Real-time water me-tering in campus buildings: Making “blue” part of a green initiative!

by Lindsay Miller

We have ordered all of the water meter parts and elec-tronic components in order to connect Stanley, Univer-sity, MLK, Latimer, Ko-shland, Minor Addition, D w i n e l l e , L e C o n t e , McCone, Tan, and Life Sci-ences Addition to the online water use monitor-ing system (called Obvius). Stanley’s water use data is online now and just needs final configuration to allow

units of water use to show up in gallons instead of “pulses” (see graphs). We are working closely with Physical Plant Campus Ser-vices (PPCS) to coordinate the installation and connec-tion of all this equipment. Within months, the campus community will be able to view the real-time water use data all of the above build-ings on the Obvius system.

A thorough audit was com-pleted on all of the toilets and urinals in Wurster Hall to determine how many gallons of water go down the drain with every flush. Results of this audit al-lowed us to identify the

most wasteful fixtures, 10 of which will be replaced with high-efficiency fixtures in the coming months. We found that 72% of toilets

TGIF Project Spotlight: Water Metering & Conservation

Hydration Stations 2

TGIF Projects in

the News

2

Wurster Hall Sub-metering

3

Custodial Communications

4

TGIF by the Numbers

5

“End the Cycle” 6

Berkeley Student Food Collective

7

Announcements 8

Springing into Green Action

10

Inside this issue:

Spring Newsletter

Volume I, Issue II

and 69% of urinals use more water than their rat-ed 1.6 gallons per flush (see pie chart). Addition-ally, a (continued on pg. 2)

TGIF Projects In The News

significant percentage of fixtures flushed as many as 4 gallons with every flush, and several flushed up to 6 gallons per flush. These find-ings indicate a serious need to improve the efficiency of water use.

Over spring break, 6 sub-meters will be in-stalled in Wurster Hall in, for example, the towers, studios, and Ramona’s café. After the meters are installed it will be possible to know details about how water gets con-sumed once it comes into the building and this information can be used for research pur-poses as well as for

Page 2 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

ing the number of bottles saved from the landfill. Capital Projects managed this TGIF grant, working with the Division of the State Architect to obtain specific approvals for in-stallation requirements, as well as ensuring compli-ance with all the necessary codes (continued on pg. 5)

Guidelines for Installation of Hydration Stations in Exist-ing Buildings and the in-stallation of a refill sta-tion in Dwinelle, has sparked an expansion of more refill stations being installed. In addition to Dwinelle, Wurster and Haas have new bottle refill stations, where the

departments independent-ly elected to add refill sta-tions. Students couldn’t be happier – even when wait-ing in line – to fill their bottles with tap water from these new, state-of-the-art, sanitary, no-touch, sensor activation filling stations. The refill stations even have a ticker estimat-

New Water Bottle Refill Station and Building De-sign Guidelines for Hy-dration Stations in Action by Mariah Gonzalez, I Heart Tap Water Intern A few drops can turn into a steady stream. One 2010 TGIF grant, funding the development of the Design

Water Metering & Conservation (continued from pg.1)

conservation and assessing the performance of building retrofits.

TGIF Project Spotlight: Hydration Station Installation

Stay tuned for when all of this data becomes available online!

Water Metering was awarded TGIF grants of $56,000 and $58,600 in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Berkeley Student Food Collective

BicyCal

Human Powered Gym

Hydration Stations & I Heart Tap Water

Strawberry Creek Restoration Leadership Program

UC Botanical Garden Compost Tea Project

ventilation and heating equipment, Ramona’s Café, the Ceramics kilns, and the plug loads on studio floors 4-9 of Wurster Hall. Wurst-er Hall is home to the Col-lege of Environmental De-sign, where there is exten-sive academic interest from students and faculty in learning about how much

By Eli Perszyk

The Wurster Hall sub-meter project has recently come into effect with the installation of the electri-cal sub-meters finishing up in December 2010. This TGIF funded pro-ject is designed to track the electrical load of the

energy is being used by the facility. Wurster Hall has gone through a campus sponsored energy efficien-cy project through the Strategic Energy Partner-ship, and was also the first building on campus to have the water meter con-nected to the campus real-time metering website.

TGIF Project Spotlight: Wurster Hall Sub-Metering

The purpose of the electri-cal sub-metering project is to provide information to students about how much power is being used by dif-ferent areas of the building. It is important to make this complicated information easy to understand for the general public, and give students (continued on pg. 4)

Page 3 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

developed as part of the project and we welcome any feedback people have about how to display the information in an easy to understand format.

The other purpose of the sub-meters is to enable tracking of efficiency sav-ings when for example the ventilation fan speeds are changed. The meters can also help Facilities Ser-vices understand if equip-ment is deviating from its operating schedule.

Next steps in the project include evaluating some additional locations for sub-meters, in particular looking to capture the lighting load in the build-ing.

that want to do research lots of data to work with. The sub-meter infor-mation is also being used to support the TGIF Dashboard project, which installed an informational display in the Wurster lob-by. With the expert help of Facilities Assistant and Architecture grad student Sean Flanagan, we were able to produce a graph displaying the January 2011 electricity in Wurster Hall and put it up in the Dashboard display. In this highly visible location, the hope is people passing by will learn about the elec-tricity load and how the use of the facilities impacts electrical demand. This display will continue to be

CACS Green Fund Grants

-Deadline April 5th, 5pm

Sustainability Award Nominations

-Deadline April 5th, 5pm

CACS Spring Activities

Wurster Hall (continued from pg.3)

Currently in six campus buildings, the Custodial Communications Project aims to bridge the com-munication gap between custodians and building occupants. Student in-terns have met with cus-todians as well as building managers to discuss sus-tainability-related issues, including waste diversion and green projects. To create a more sustainable building community, cus-todians offered sugges-tions to building occu-pants that will be incor-

porated into a "Meet your Custodians" flier. For ex-ample, if a building occu-pant puts a full coffee cup

in the recycling bin, the custodian is unable to recy-cle. The suggestion box simply serves as a reminder

that cooperation and sup-port from all parties, cus-todians and building oc-cupants, are integral to attain the campus's rigor-ous sustainability goals.

Innovative Design, a stu-dent group, designed fli-ers with mini-biographies and photos of the build-ings' custodians as well as their suggestions to build-ing occupants. The fliers will be displayed in partic-ipating buildings in March. The project pro-motes the creation of a

TGIF Project Spotlight: Custodial Communications

Page 4 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

building community, in which participation and support from all parties regarding such issues as sustainability are integral.

Custodian appreciation events will be held in March as well. Students that have worked with custodians on sustainabil-ity related projects or simply want to show their appreciation are welcome to attend. Email al-isonamberg@berkeley.edu for more information.

by Alison Amberg

Chancellor’s Advisory Committee

on Sustainability

Custodian

appreciation

events will

be held in

March

As part of its 2010 TGIF Grant Award,

the Office of Sustainability created a

multimedia project for Talking

Louder About Sustainability, called

“UC Bee Sustainable”.

YOUTUBE VIDEO

(plumbing codes, building codes, ADA guidelines, etc.). The lessons learned from this bottle refill in-stallation project are that buildings on campus are all unique, have their own set of challenges, and in-

stallation costs tend to rise with more challenges. When it came to the instal-lation in Dwinelle, the pro-cess was not as straight for-ward as it would seem. The water had to be turned off for the entire building, as opposed to just the limited area of the installation. In Wurtser, because the water fountain set-up before the installation of a refill station was a match to the Design Guidelines, the installation went a lot smoother. All the work and challenges that were encountered with these experiences will help future plans for installing

refill stations around cam-pus. The I Heart Tap Water campaign, also funded by TGIF, is now working on promoting the locations of the new refill stations with Google maps. There are several departments working collaboratively on the I Heart Tap Water campaign, encouraging drinking tap water rather than sugary beverages and as a more sustainable op-tion than single-use plas-tic water bottles. The re-fill stations make it that much easier to be a little healthier and a lot more sustainable.

Hydration Stations (continued from pg.2)

Page 5 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

See the campus map for details on the locations of new bottle refill stations.

Introducing ECO: Environmental Clubs & Organizations

Environmental Clubs and Organizations (ECO), previously called B-GAIA, is a coalition on campus focused on im-

proving communication and facilitating collaboration among the student sustainability groups at Cal. By forming a

student network, the student sustainability community at Cal will have the resources and tools available to expand

their efforts and more effectively promote sustainability across the UC Berkeley campus. ECO has two main aspects:

the first is hosting a monthly public forum and the second is an online presence and network for the leaders of the

student groups. Our mission is to increase overall student sustainability awareness at Cal. We do this by helping to

maximize the potential of the student sustainability groups at Cal and by educating students about sustainability. Find

us on Facebook: ECO Berkeley. Follow us on Twitter: @ECOBerk.

Check out other student environmental organizations at UC Berkeley.

TGIF by the Numbers

TGIF received a total of 43 abstract proposals for the 2011 TGIF grants cycle.

The grand total requested by all 43 abstracts was $1,077,124.70, showing the strong interest in campus sus-

tainability.

Of the 43 proposals, TGIF invited 24 projects to Stage 2, to submit a Final Application by April 1st.

The name “The Green Initiative Fund” was first coined by UC Santa Barbara in 2006. TGIF programs

also exist at UC Irvine, UCLA, and UC San Diego.

UC students have contributed well over $2 million to campus sustainability projects: (Total=$2,244,766)

UC Berkeley: $708,865 UC Irvine: $76,122 UCLA: $670,257 UCSB: $717,891 UCSD:$71,631

TGIF Project Spotlight: “End the Cycle” Sustainable Laundry Campaign

Page 6 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

In 2010, “End the Cycle” was awarded a $3,100 TGIF grant to implement a sustainable laundry education campaign in UC Berkeley residences. According to the team’s surveys, 86.53% of campus loads are NOT done with the coldest setting (bright colors). Based on the team’s calculations, if this per-centage of loads were switched to washing on the bright colors setting, the campus could signif-icantly save both water , energy, and money.

WASHING MACHINES: Maytag Neptune High-Efficiency Washer - Model #: MAH21PDAWW Factory preset hot cycle average, hot water: 4.1 gallons = 15,520.14 cubic cm Incoming water temperature = 60°F = 60 + 273 = 333°Kelvin Heat to 125°F; 125 + 273 = 398°Kelvin Difference = 398 – 333 °K = 65°K Specific heat of water = 4.186 J / (cm^3)( °K) (4.186)(15,520.14)(65) = 4,222,874 J = 4002.5126 btu = 0.040027 therms / hot cycle Average age of water heater in residential halls is 10 years: efficiency factor = 0.5 0.040027 / (0.5) = 0.080054 therms extra / hot water cycle According to PG&E, producing 1 therm of natural gas emits 13.446 pounds of CO2: 0.080054 (13.446) = 1.0764 lbs CO2 / load

Residential Halls: Approximately 6600 students for the school year (8 months), one load / week: (6,600 students) (8 months) (4.27 weeks / month) (1 load / week) = 225,456 loads / school year (225,456)(.8653)(1.0764) = 209,992.916 lbs CO2/yr avoided if all non-coldest setting now coldest setting If we reach our target of 50% of the not-coldest-setting loads now washed in the coldest setting: (224,456)(.8653)(0.5)(0.080054) = 7,774.115 therms = $7,774.12 savings (224,456)(.8653)(0.5)(1.0764) = 104,540.16 lbs CO2/yr avoided And, now that we know kWh usage depending on setting (Normal, perm press, delicate): 100 – 2.86% = 97.14% do not use the lowest energy setting (delicate) 0.0847 kWh/cycle – 0.0672 kWh/cycle = 0.0175 kWh/cycle saved if Delicate, not Normal If we reach our target of 50% non-delicate loads now washed in delicate setting: (225,456)(.9714)(0.5)(0.0175) = 1,916.3 kWh = $191.63 savings (225,456)(.9714)(0.5)(0.0175)(0.524 lbs CO2/kWh) = 1,004.15 lbs CO2/yr avoided Family Student Housing: If we assume each of the 1043 families living in family student housing do 3 loads / week, campus pays $1.00 / therm of natural gas, and 50% of non-coldest setting loads now use the coldest setting: (1043)(3)(8)(4.27) = 106,887 loads total / school year If we reach our target of 50% of the not-coldest-setting loads now washed in coldest setting: (106,887)(.8653)(.5)(0.080054) = 3,702.07 therms = $3,702.07 savings (106,887)(.8653)(.5)(1.0764) = 49,777.75 lbs CO2/yr avoided If we reach our target of 50% non-delicate loads now washed in delicate setting: (106,887)(.9714)(0.5)(0.0175) = 908.51 kWh = $90.85 savings (106,887)(.9714)(0.5)(0.0175)(0.524 lbs CO2/kWh) = 476.06 lbs CO2/yr avoided

TOTAL Using the COLD setting: 11,476 therms avoided = $11,147.60 savings from heating = 154,318 lbs CO2 avoided Using the Delicate (COLD) set-ting: 2,824.81 kWh avoided = $282.48 savings from electricity = 1,480 lbs CO2 avoided GRAND TOTAL (Res Halls + Family Housing, Therms + kWH): $11,430 savings / year 155,798 lbs CO2/year avoided

Data and calculations

provided by

Kimberly Lam and

Green Campus

AASHE Student Diary Series:

The Opening of a Sustainable

Food Storefront

TV Spot on CalTV

Sales have significantly increased

(nearly doubled) since we re-

opened for the spring semester.

We've been able to lower the

prices on our grocery items due

to the increase in sales.

We've started preparing sand-

wiches to sell in the storefront

and expanded our selection of

grab-and-go items. In addition

to tracking our weekly sales, we

have begun tracking our sales in

two hour increments to learn

more about our peak times and

which items are most profitable.

The 2nd Annual Harvest Gala

held in November raised $5,000.

The Collective runs a 35 student

DeCal. In addition to guest lec-

tures, discussions, and weekly

readings, the students undertake

semester long projects that will

be featured in our storefront.

Future: ExpoWest, to be held in

March in Southern California, is

one of the largest natural foods

expos and organic product trade

shows. It will be a great net-

working and marketing oppor-

tunity to talk to people about

our store, build relationships

with potential suppliers, and find

new items for the store.

TGIF Project Update: Berkeley Student Food Collective

Page 7 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

Sales 11/15/10-12/20/10

$

1/17/11-2/20/11

$

TOTAL

$

Produce 1783.52 1897.35 3680.87

Bakery 398.5 895.61 1294.11

Grab & Go 2477.68 4374.23 6851.91

Grocery 1794.47 2688.48 4482.95

Refrigerated 609.62 1450.91 2060.53

Bulk 1247.3 1448.6 2695.90

Household Items 177.59 108.15 285.74

Health & Beauty 0 137.56 137.56

Bottle Fees 30.28 59.55 89.83

Bread 130.2 149.93 280.13

Bulk bags 280.2 1394.6 1674.8

Self Serve 270.32 418.95 689.27

Bag Discount -0.1 -0,05 -0.15

Member Discount -234.88 286/85 -521.73

Order Discount 0 -34.71 -34.71

Sales Tax 42.57 12.24 54.81

$12.62 36.72 0 36.72

Total Sales 10436.67 14765.06 25201.73

Average Transaction

Size

5.12 5.37 5.24

POS Cash 10416.02 9201.93 19617.9

POS Credit 21.75 5572.89 5594.64

Total Transactions 2038 2762 4800

Berkeley Student Food Collective

Location: 2440 Bancroft Way

Hours: M-F, 9am-7pm

Figures and content provided by Kaela Colwell,

BSFC Finance Director.

STeam EARTH WEEK - April 18-22, 2011

The ASUC Sustainability Team (STeam) is proud to sponsor and organize UC Berkeley's Earth Week festival. Earth Week is an annual event that takes place during the week of Earth Day, April 22nd. It is one week jam-packed with a variety of events focusing on what it means to Go Green. From engaging in discussions on ecological issues to learning about innovative ways to implement a sustainable lifestyle, STeam seeks to bring environmental awareness to the public in hopes of inspiring change. The STeam Earth Week committee invites you to join us in appreciation and celebration of our natural environment and beloved planet Earth!

Check out our website for more information: STeamEarthWeek.blogspot.com

Peace, Love, & Go Green,

STeam Earth Week Coordinators STeam Earth Week Project Leaders

Michelle Lowe Christina Albrecht

Michelle Choi Ritu Garg

Kaya Allan Sugerman

Questions or comments email: STeamEarthWeek@gmail.com

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Page 8 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

is in need of EECS majors or anyone with

heavy electrical engineering background. Please contact Maha Haji at

mhaji@berkeley.edu.

In 2010, HPG was awarded a $15,000 TGIF

grant to harness the human-generated energy

in the RSF. HPG will do so by retrofitting ellipticals and stationary bicycles.

The Human Powered Gym team...

SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 19, 2011

CACS Sustainability Summit

Featuring Keynote Speaker, Dr. Peter H. Gleick Please note that your grant and internship

funding agreements include creating a poster

of the project/work for display at the upcom-

ing Sustainability Summit on April 19th. In

addition to creating the poster, we certainly

hope that you can attend the Summit, as well

as be available from 9:30am to 10:30am for

the poster session. For more summit infor-

mation, visit the Summit website.

*The CACS Summit Poster is due

April 5, 2011.*

Please send both the report and poster art-

work to Sarah Bae. If you have questions or

concerns, feel free to contact Sara or CACS

Co-Chairs Claire Evans and Kira Stoll.

ATTENTION:

2010 CACS Grant and

Intern funding recipients

Open Shop Hours

Location: Lower Sproul,

next to the Art Studio

Hours: MWF, 11am-2pm

Page 9 Vo lume 1, I ssue 2

Farm Fresh to You is Offering UC Berkeley Students, Staff, and Faculty 20% off their First Deliveries Are you interested in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)? Farm Fresh to You is a local - sustainable - organic farm which delivers boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables straight from their farm to your home, apartment, dorm, or office on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. Through an online registration form, Farm Fresh to You also lets you choose what types of seasonal fruits and vegetables you receive in your box. During PLAYgreen, the Farm was giving a 20% discount to new customers, and has chosen to extend this discount to all Berkeley students, staff, faculty and alumni. Simply place an order through the website using promo code 482. This is a great way to support a local organic family farm and save money. If you are ordering from a residence hall, please be as specific as possible to ensure proper delivery. (Use the same address you would for a regular package.) Questions? Call the Customer Service Care Team at 1-800-796-6009.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

UC Botanical Garden will be hosting drop-in compost and

vermicompost tea brewing demonstrations during National Public

Garden Day, Friday, May 6, 2011 . Questions? Contact Anthony

Garza at garzajr@berkeley.edu or visit the UCBG website.

2011 AASHE Conference: Creating Sustainable Campuses and Communities

October 9-12, 2011 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

Call for abstract submissions, due March 16, 2011

2011 California Higher Education Sustainability Conference

July 10-13, 2011 at CSU, Long Beach

Call for abstract submissions, due April 4, 2011 by 5pm

Call for Proposals!

April 18th-22nd: Earth Week, brought to

you by ASUC’s STeam

April 19th: CACS Sustainability Summit

April 22nd: Earth Day

May 2nd: Announcement of 2011 TGIF

Grant Winners

May 5/6th: Training for 2011 TGIF

Grant Winners

July 10th-13th: California Higher Educa-

tion Sustainability Summit at CSU, Long

Beach

March 16th, 12pm: CACS Live It, Learn

It Event, “GoodGuide-Consumers and

Sustainability with Dara O’Rourke”,

Dwinelle 370

April 1st, 5pm: Deadline for 2011 TGIF

Grant Applications

April 5th, 5pm: Deadline for CACS’s

Green Fund Grant Applications

April 5th, 5pm: Deadline for CACS Sus-

tainability Award Nominations

Back Page Story Headline

The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) is a grant-making

fund for sustainability projects on UC Berkeley's cam-

pus. About $250,000 per year are available for grants;

students, faculty, and staff are eligible to submit pro-

ject proposals. Projects will be selected for funding by

an annually appointed Grant-Making Committee con-

sisting of students, faculty, and staff, in which stu-

dents have the majority vote.

TGIF is funded by a $5 per semester student fee, be-

ginning in fall 2007 and persisting for 10 years. The

fee referendum was approved by the student body

during the April 2007 ASUC elections. It received final

approval by the Chancellor and Regents during the

summer. In Fall 2010, the fee was raised to $5.50 as

required by the referendum.

Katherine Walsh University of California, Berkeley

Grants Coordinator 400 Eshleman Hall #4500

kwalsh@berkeley.edu Berkeley, CA 94720-4500

510-643-2992 tgif_info@berkeley.edu

We’re on the web!

http://asuc.berkeley.edu/tgif

Twitter @TGIF_UCB

Facebook Page “The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF)”

2010-2011 TGIF Committee VOTING MEMBERS NON-VOTING MEMBERS

Administration: Greg Haet Committee on Student Fees: Rachel Tenney

ASUC: Elizabeth Heredia Ex-Officio: Judy Chess

CACS: Courtney McDonald Office of Sustainability: Lisa McNeilly

Facilities Services: Sara Shirazi TGIF: Katherine Walsh

Faculty: TBD

Graduate Assembly: Damian Bickett

Student-at-Large Rep: Varun Pande

UC Berkeley is “Springing” into Green Action