Published on Penn Sustainability (https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu)
SUSTAINABILITY NEWS from the UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA
A Note On College Green
Over the past two years, the implementation and subsequent success of our sustainability initiatives has largely depended on two characteristics – leadership and innovation. No single initiative exhibits these qualities more so than the programs featured in this issue of Red & Blue On College Green.
The Penn Green Fund has been an impressive display of the bold, progressive thinking that has come to define the University community. Since its inception in 2009, the program has helped develop 28 new sustainability projects conceived by creative Penn students, faculty, and staff across all schools and centers. Eight new project teams will receive grants this semester and continue to cement our reputation as a national leader in sustainability efforts.
The Penn Eco-Reps program has successfully connected grassroots sustainability advocates to policy-makers and influenced real change at this institution. Despite launching later than the student program, the Staff/Faculty Eco-Reps program has flourished in 2011 and now boasts over 80 representatives from buildings and departments across campus. Small brainstorming groups have evolved into departmental "green teams" capable of implementing large-scale projects that can be replicated in other offices and buildings. This far-reaching, influential, and dedicated network was a supportive driving force behind an expanded and quite successful Power Down Challenge. Recently held in both residential and campus facilities, the Challenge saw several buildings reduce their electric consumption, with the Quad and Franklin Building winning their respective categories by achieving reductions of more than 20 percent over a three-week period.
These programs are proof that leadership and an innovative approach to solving sustainability issues on Penn's campus produces significant results. Your ideas are now in action, and they will inspire your classmates and colleagues to pursue the realization of projects they never thought to be possible. As we continue to make progress toward our Climate Action Plan goals, I encourage you all to continue leading, innovating, and collaborating toward a more sustainable Penn in 2012.
Anne Papageorge
Facilities & Real Estate Services
Green Fund Projects Spur Growth of Sustainability at Penn
Apply to the Staff/Faculty Eco-Reps Program and Check Out Highlights from 2011
Make Your Holiday Events More Sustainable With Our Green Events Guide
Morris Arboretum Hosts 23rd Annual Landscape Design Symposium
ESAC Faculty to Hold Workshop for Integrating Sustainability into Courses
Quad, Franklin Building Win 2011 Power Down Challenge Championship
Mark Your Calendars for RecycleMania 2012
Weiss Pavilion Certified LEED Gold by U.S. Green Building Council
Take the Penn Commuter & Parking Survey
Campus Car-Sharing Programs Expand
Netter Center Breaks Ground on Community Farm and Food Resource Center
LEADING THE GREEN
Profile: Max Zahniser, Director of Sustainability, Business Services
HOLDING A GREEN EVENT?
ADD IT TO OUR CALENDAR!
Email event info to sustainability@upenn.edu [12]
THUJAN12
FRIJAN13 Morris Arboretum Lanscape Design Symposium
Conversations Across Fields: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ecological Lanscape Design [13]
Haverford College, Haverford, PA
VIEW MORE GREEN CAMPUS PARTNERSHIP EVENTS [4]
Green Fund Projects Spur Growth of Sustainability at Penn [14]
Eight new sustainability projects from the Fall 2011 application pool have been selected to receive grants from the Penn Green Fund. The new projects will be implemented over the remainder of the year and join the list of creative sustainability initiatives conceived by Penn students, faculty, and staff since the release of the Climate Action Plan in September 2009. Click here [14] for a review of the progress of past projects, and descriptions of the Fall 2011 grant selections. RELATED LINKS
Green Fund [15]
Green Campus Partnership News [14]
Apply to the Staff/Faculty Eco-Reps Program and Check Out Highlights from 2011 [14]
Applications are now being accepted for the 2012 cohort of Staff & Faculty Eco-Reps, Penn's peer education program that provides the tools to improve the environmental sustainability of the University's classrooms, offices, and labs. Participating staff and faculty volunteers meet monthly to share best sustainable practices between departments, and attend brief trainings by the Green Campus Partnership on sustainability topics. Eco-Reps then implement change, spreading awareness of important sustainability issues and conservation strategies in their respective offices and departments through sustainability projects, events, and creative informational campaigns. Click here to apply [16] to the 2012 cohort and check out highlights from four of this year's innovative Eco-Reps... READ MORE [14]
Staff/Faculty Eco-Reps [17]
Make Your Holiday Events More Sustainable With Our Green Events Guide [14]
The multitude of events held on campus each year provide an opportunity to inform visitors about the philosophy of our Climate Action Plan while reducing environmental impacts and helping us reach our sustainability goals. Penn hosts a variety of campus events each year, ranging from office brown bags to formal receptions. As such, event greening will vary based on the scope, location, and size of the event. Click here [18] to visit our Green Events Guide page, which provides overall guidelines for sustainable event planning.
Morris Arboretum Hosts 23rd Annual Landscape Design Symposium [19]
The Morris Arboretum will host its 23rd Annual Winter Landscape Design Symposium on Thursday, January 12, and Friday, January 13, at Haverford College. Entitled Conversations Across Fields: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ecological Landscape Design, the symposium will focus on the expanding scope, scale, and goals of today's landscape projects and how designers can incorporate knowledge from other practitioners as well as a variety of other disciplines. Learn how an interdisciplinary approach to designing ecology-based landscapes can help you adapt to the rapid changes in the landscape design profession and enhance your position in a competitive economic environment. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for attending this symposium. Learn more about the symposium and register at the Morris Arboretum website [13]. RELATED LINKS
Morris Arboretum [20]
ESAC Faculty to Hold Workshop for Integrating Sustainability into Courses [19]
The Academics Subcommittee of Penn's Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee (ESAC) is calling for proposals to participate in a university-wide faculty workshop on implementing sustainability across the curriculum. The workshop aims to revise an existing course or create a new course (taught in the 2012-13 academic year), in any discipline, that integrates sustainability as a theme... READ MORE [19]
Quad, Franklin Building Win 2011 Power Down Challenge Championship [21]
Congratulations to the Quad College Houses (Fisher Hassenfeld, Riepe, and Ware) and the Franklin Building for their victories in this fall's Power Down Challenge, a three-week energy conservation competition which took place from November 1-20. The competition is part of the University's larger commitment to reduce campus energy use by 17 percent by 2014, as outlined in the Penn Climate Action Plan. Both the Franklin building and Quad College Houses reduced their electric consumption by more than 20 percent over the three-week competition. They saved more than 35,000 and 25,000 hours (kWh) of electricity, respectively. To put the savings in perspective, 25,000 kWh is equivalent to planting 453 trees, powering 40 homes, taking 63 cars off the road, or preventing the release of 17.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the same three-week period... READ MORE [21] RELATED LINKS
Power Down Challenge [22]
Mark Your Calendars for RecycleMania 2012 [8]
Get ready to recycle even more, as Penn prepares for RecycleMania 2012, the annual waste reduction competition between over 600 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The competition will kick-off on February 5 and extend eight weeks to March 31. Last year during RecycleMania 2011, Penn recycled approximately 28.9 percent of its waste, finishing just shy of its 30 percent goal, and second only to Harvard (30.6 percent) within the Ivy League. The Red & Blue remained at the top of the standings in the Waste Minimization category, however, generating only 58 cumulative pounds of waste per capita over the eight weeks. Stay tuned to the Penn Green Campus Partnership website for updates on RecycleMania 2012, and Like us on Facebook [8] to learn about upcoming events and giveaways across campus. RELATED LINKS
Minimizing Waste [23]
Recycling Posters [24]
Weiss Pavilion Certified LEED Gold by U.S. Green Building Council [25]
Weiss Pavilion, Penn's intercollegiate athletic weight training room and recreation center within the north arcade of Franklin Field, has been certified LEED Gold by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). The fitness center inhabits the space of the arches on two levels and connects the interior concourse space under the stadium bleachers with the new east-west exterior pedestrian promenade. Weiss Pavilion exhibits one of the University's oldest architectural traditions – preservation through adaptive reuse. The former site of parking spots has been revitalized by 52,000 square feet of space that includes a weight training facility for Penn student-athletes; a fitness center for students, faculty, and staff; and retail establishments. The project's innovative combination of excavation and infill has redefined Penn's hundred-year-old football stadium and has added new usable space without increasing the building's footprint... READ MORE [25] RELATED LINKS
Penn Connects: Weiss Pavilion [26]
[27] Take the Penn Commuter & Parking Survey [27]
Help Penn Transit and Penn Parking in improving services by providing feedback through the quick and easy Penn Commuter and Parking Survey [27]. Participate for a chance to win one of two prizes: a free month of parking, or a $50 gift certificate to the Penn Bookstore along with Urban earphones from the Penn Computer Connection. CLICK HERE [27] to take the online survey. RELATED LINKS
Penn Transit [28]
CommonSpace [29]
Reducing Emissions [30]
Campus Car-Sharing Programs Expand [31]
In response to student demand, Penn's Department of Transportation and Parking has been working with Zipcar and PhillyCarShare to increase carsharing options on campus. Zipcar, the world's largest car sharing service, recently increased their campus fleet total to eight with the addition of four cars, which can be rented by the hour or by the day. PhillyCarShare, is progressing with plans to install charging stations at campus lots that will serve to re-charge four new Chevy Bolts being added to their program in the upcoming semester. For more information about car-sharing programs available on Penn's campus, visit the Transit Services website. [31]
Netter Center Breaks Ground on Community Farm and Food Resource Center [32]
The Netter Center's Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI, or UNI for short) -- in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Bartram's Garden, and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation -- has established a farm and community garden on a 3.5 acre plot of land where an abandoned baseball field and a worn-down tennis court once stood. The official groundbreaking for the Community Farm and Food Resource Center was on October 27, and it's now being prepared with plantings. By spring the Farm/Center will include a field for vegetables, a community garden where local residents can maintain their own plots, an orchard with over 50 fruit trees, a 1000-foot-long berry patch, and a greenhouse... READ MORE [32] RELATED LINKS
Eating Local [33]
Max Zahniser, Director of Sustainability,
[34] The new Director of Sustainability for Penn Business Services, Max Zahniser, is a sustainability integration facilitator and educator. Before coming to Penn, Max was founder of the technical sustainability consulting company Praxis Building Solutions LLC, as well as The Sustainability NEXUS, a non-profit organization which is working toward synchronizing social and environmental initiatives in the Philadelphia region. He has served as director of sustainability at Wallace Roberts & Todd (or WRT, a planning, landscape and architecture firm with a rich heritage in sustainable work), and as LEED certification manager and LEED process & integration program manager for the U.S. Green Building Council. In these roles, Max served as final arbiter of about 200 LEED® green building certifications, supported the technical and process development of nearly every LEED® program, managed USGBC's creative collaboration with Google, Adobe, Autodesk, and others, and provided support to both customer project teams and LEED® technical staff in a variety of ways. Max has been interviewed and quoted as an expert on sustainability, green building, LEED® and/or Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, numerous trade magazines, and on National Public Radio. He also acted as a contributing author for a book published by Wiley in April of 2009, titled: The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building - Redefining the Practice of Sustainability. Max currently develops and teaches sustainability curriculum as USGBC LEED Faculty, and at Drexel University, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, Moore College of Art & Design, and other institutions..
CLICK HERE TO READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH MAX [34]
In each issue of Red & Blue On College Green, we recognize a member of the Penn community for his or her environmental sustainability efforts on campus. If you know someone at Penn who is "leading the green," send us an email at: sustainability@upenn.edu [12]
© 2011-2012 University of Pennsylvania | Penn Green Campus Partnership, 3101 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Academic Year:
2010-2011 [35]
Source URL: https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/news/newsletter-archive/february-2011
[1] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/index.html
[2] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/news.html
[3] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/cap.html
[4] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/events.html
[5] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/pledge.html
[6] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/contact.html
[7] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/news/archives.html
[8] http://www.facebook.com/PennGreenCampusPartnership
[9] http://twitter.com/GreenPenn
[10] http://www.flickr.com/photos/penngcp
[11] http://www.youtube.com/user/PennGCP
[12] mailto:sustainability@upenn.edu
[13] http://online.morrisarboretum.org/LDS
[14] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/news.html?tab=0#News
[15] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/greenfund.html
[16] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/eco-reps/faculty-staff.html
[17] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/eco-reps/staff-faculty.html
[18] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/eventsguide.html
[20] http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/arboretum/index.shtml
[22] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/powerdown.html
[23] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/waste.html
[24] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/resources/posters.html
[26] http://www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/find_a_project/alphabetical/weiss_pavilion_alpha/weiss_pavilion_overview.php
[27] http://www.upenn.edu/survey/commuterparking
[28] http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/transportation/
[29] http://commonspace.us/
[30] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/transportation.html
[31] http://cms.business-services.upenn.edu/transportation/commuter-transit-options/ride-share.html
[32] http://makinghistory.upenn.edu/node/816
[33] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/food.html
[35] https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/academic-year/2010-2011