April 15, 2003

Environmental Council Meeting

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Minutes

Present:  Nan Jenks-Jay (Chair), Connie Leach Bisson (Vice-Chair), Helen Young, David West, Andi Lloyd, Gail Smith, Diane Munroe, Megan Smith, Charlotte Tate, Ben Wessler, Jesi Warren, Doug Dagan, Nick Benjamin, Andrea Hamre, Suzanne Nagi, JS Woodward

Guests:  President McCardell, Franci Farnsworth, Environmental Grant recipients

Announcements:

Nan thanked the numerous people who participated in the DVD filming that took place yesterday on campus.  Clean Air-Cool Planet plans to use the DVD as an educational tool to encourage others to develop solutions to climate change.

Nan also announced that Middlebury College has received an Environmental Merit Award from the US EPA (Region 1) that will be presented to the College at a celebration on Earth Day (April 22) at Faneuil Hall in Boston.  Charlotte suggested that such an honor be shared with the entire college community either with an announcement of the front page of the college's website or with an all college e-mail.

I.  Dialogue with President McCardell

After introductions, two of the subcommittee provided brief updates of their accomplishments this year. 

The Purchasing and Consumption subcommittee described their efforts to highlight sustainable seafood choices, support the Health Fair with sustainable lifestyle information, and develop resources for purchasing and operations to assist in making environmentally preferable purchasing decisions for office & cleaning supplies and building materials.

The Land Use subcommittee summarized the process they have been undertaking to develop a proposal for managing college lands.  Their goal was to involve key players in the dialogue so as to develop a common set of criteria for providing overall guidelines for managing college lands that worked for the various staff responsible for different components of the College's property.  The subcommittee has found it challenging to define criteria that are both manageable and practical. 

Nan discussed the Environmental Grants program, thanking the President for his continued support for the program.  Given budget concerns, she noted that it is likely that the Environmental Grants program will be brought to closure at the end of this semester.  A final assessment will be conducted.  Nan indicated that the program has been successful in many ways and that she is hopeful that it can be a bridge to something else with other sources of funding at the appropriate time.

President McCardell expressed his gratitude to the Environmental Council, noting that it had taken on things that have been important and have served the College well.  He reflected that it is indisputable that the College has built up a fair amount of momentum and it is an exciting place to be.  While he is confident that the cycle (economic) will turn, the College faces challenges.  He asked that the Environmental Council not put things that have added to the College's momentum at risk, but be mindful to shape its work in the short term to understand the financial realities.  The environment (Peak of Excellence) is an absolute necessity for the good of the College and the recognition and awards we continue to receive are deserving and appropriate.

Charlotte noted that the US EPA Merit award is a reflection on the significant work of the whole campus community and she asked President McCardell if he felt it appropriate to share the news with an all college e-mail.  Nan noted that in addition to Dave Ginevan, Churchill Franklin (President of the Trustees) and several Boston-based alums plan to attend the awards ceremony.  President McCardell would announce the award through an all-campus e-mail from his office and also invited other members of the Environmental Council to attend the award ceremony.

II.  Environmental Grant Presentations

1. Hybrid Vehicles – Michelle Long '04 and Jen Eggebroten '04 developed a proposal for purchasing a hybrid vehicle for the College fleet.  They surveyed potential users on campus and worked with Purchasing to include a hybrid in their '04 budget request.
2. VendingMiser – Helen Young and Mike Romankiewicz '03 introduced the VendingMiser, a device attached to beverage vending machines that is both a motion sensor and temperature detector that slows the compressor while keeping the temperature with 1 degree of "normal" temperature.  The grant team collected data on busy, moderate and relatively unvisited units, tracking wattage.  Their conclusion at the end of the study – If VendingMisers were used on all forty beverage vending machines, after an 18 month payback, the College would save $5000 in electricity costs while reducing carbon emissions.
3. Pedal Power – Mike Unger '03 and Mike Romankiewicz '03  noted that the inspiration for their grant project was from Rich Wolfson's physics class where he encouraged students to explore the amount of work required to use a hand crank to generate electricity to light a light bulb.  The grant team is in the process of modifying a stationary exercise bike that will be located at the Fitness Center for a period of time, allowing riders to make the connection between energy generation and consumption  (obtain quality exercise while also learning about energy production).  They hope to have a promotional day and then next year have the bike become part of the proposed green exercise room in Atwater. 
4. Laundry Water Recycler – Matt Biette updated the Environmental Council on Dining Services plans to install a system to reuse the rinse water in their new laundry facility.  He learned from a chemical sales person that the hot water was necessary for the wash cycle so the manufacturer is now adding a steam injector system ($900) to raise the temperature of the recycled water when it enters the wash cycle.
5. Greenhouse Water – Matt Biette described the simple water collection system he will soon be installing to capture rain from the greenhouse to be used for internal irrigation.  He realized that the system would not work in the winter and therefore intentionally delayed installation until spring.  Water on-site will enable more extensive use of the greenhouse during spring, summer and fall.
6. Yellow Bikes – Nate Morris '06 provided an update of the Yellow Bikes program.  A $6 membership fee instituted this fall enabled the purchase of 5 new bikes bringing the total fleet to about 20 bikes.  Users were surveyed and the general response was that they liked the program but felt that more bikes were needed. Next year they hope to streamline the locking system and charge pin bills if keys are not returned.  Public Safety has created a paid coordinator position for next year, thereby allowing the remaining grant funds to be used for the purchase of additional bikes.  Nan suggested that they might explore making Yellow Bikes available for Alumni Weekend, next year if it were too late for this year.  Another suggestion was exploring a system for their use during the summer language program as a future expansion.
7. Biodiesel – Ron Schildge '03 and Thomas Hand '05 and Morgan Byrne '05 provided on update on biodiesel activities on campus.  Grant funds have been used to establish the Organization of Biodiesel Environmental Chemists and a website.  In addition, several students conducted a J Term class at the Hannaford Technical Center where they converted a small college tractor to run on straight vegetable oil.  Ron has also assisted in establishing a partnership between the College and a small Vermont-based biodiesel producer Dog River Alternative Fuels who will be using lab space in BIH to conduct tests on their product to meet standards for selling the fuel for over-the-road vehicles.  Nan commended Ron for his perserverance and for creating a vehicle through which other can now be involved and Middlebury can continue to explore biodiesel use on campus.  She also noted that John Deere had publicly endorsed the use of biodiesel in its equipment.