Photo by: Greg Lau
A recently adopted energy policy, recycling efforts and wind energy campaign were all up for discussion last Friday as this year’s Provost Conference focused on DU’s contributions to curbing and possibly reversing the effects of global climate change.
With the theme “Creating a Sustainable University: Strategies for Change,” the conference aimed to showcase the role higher education can play in creating a sustainable world, with a particular focus on the university and Denver as a whole.
A panel discussion titled “Current Sustainable Practices: DU and the Rocky Mountain Region” highlighted what DU is doing to create a sustainable campus. The panel was attended by more than 100 students, faculty and staff in Driscoll Ballroom. The discussion focused on the role DU was playing in constructing and maintaining a sustainable Colorado.
Panelists included Jeff Bemelen, director of Facilities Management, Mark Rodgers, DU architect, DeAnna Patterson and Charlie Coggeshall, two DU students involved in environmental awareness groups, Scott Morrissey from Greenprint Denver and Morey Wolfson from the Colorado Energy Office.
Bemelen spoke in-depth about an energy policy adopted by the university in 2000 as well as current efforts to reduce energy, lighting and water use, conserve land and find alternative, environmentally-friendly methods of running the campus.
The energy policy analyzes performance standards for the DU Facilities Department. The policy sets standards that include reducing the heating or cooling settings when buildings are unoccupied and ensuring that lights are used only where and when people are occupying that specific area.
This policy is about behavior modification, said Bemelen. “We’ve gotten really spoiled about our environment, and one of the things we ask in this policy is to be a lot more flexible.”
According to Bemelen, DU saved over $600,000 in the first two years of the policy’s implementation.
Other efforts have included a better energy management program so each building can be properly monitored in order to better evaluate problems. Renewable energy options, including geothermal, wind and solar energy are being explored on campus.
“We are actively looking at solar,” said Bemelen, but it is “very space intensive and costly.” The school is also looking to invest in or own part of a wind farm, according to Bemelen.
DU is also focusing on water and land conservation. DU is currently in talks with the Denver Water Board to get recycled water onto campus.
Rodgers, who followed Bemelen, focused on building management efforts at sustainability.
As DU continues to expand and construct more buildings, we are “trying to designed buildings and use materials that wear well,” said Rodgers.
Current building planning typically involves using locally-produced materials and lots of windows to account for the beautiful views here in Denver and bring heat to the building. Sophisticated systems within the buildings ensure that they don’t heat or cool too fast, allowing them to adapt to the varied weather of Colorado without using extra energy.
DU architects strive for 500-year construction, meaning that they design buildings that will last at least for a half century by using materials that are easy to maintain and contribute as little as possible to climate change.
The Ricketson Law Building is a prime example of these efforts, Rodgers said. Its construction involved a red brick base, exposed concrete, no staining of wood, natural light and waterless urinals.
According to Rodgers, the DU campus has more lawn and green areas now than it did ten years ago. These efforts at land conservation were mainly the result of created stacked parking lots, with buildings placed on top of them as can be seen at Nelson Hall.
DU faculty is not the only group involved in these sustainability efforts, however. DeAnna Patterson, president of the DU Environmental Team (DUET), and Charlie Coggeshall, a graduate student who initiated a club called Net Impact on campus, also shared how the students of DU are playing a role in sustainability efforts.
According to Patterson, the wind energy campaign was one of the most significant student efforts. The campaign was a student-run initiative to persuade the university to buy wind credits.
The initiative passed, and $18 of this year’s annual tuition rise goes toward those credits. According to Patterson, this covers 10 percent of DU’s electricity needs.
DUET has also played a significant role in recycling education and efforts on campus. “Recycling on campus isn’t just a facility issue, it’s a behavior issue,” said Patterson.
As a result of DUET’s campaign, additional bins have been placed around campus.
Coggeshall’s efforts have included a campus greening initiative, which involves a greenhouse gas inventory to be taken, improving recycling on campus, particularly in the Daniels College of Business.
Chancellor Bob Coombe signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment last year.
Future efforts of these groups include a sustainable consumption campaign, reducing use of plastic bags and continuing to improve recycling.
