Going green
By Barbara Sutherland Chovanec
Senior Nichole Crosson wants everyone at CMU to care as much about recycling as she does. In fact, the student recycling coordinator is making it her personal mission.
“I’m just extremely passionate about the environment,” she says. “Recycling is one thing people can do in their daily lives that’s not extravagant or expensive. It’s something everyone can easily do.”
To her delight, Crosson has noticed eco-friendly changes at CMU since she enrolled as a freshman.
“I see recycling bins everywhere now,” she says. “People are always talking about going green. Central is definitely taking big steps.”
Increased recycling, using alternate energy sources, and reducing water use are just three of the many ways the university is working toward a more sustainable future.
President Michael Rao established a Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee composed of faculty, staff, and student representatives to ensure that CMU is striving to be ecologically sound, socially just, and economically viable.
The group is evaluating current efforts and will work to integrate sustainability into business operations, teaching, research, and facilities management. And though the committee is just getting started in its work, efforts are already under way campuswide to save natural resources and make CMU a more sustainable institution.
An intern in facilities management is calculating the university’s carbon footprint.
Facilities management and residence life staff, as well as a legion of student volunteers, have taken steps to reduce electricity and water usage and increase recycling, among other efforts.
Special water conservation aerators have been installed on 4,500 sink faucets to reduce water and sewer usage. The diffusers reduce water flow from 2 gallons per minute to .5 gpm. Over a recent three-month period, water usage dropped by 4.7 million gallons compared to the same three months the year before – a savings of $21,000.
Also in the bathrooms, high-efficiency hand dryers will begin to replace the paper towel dispensers to reduce the amount of waste CMU is depositing in landfills.
To further reduce landfill volume, officials hope to increase recycling by 20 percent this year, building on recent years of steady increases. In 2003, CMU was recycling about 19 tons of materials a month. By 2007, that volume had doubled to 38 tons per month.
Other campus efforts toward sustainability include:
- Eco-friendly cleaning products are putting fewer toxins into the environment.
- “Turn it off” decals on light switches campuswide encourage people to save energy.
- Campus dining uses local Michigan produce whenever possible. In 2007 campus dining used 721 cases of locally grown blueberries, asparagus, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, squash, and zucchini.
- Campus dining also encourages guests to forgo using trays, which saves water and energy during dishwashing.
- New lightbulbs will reduce energy use by 63 percent in the Engineering and Technology Building and by 70 percent in the Moore Hall television studio.
And Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of facilities management, keeps a long list of other ideas – initiatives he hopes the university can put into place once the details are worked out.
One such idea is using the ashes from the wood chip boiler as a soil amendment in landscaping instead of disposing them in a landfill. Another is converting used cooking oils from campus dining into biodiesel to use in university vehicles. And facilities management is considering purchasing electric cars to use on campus.
“We have many more ideas about how to advance sustainability at CMU,” Lawrence says. “Some of these can be put into place fairly soon, and some will require more time. But we’re committed to doing all we can to save resources and continue to be more environmentally friendly.”
Saving (a different kind of) green
In many cases, CMU’s efforts to be responsible stewards of Earth also will save part of the $10 million per year the university spends on electricity, natural gas, water and sewage, wood chips for fuel, and garbage disposal.
This summer the university will replace 1950s burner technology in two natural gas boilers. This is expected to improve energy efficiency by 20 percent – saving CMU about $300,000 on natural gas in the next heating season. Refurbishing and using a steam absorption chiller for air-conditioning will save about $600,000 in fiscal year 2008-2009 since the university will be able to use one fewer electric-powered chiller.
The use of wood chips as a renewable fuel source for steam requirements saves the university up to $2 million annually in fuel costs.
A remodeling project begun this spring in Brooks Hall will save 30 percent per square foot in energy costs for that building by replacing the heating, ventilation, plumbing, and electrical systems.
And recycling is cheaper for CMU than hauling waste to a landfill. The university transports garbage to a landfill in Harrison 30 miles away, but recycling happens right in Mount Pleasant.
“There are environmental reasons why we should be recycling, but there are also some real good financial reasons,” Lawrence says.
That’s good news. But for recycling coordinator Crosson, whatever the reasons that make people recycle are just fine with her. •
Keep up with CMU’s sustainability efforts at www.cmich.edu/sustainability
