Heat pumps on the University of Southampton campus

This authors starts off by telling how important energy is and how much we, as humans, use energy with everything we do. Then the articles shifts into talking about how the University of Southampton is really making changes to its campus and trying to become a green campus. While trying to become a green campus, the university encountered a problem. Since the existing buildings on the campus are so old, when they were built a long time ago they weren’t built to be energy-efficient buildings. Therefore, the authors decided to select two types of systems and heat pumps. Those are photovoltaic (PV) systems and heat pumps (Kalkan 2011). First, they had to do research on the PVs to see exactly what they are capable of and their energy-consumption rates. During their research, they found that they could use solar radiation. “Solar radiation is an infinite energy source. In fact, it has the highest percentage of energy when compared to other types of renewable sources. Other renewable sources such as wind and wave energy are even derived from it" (Kalkan 2011). Once the group finished with their research, they were able to see results in their findings. The PVs and the heat pumps were a good idea. This project has investigated the technical and feasibility aspects of designing an off-grid PV system that is capable of generating as much as possible of the electrical demands of the Highfield Campus (Kalkan 2011).

    Kalkan, N., Bercin, K., Cangul, O., Morales, M., Saleem, M., Marji, I., Metaxa, Tsigkogianni, E. (2011). A renewable energy solution for highfield campus of the university of southampton. 15(6), 2940-2959.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=271969&_user=2139747&_pii=S1364032111000888&_check=y&_origin=search&_coverDate=31-Aug-2011&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlV-zSkWz&md5=3856e0d951203f2602a482fc92ab8342/1-s2.0-S1364032111000888-main.pdf

Saving money and reducing foodservice waste at the same time!

 

In this article McCaffree talking about how reducing foodservice waste will not only help the environment but will also help you save money as well.

The article started off talking about how Nadine Mann, PhD, RD, director of operations of East Baton Rouge Parish School System in East Baton Rouge, LA, instituted a recycling program and reduce waste in the school cafeterias within her school district (McCaffree, 2009).

Since the journal article “The Green of a School District” was written, very few changes were made until Mann came up with a couple ways to reduce the waste in the cafeteria.

“‘The very first thing any foodservice director should look at is sourcing. Can we redo packaging that would impact what goes in the dumpster? That, to me, is the highest priority, and it’s certainly made the biggest impact for us,’ Mann said" (McCaffree, 2009).

After Mann made that statement, she came up with an idea that would reduce the amount of milk spills and garbage in the cafeteria. She thought of little containers that you have to poke the straw through it to drink the milk. These containers are very similar to the “Caprisun” pouches. That idea really helped the East Baton Rouge Parish School System by reducing its foodservice waste.

Schools are not the only facilities that are trying to go green and save money at the same time. Correctional facilities are also doing what they can do to help the environment.

“Barbara Wakeen, MA, RD, owner of Correctional Nutrition Consultants in North Canton, OH, reports that one of her clients, in addition to recycling cardboard and cans, contracts with a company that will pick up its milk cartons. They also are trying to use quick-decomposing containers when packaging up bag meals and snacks. Even shoes are being recycled for use in tennis courts" (McCaffree, 2009).

          In this article McCaffree also says that another good way to reduce foodservice waste is to offer first. If you ask the person if they want what is being offered and they say no, then that saves the food that could have possibly been thrown away. “This concept is known as ‘offer versus serve’; instead of serving every diner the same meal, meal components are offered, and the diner can choose which items they will take" (McCaffree, 2009).

          Reducing the amount of water usage will also help out the environment. Taking shorter showers and washing dishes only once a day instead of multiple times a day, are a couple ways to reduce water usage.

“Mann says that East Baton Rouge switched to disposable ware about 10 years ago. ‘It made a huge impact in the water usage of the district.’ Not only that, she says, it made a significant impact on the electricity that was used because the cafeterias no longer have to operate a dishwashing machine" (McCaffree, 2009).

McCaffree, J. (2009). Reducing foodservice waste: going green can save green. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109(2), 205-206.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.famuproxy.fcla.edu/science/article/pii/S0002822308022013

Recycling at Big Ten universities

In this article, the authors talk about how universities of the Big Ten conference are trying to get their students to be more sustainable. “In 2006, the Michigan State University Vice President for Finance and Operations [VPFO] launched the Be Spartan Green Environmental Stewardship Initiative with the goal of reducing the university’s environmental footprint while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of material and energy usage” (Kaplowitz, Yeboah, Wilson & Thorp, 2009).

 The first thing that researchers figured would be easy to start with is to get the students to recycle more on campus, but it didn’t help as much as they would have like it to. “They reported that goal-setting (e.g, asking participants to collect a set quantity of recycling materials over a period of time) promoted recycling among the university students, but public commitment (e.g, publishing names of individuals who have made a commitment to recycle in campus newspapers) did not significantly impact student recycling behavior” (Kaplowitz, Yeboah, Wilson & Thorp, 2009).

The authors have come up with a few different communication strategies for their recycling campaign. “Some institutions have designed recycling coursework as part of their efforts to communicate recycling information and increase environmental awareness” (Kaplowitz, 2009).

The authors also created a survey to see exactly how knowledgeable students were in knowing about recycling. After they received the ratings for the survey, they found out that the students didn’t know much about recycling and how it benefited the environment. Even though the students didn’t know much about recycling, that didn’t mean they didn’t want to learn. On the survey, the students were asked if they wanted to know more about recycling, and the student of MSU ranked number one in agreement in wanting to be more knowledgeable with recycling.

After the authors were done with their studies they realized that being educated in recycling should start with colleges and universities first.  “Not only is this recommendation in line with our own findings, but is also supported by the literature which indicates communication increases recycling participation when it addresses such knowledge gaps as how, what, and where to recycle” (Kaplowitz 2009).