave it on (turn it off); do we really recycle paper or does it just go in the dumpster (we really recycle it!); why we don’t use vinegar and baking soda to clean; and an explanation of how power is still being used even when things are “turned off” to encourage smart strip usage.
- Two “personal responsibility” tip lists – the first on paper consumption, what they can do personally to reduce, reuse and recycle paper the second, their top 10 suggestions for conserving energy.
I’ll post the staff page once I finish so you can see what I’m talking about.
2)We agreed on small signs that can go in various spots around the building to reinforce the info on the tip sheets for conserving energy and paper. They will all be branded with the same logo, a green leafy thing with the words “MHLS Goes Green” so they are easily recognizable and to help promote to our members and trustees that we’ve done a coordinated conservation effort. Signs will go on the copy machines to remind people to double side copies, near light switches to remind people to shut off lights as they leave for a meeting or for the day, etc.
3) We planned a staff education event with two parts, classroom time to go over the conservation tip sheets / recycling rules and a walk-thru of the building so everyone can learn how to “use” the building together. We’re planning to integrate opening and shut down procedures for security along with the conservation and recycling rules to help everyone get on the same page. We decided on 4 offerings, max of 6 people in each session to get through it in an hour or less. Our staff is super friendly and likes to chat and joke around when they get together so we figured 6 would be easiest to keep focused!
So the not-so-sweet part? We had a frank discussion about whether or not we could pledge ourselves to the Sustainable Hudson Valley’s 10% Challenge: to reduce our fossil fuel usage and to educate 10% of our constituents about energy efficiency options. While I know for sure we could slam dunk the education challenge the group came to the disappointing conclusion that we could not meet the 10% reduction in fossil fuel usage in the next year.
We’ve probably met the 10% challenge in past years (weatherization, turning down thermostats, water heater, wrapping the water heater) but have plateaued to some degree. At the moment, we are stymied by our budget woes.Since we’ve already implemented the free options and, right now, can’t afford even our next low cost solutions (lamp replacement, water cooler upgrade, etc.) the group felt we’d be setting ourselves up for failure. Next on our list is new windows or at least storm windows and we’ve been unable to come up with a match for the State Construction grant due to our budget situation. Solar panels are on the list, but again, grants cover half and we have no capital budget at this point.
While this may be a short term set back I’m not convinced we can’t do the 10% this year. I’m going to crunch some numbers, call some folks and take a hard look at what 10% looks like and maybe re-pitch this opportunity to the group. Stay tuned!!
Milwaukee Public Library Rooftop Solar
Interesting tidbits from this article on the Milwaukee Public Library’s rooftop solar array:
- The library’s solar electric system is projected to generate 40,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of power a year for the next 40 to 50 years.
- …the new system will produce less than 10% of its electricity needs per year.
- …solar electric prices dropped 15–20% between the time the library contracted for the system’s installation and the writing of this case study (March 2010).
- The library’s solar system will pay for itself over about 15 years, which is a third of its projected lifespan. About 75% of the savings will be from electricity generation and 25% from demand reduction.
Part of me wants to say “timing is everything!”
Louise & the Eco Machine
Can’t resist sharing my good luck, this past week I finally had a chance to check out the Omega Institute’s Eco Machine. An Eco Machine is a natural wastewater treatment system. Omega’s plan is to use the resulting graywater to irrigate gardens and flush toilets.
Omega is a pretty fascinating place all around, but their Center for Sustainable Living is pretty remarkable, they are expected to be the first building in the United States to receive the Living Building designation in addition to receiving LEED Platinum certification. Some highlights:
- wastewater turns to greywater within 36 hours through constructed wetlands
- 20 geothermal wells
- concrete that complies with the Living Building Challenge’s Red List*
- net metering from solar array
- partial green roof
- No PVC
- plywood in mechanical room from Obama’s inauguration stage!
To top it off I got to meet Louise Schaper who traveled to New York (coming all the way from Arkansas) to visit family and added a stop into Omega to check out the Eco Machine with me. Not quite sure which I was more excited about!
*LBC Red List (The project cannot contain any of the following red list materials or chemicals.):
No added formaldehyde
Halogenated Flame Retardants18
PVC19
Mercury20
CFC’s
HCFC’s
Neoprene (chloroprene)
Cadmium
Chlorinated Polyethylene and Chlorosulfonated Polyethlene21
Wood treatments containing Creosote, Arsenic or Pentachlorophenol
Polyurethane
Lead22
Phthalates
Targeted Marketing
The Cumberland County Public Library in Fayetteville, NY has a pathfinder on their web site called “Thinking Green, Working Green” to support “Consumer, Developer, Builder and Other Business Professionals.” The site provides suggested search terms to use in the library catalog and beyond and a concise list of web sites.
This is a good example of targeting those in your community that might not think the library has anything for them. It demonstrates a level of consciousness not only about the topic but about marketing to a definable segment of the community that may already be sharing information amongst themselves. Great example of how to tap into an existing group and make the library relevant to them…
“Are Commercial LED Replacements Ready for Prime Time?”
Article from ecogeek.org:
“Although we are big proponents for LED lighting, the US Department of Energy has recently issued a couple of reports warning that many so-called replacement lamps for fluorescent fixtures are not performing at adequate levels. In most cases, fluorescent tubes are still a better choice, providing more lumens per watt than most LEDs. Although LEDs may eventually replace many other lighting options, they aren’t a magic bullet just because they’re LEDs. You should be careful and find out more about them before making the switch.”
Controlling Humidity
Thought I’d share these helpful articles from BuildingGreen.com on controlling humidity by Alex Wilson.
Why do you want to control humidity in your building?
- high humidity/moisture can result in mold growth (which can cause allergies and other health problems as well as damage the building)
- it makes you feel uncomfortable
Mr. Wilson proposes the following solutions for
- eliminating moisture sources
- fix drainage problems
- install gutters
- fix leaks in the roof/flashing
- insulate cold water pipes to prevent condensation
- removing moisture from the air
Turn ’em Off or Leave ’em On?
Ever have this discussion with someone? Is it more energy efficient to leave lights on or turn them off?
Some speculate that the “start-up” energy it takes to turn on lights is more than it would take to just leave them on, others contend that of course you’d shut them off! Even if you’re just dodging out of your office to visit the WC?
The US Department of Energy weighs in:
Incandescent Lighting
Incandescent lights (or bulbs) should be turned off whenever they are not needed. Nearly all types of incandescent light bulbs are fairly inexpensive to produce and are relatively inefficient. Only about 10%–15% of the electricity that incandescent lights consume results in light—the rest is turned into heat. Turning the light(s) off will keep a room cooler, an extra benefit in the summer. Therefore, the value of the energy saved by not having the lights on will be far greater than the cost of having to replace the bulb.
Fluorescent Lighting
The cost effectiveness of turning fluorescent lights off to conserve energy is a bit more complicated. For most areas of the United States, a general rule-of-thumb for when to turn off a fluorescent light is if you leave a room for more than 15 minutes, it is probably more cost effective to turn the light off. Or in other words, if you leave the room for only up to 15 minutes, it will generally be more cost effective to leave the light(s) on. In areas where electric rates are high and/or during peak demand periods, this period may be as low as 5 minutes.
Fluorescent lights are more expensive to buy, and their operating life is more affected by the number of times they are switched on and off, relative to incandescent lights. Therefore, it is a cost trade-off between saving energy and money by turning a light off “frequently” and having to replace the bulbs “more” frequently. This is because the reduction in usable lamp life due to frequent on/off switching will probably be greater than the benefit of extending the useful life of the bulb from reduced use. By frequent we mean turning the light off and on many times during the day.
A 2008 article in Scientific American gives you license to turn off the lights:
A simple rule of thumb that balances both concerns is to shut off fluorescents if you’re planning to leave a room for more than five minutes, according to Francis Rubinstein, a staff scientist in the Building Technologies Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division. Mary Beth Gotti, manager of the GE Lighting & Electrical Institute in Cleveland, agrees. For all practical purposes, “it almost always makes sense to turn the lights off,” Gotti says. “From an environmental standpoint, the best way to save energy is to turn off the things that you’re not using.”
Rubinstein notes that, even for fluorescents, the cost of electricity over a bulb’s lifetime far outpaces the cost of the bulb itself. “Even if you switch on and off a fluorescent light frequently,” he says, “the slight reduction in lamp life is a small effect relative to the energy savings you accomplish by being a good citizen.” Gotti adds that the reduction in lamp life from frequent on-and-off switching can often be counterbalanced by the extension of “calendar life”—the actual passage of time between lightbulb replacements—that results from using the bulb for fewer hours.
“Library in the Woods”
The Fairplay Public Library in Douglas County Georgia is about to break ground, it will be a brand new library, not just a new library building, but a new library – in a previously unserved area. Very exciting.
The concept for the 15,800-square foot Fairplay Library is to nest among the trees and natural surroundings of the 900-acre Dog River property. The property borders the Dog River Reservoir, the major drinking water source for Douglas County, and the vast majority of the site will be kept in its pristine state to serve as a future passive park and to help protect the water supply. The new library will be on the property’s western side with direct access from Georgia Highway 5. However, the library site will be approximately 1,200 feet into the property in a peaceful and serene setting.
The “library in the woods” concept was proposed by the project’s architects, Ponder & Ponder, Architects, of Norcross, so that the new building would co-exist with the natural surroundings and not interfere with the natural protected setting. The parking lot will be woven between existing trees, and existing topography will be used as much as possible. Native plants will be used in portions of the landscape to eliminate the need for irrigation systems, and rainwater will be captured and used as water features around the building. The outside of the library will complement the natural setting, using stone, wood and other natural elements for the exterior surfaces.
-From a press release issued by Douglas County, GA
The design is aiming for LEED certification and will include:
- daylight harvesting
- high-efficiency insulated windows
- high-efficiency light bulbs
- high-efficiency HVAC units
- low water use fixtures
- insulation for the building is almost double the minimum standard requirement
- the roof will be heat reflective
- low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint and stain will be used
- solar shading will be over the windows
- building is physically oriented northwest-southeast to utilize the light, but not receive the heat