Case Studies for the Document
From Common Energy UVic
This page is a temporary home for the case studies that will appear with each section of the Proposals document.
Contents |
[edit] Comprehensive Projects
[edit] Integrating Teaching and Learning
Kinsale Ireland, Energy Descent Plan: Practical Sustainability Class
In what is perhaps the first plan of its kind, students of a practical sustainability course in Kinsale in rural Cork, Ireland, produced a document, called the Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan, outlining a vision and a series of practical steps for radically reducing their dependence on fossil fuels. The report looks at the following areasL food, energy, tourism, education and health, and outlines practical steps that will reduce fossil fuel consumption to the year 2021. The document was released to the community for further input and analysis.
As a result, the Energy Descent Action Plan, produced at Kinsale Further Education College, was adopted officially by the town council and is currently being implemented. The key to success? The creation of a 12 step plan that engages the community while creating the Energy Descent Action Plan.
[edit] Revolving Green Fund
Harvard Universities' Revolving Fund
Harvard University’s Green Campus Initiative spearheaded a revolving fund that provides loans to sustainability projects that provide a return on investment within a five year period. The projects have reduced 33,192 metric tons of CO2e, mitigated 200,000 pounds of waste, and saved 15,541,377 gallons of water as of June, 2007. With an average return on investment of 27%, these projects are projected to save the University $3,787,910 per year. This highly successful revolving fund demonstrates that this funding mechanism has the potential to make UVic a Canadian leader in sustainability and climate change funding.
[edit] University Challenge
ReWire, University of Toronto
ReWire uses social marketing techniques to empower students, staff, and faculty to make better choices for their environment and their pocketbook. The program combines personal pledges, visual aids, and environmental education into toolkits with resources and strategies to target particular people and places. So far, the program has engaged 4,000 people at the University of Toronto and resulted in 10% reduction in electricity use in targeted residences and 5% reductions in offices.
ReWire is a collaborative project with a team of over 20 students, staff, and faculty. They are working to expand the project to new work environments, new campuses, with the goal of creating a comprehensive and transferable initiative to connect with people and make a tangible difference in their actions.
[edit] Focus Areas
[edit] Food
Green Mountain College Farm and Food Project
Green Mountain College Farm and Food Project in Poultney, Vermont (http://www.greenmtn.edu/farm_food/index.asp) provides an example of how a university can increase food production on campus and the opportunity for experiential learning in the realm of sustainable agriculture through the development of an on campus farm.
Green Mountain College has been running a farm on their campus for the past 11 years, and a Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) Program for 7 years. The farm and CSA are centered around 4 components:
- Food production which helps supply the campus with the 12% local food it serves
- Experiential learning about sustainable agriculture is incorporated into the coursework of dozens of classes
- Student volunteers and work study-students which keep the farm running
- The Family Farm Forum, an annual event designed to increase outreach to community members
Like UVic, Green Mountain College has no agriculture program- their facility is run through their Environmental Studies department. While the CSA would be managed by the students in the ES course and CSA members, the gardens would be open to any other department or course instructor interested in integrating agriculture into their curricula. Produce from the CSA beds would be distributed to CSA members and the surplus sold at the weekly campus Pocket Market and to on campus food outlets. Continuing education and workshops would be promoted and held on the site through Common Energy. Outreach events such as potlucks, workshops and tours will be held to increase community involvement.
[edit] Transportation
Paris' Navigo Transportation Pass
Introduced in 2001 to replace the widely used transit pass, Carte Orange, the Navigo pass is a convenient means of payment for the variety of public transportation options found in the City of Paris. Navigo users are able to hop on a variety of modes of transport including the bus, light rail, the RER (a train that crosses Paris to link the suburbs on opposite sides, so it makes fast connections from east to west and north to south in the Ile-de-France), the Metro (subway), or the Velib, the new self-serve public bicycle transit system. Embedded in the Navigo pass is a smart card (a chip placed in the card that stores information electronically) that is waived in front of transit turnstiles, or swiped, making access quick and easy for the transit user.
[edit] Buildings
Adam Joseph Lewis Centre at Oberlin College
The challenge at Oberlin College was a big one - design a building that functioned as a integrated system. To do this, the college embarked on a 5 year design process that included a team of design experts from design, education, and renewable technologies, had students prepare an initial proposal including alternative technologies and design strategies, sought input from faculty and students, and held 13 public design input sessions to harness feedback and ideas from the community. According to William McDonough's (one of the buidling's design advisors) website, "the Center was designed on three fundamental principles of nature — waste equals food, use current solar income, and respect diversity. An integrated approach to natural energy flows makes the Center a net-energy exporter."
The result: the Center has a direct monitoring system that visibly shows the real-time use of energy and cycling of matter that supports the building. The building purifies and recycles its water through a system that uses elements of a conventional wastewater management combined with a wetland ecosystem called 'The Living Machine'. This area is also used as a living laboratory for students in the environmental studies program. The building is also equipped with solar photovoltaic panels, energy efficient lighting, and heating. Finally, the building is heated through active and passive systems that incorporate heat pump technology, geothermal wells, and fresh air exchange ventilation.
[edit] Energy
ecotrek at the University of British Columbia
After opening the Office of Sustainability in 1998, the first major plan was to retrofit and upgrade over 300 buildings on campus. The program was called ecotrek, and it set major goals to reduce energy use by 20% and water use by 30%. Implemented through a collaboration between UBC and MCF energy consultants, ecotrek set out to be the first and largest retrofit program at a university in Canada. Financing of the plan was to come from the savings of energy and water use resulting directly from the upgrades. The result: in its first year, ecotrek saved UBC $3.8 million in energy and water costs and continues to save $2.6 million annually, while also having met its original energy and water reduction targets.
[edit] Business and the Economy
Purchasing - Interface Corporation
Interface Corporation has led the way on designing and delivering the product-of-service business model. Interface is the world's largest carpet company, and they plan to be the first environmentally restorative carpet company in the world by 2020. The company does not sell carpets to consumers. Instead, it provides the service of carpeting and retains ownership over the material components that it uses to provide that service.
This arrangement means that the company can reclaim the industrial materials embedded in the carpets. This has a threefold advantage: (a) the consumer is not responsible for disposing of the carpet, and (b) Interface designs the carpet to be re-manufactured and captures value that would otherwise go to the landfill, and (c) the carpet is designed in interlocking patches so that worn out areas can be replaced without ripping up the entire carpet.
Investment - Canadian Pension Plan
The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CCP) is responsible for securing the prosperous retirement of Canadians and currently manages $119.4 billion. The CPP has committed to use its position in firms, over 2,600 world wide, to improve the performance and disclosure of firms on environmental, social, and governance factors.
The CPP is particularly active in securing disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions from their firms. They have joined the Carbon Disclosure Project, an initiative with firms managing $57 trillion dollars in assets worldwide. On February 13th, 2008, the CPP asked Canada's 200 largest publicly traded corporations to respond to the Carbon Disclosure Project's requests for information on climate risks and opportunities.
[edit] Civic Engagement and Governance
Council on Public Engagement at the University of Minnesota
The Council on Public Engagement (COPE) at the University of Minnesota brings together students, staff, faculty, administrators, and regional partners to explore and develop opportunities for civic/public engagement throughout the institution and community. COPE emphasizes that the opportunities for engagement are broadly distributed in research, education, and operations of the institution, and that these opportunities are central to the 21st century mission of the university. Accordingly, the governance of the initiative is broadly shared to promote the communications, networking, and sense of shared ownership that is necessary to leverage those opportunities.
