White Paper Final Draft v4-3.5

7/28/2019 White Paper Final Draft v4-3.5

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The Green Team Volume One, March 2013

Going GreenRecent efforts have begun to make

the University of South Floridaan ecologically friendly school.

Volume One, March 2013

Green and GoldEnvironmentalism in America has been around since the 19th century, but

gained much more momentum in the 1970s with the creation of theEnvironmental Protection Agency and many environmental acts that

followed ("Brief History of the Modern Green Movement in America").

Since then technological advancements as well as continued research, has

helped in the discovery of ways to increase sustainability for the future.

Universities caught on to the green movement and sure enough, since

1995, USF has become more then just a top research school, it has started to

lead the way in sustainability efforts. These efforts include building

materials, water conservation, student initiatives, lighting, academics,

recycling, solar panels, and much more. These efforts havent just made

there way to the main Tampa campus, but to the other campuses as well.

This white paper will focus on the efforts made over the years, the peoplewho have helped these efforts along, and the people these efforts will

continue to effect.

Website: http://psgs.usf.edu/office-of-sustainability

Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/USFsustainability

Mission Statement: The Office of Sustainability coordinates and builds partnerships for university-wide initiatives that

advance the University of South Floridas strategic goal of creating a sustainable campus environment.

The Green Team

Professional Writing, Spring

Semester 2013

Dr. F. Tobienne

Connect with the Office of Sustainability

Cortney Schmid- Lead Editor

Joesph Civello- Lead Researcher

Kara Simmons- ContributingEditor

Diego Bello- Contributing Editor

Shelby Bourgeois- LeadInterviewer

USF Unstoppable

Florida High Tech


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The Green Team March 2013

Table of Contents

3 Executive Summary

4 Groundbreaking times for USF

The history of sustainability efforts

5 Efforts moving forward

The Patel Center

Honors college and graduate program

LEEDing, the way in green design

Recycling and water

8 Transportation

Students initiatives

Strategic goals

10 USF We Car Car sharing Benefits and triggers

Faculty outreach

13 Interview with Mr. Aden-Buie

15 Bibliography


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Executive Summary

The University of South Florida has taken amazing strides towards sustainability withinthe last decade and they are not stopping by innovating students with new technologies.USFs sustainability efforts expand from the implantation of solar panels, buildingmaterials, lighting, recycling, water conservation, transportation and academics. Whatkeeps USFs sustainability plan moving forward is the educating of students, faculty,staff and the community. USF is bringing people together to help change tomorrow.

With the addition of the The Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions, USF hasshown to the world that they are a global front-runner for applied research onsustainability and reduction of gas emissions. The research conducted aims to be applied

worldwide. This shows that USF isnt only worried about the environment aroundTampa Bay, but all over the world.

This white paper was created to spotlight the efforts put forth by USFs going greenand sustainability actions. Following the trend of recent history of which USF hasundoubtedly displayed a total restructure of their views on sustainability and theenvironment, its safe to say this university is not slowing down. Businesses and othercolleges should not only look up to USF with their sustainability efforts, but also startimplementing strategies of their own.

USF is trying to get faculty members and students to get together and create new ideasthat can help the University of South Florida become the #1 school in the United Statesthat is completely green. This will not happen anytime soon but information from thePatel department believe that in less than 20 years, the university will be running asgreen as possible. With the addition in a daily basis of less contaminant materials andthe RRR (reduce, reuse, recycle) program, we are aiming to reduce as much as possiblenow to not be affected in the future.


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Groundbreaking Times for USF

In 1995, the University of South

Florida created the USF Tampa

Campus Master Plan to improve

sustainable goals and practices.

This master plan adopted Smart

Growth, which is described as an

urban and transportation theory

that concentrates growth into

compact urban centers to avoid

sprawl ("2010 Campus Master

Plan At Tampa Data Collection

And Analysis"). In the first tenyears of the plan USF made many

accomplishments such as planting

over two thousand trees, created an

off-campus shuttle system, and

created a 125 acre cross campus

greenway ("2010 Campus Master

Plan At Tampa Data Collection

The history of USFs sustainability efforts

And Analysis"). The university also

serves as a community-recycling

site for the campus perimeter. The

master plan focuses on energy

conservation which has saved the

university over 10$ million in the

last decade and has saved over 11

kilowatt-hours annually. The

Greenlights replacement program is

to thank for this savings ("Physical

Plant"). This program upgraded the

lighting systems in the Tampa

campus academic buildings to

high efficient electronic ballasts

and energy conserving fluorescent

bulbs ("Physical Plant").

Garrick is Graduate ReseaAssistant at the Patel ColleGlobal [email protected]

Spotlight: Garrick Aden-Buie

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usflife.tumblr.com

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USF office of sustainability

hat has USF done to improve sustainability?

SF has done quite a lot to move towards sustainability, such as installing solar panels, led lighting,otion sensors and light timers, implementing automatic hibernation for computers in the libraryd labs, removing trays and Styrofoam from dining halls, and much much more. The bestroduction to sustainability efforts on the USF Tampa Campus is in our most recent ACUPCCimate Action Plan Progress Report, which is located at http://rs.acupcc.org/progress/780/ under

General Statement of Progress"

USF doing anything to involve the community in their sustainability efforts?

SF works hard to engage the local, state and regional community in their sustainability efforts. Tome a few, we are involved in Clean Cities Tampa Bay and Resilient Tampa Bay. You can find out

ore about our communityengagement initiatives at http://psgs.usf.edu/patel-center/


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AcademicsThe University of South Florida academicprogram offers multiple opportunities for students

to pursue sustainability or green efforts in a widevariety of studies. First and foremost, in Januaryof 2010, a new School of Global Sustainability

was created, managed by internationallyrecognized urban water issues expert Dr.Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy, who also worked with

the European Union and UNESCO. This newschool is an inclusive and holistic academic unitflourishing off of the collaboration, research and

explorations of USF-affiliated faculty andstudents. The initial degree program in the Schoolof Global Sustainability focuses on water, but alsohas concentrations in fields dealing with food

security and health, the designed and builtenvironments, gender and ethnicity,transportation, global citizenry, climate change,

the history of sustainable communities,coastalwetlands, the role of the arts in megacities, and thefunctioning of civil responsibility.

Other CollegesIn addition to the School of Global Sustainability,

several other colleges offer opportunities forstudents to be a part of the green and sustainabilityefforts in the USF community. The College ofArts and Sciences offers environmental graduate

and undergraduate degrees, as well as communitybased service-learning and international educationopportunities. The social sciences, including

anthropology, geography, government andinternational affairs have specifically tailoredenvironmental and sustainability research and

curriculum. The College of Behavioral and

Community Sciences focuses on the community-based aspect of sustainability, as does the

College of Engineering, which is highly activeon several green and sustainability initiatives,and also offersinternational experiences. TheCollege of Business has numerous programs,

including the sustainable enterprise and businesssustainability programs and practical projects.Even the College of the Arts uses alternative

disciplines to approach the idea ofsustainability

and the environment, and The Graphic Studio,

the Institute for Research in Arts and the

Contemporary Art Museum have demonstratedinterests in the field.

Honors College and Graduate ProgramsThe USF Honors Colleges annual seminarseries for the 2010-2011 academic years theme

was Global Challenges For A SustainableFuture: Conversations with USF Scholars inOutcome Driven Sustainability Science. The

Honors College allows sustainability themedsenior projects and offers seminars from a wide

variety of experts and disciplines. USF Graduateprograms offer up to $5000 per research teamand fund yearlong research projects organizedby teams of Masters and Doctoral students, andalso provide annual grant funding programs to

promote sustainability science research.

CentersThe Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global

Efforts MovingForward

USFs current sustainability efforts havehelped improve the lifecycle of the

university and its carbon footprint. Theseefforts include transportation, academics,

building and environment design,recycling, and water management

p://news.usf.edu/


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Solutions purpose is to support and

promote non-partisan, independentapplied research and facilitate action and

research on topics of global concern. The

center also takes the research done andworks to apply it worldwide. The Patel

Center will be housed in USF Tampas firstgreen, LEED certified building.The Center for Urban TransportationResearch serves as a resource for policy and

lawmakers, transportation professionals,those in the education system and the publicinvolved in providing objective, high quality

research and information.The Clean Energy Research Centers

purpose is to evaluate, develop and promotedifferent forms of clean energy, includingbut not limited to hydrogen, fuel cells, solarenergy, and biomass utilization.The Power Center for Utility Explorationswas created to explore, comprehensively, allenergy related issues in renewable energy,

transmission, distribution and generationsystems.

LEEDing The Way in Green DesignUSFs major contribution to sustainability

has been its campus and building design.USF operates under an open network

system. What this system allows for is thepreservation of the Greenway, the open andnatural areas of the campus. Under the USF

Tampa Campus Master Plan, the universityimplemented a no net loss policy to ensurethat during campus development the effecton natural resources are researched and a

plan is incorporated to avoid any net loss("2010 Campus Master Plan At Tampa Data

Collection And Analysis"). Areas of thecampus like the Botanical Gardens sequestercarbon dioxide to offset the campusescarbon footprint. The campus plan also has

a goal of planting an additional 10,000 treesin the next five years. USF has used localflora and fauna to plant instead of choosing

invasive species or species that areconsidered unnatural and require wastefulupkeep ("2010 Campus Master Plan AtTampa Data Collection And Analysis"). The

plants and groundcover chosen for the

school is drought-resistant. Quads like theMarshall Student Center, the MLK Plaza,

and the Sessums Pedestrian Plaza werecreated in the hopes of increasing pedestrian

traffic among students and faculty anddecreasing the amount of vehicle activity.The university has not only made differenceswith just the open areas, but the buildings

too. One of the newest buildings and perhapsthe most green is the Patel Center forGlobal Solutions, which was opened in 2010(Chachere). This building is USFs first fully

sustainable building and houses the brandnew School of Global Sustainability(Chachere). The building includes recycled

steel countertops made of steel, resin, andglass, recycled carpeting, automatic toiletsthat flush with captured rainwater, automatic

lights, and tons of recycling bins (Chachere).The Patel Center for Global Solutions, theInterdisciplinary Sciences, and the Science

and Technology building were all recentlyawarded the LEED gold rating ("Universityof South Florida News"). LEED (Leadershipin Energy and Environmental Design) is a

voluntary program that provides a third-party verification of green buildings.

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http://news.usf.edu/


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This system takes into consideration the entirelifecycle of the building inside and out. Accordingto the LEED website, LEED-certified buildings

are designed to accomplish a variety of things

such as lower operating costs, reduce landfillwaste, conserve energy and water, provide a safer

and healthier building for occupants, and reduceharmful greenhouse gas emissions ("LEED"). TheLEED rating system consists of five main ratingcategories; sustainable sites credits, water

efficiency credits, energy and atmosphere credits,materials and resources credits, and indoorenvironmental quality credits ("LEED"). USFs

gold rated buildings scored all 40 credits that wereattempted ("University of South Florida News").USF is currently working on making all of their

building LEED-certified. Also, under the masterplan, all new construction is required to beLEED-certified ("2010 Campus Master Plan At

Tampa Data Collection And Analysis"). Duringthe recent renovation of the USF Sundome theconstruction company chose to recycle the oldmaterials, approximately 91.4%, and refinish

existing pieces like the flooring to cut out waste(Carney). On top of USFs green buildings is theefficient roofing that is currently being installed.

These roofs have a high insulation value and high

Solar Reflectivity Index of 94 ("Physical Plant").The higher the index numbers the cooler the

roofing stays to provide a more energy efficientbuilding. In the last three years, fifteen roofs havebeen replaced bringing the total to 411,000 squarefeet of green roofing ("Physical Plant").

RecyclingUSF has maintained an active recycling program

since 1994, and currently includes; mixed paper,aluminum cans, glass, plastics, mixed metals,yard debris, tree limbs, wooden waste, fluorescent

bulbs and fixture ballasts, and electronicequipment in its program. Mixed paper is definedas; office paper, newspapers, magazines and

cardboard(http://www.pplant.usf.edu/index.php/additional-information/sustainability-initiatives). Theprogram was originally initiated in 1990 and

limited only to the Tampa campussadministrative and academic buildings but hassince expanded.

Close to 2,000 office-sized yellow containershave been distributed throughout the campusand employees are responsible for emptying

these bins into one of the centrally located 64gallon containers for removal. 350 mixed

recycling bins for glass, plastic and aluminumcans have also been distributed in commonareas and more bins are planned (USF office ofSustainability).Based on information gathered from the Patel

College of Global Sustainability, USF recentlycompleted its first waste audit, and was able todetermine by review of actual receipts dated

between 1996 and 2007 that 9,700 tons ofmixed paper and 48 tons of aluminum havebeen recycled since the program began, and that

nearly 500 tons of mixed paper were recycled in2009 alone (Patel College of GlobalSustainability USF). Prior to 2009 it was

reported that 6,500 tons of paper and 44 tons ofaluminum had been recycled generating$140,000 and $35,000 in revenues respectively(USF office of Sustainability). Currently various

colleges, departments, and divisions overseetheir own electronic waste recycling (PatelCollege of Global Sustainability USF).

The purchasing department has received arequest to make sustainability an agenda item at

the inter-institutional committee on purchasingmeeting and is currently reviewing a new greenpurchasing directive. Some of the generalefforts that are underway include the purchase

of energy star rated computer equipment andflex fuel vehicles for the university fleet, whilemaintaining a high emphasis on sustainability

(Patel College of Global Sustainability USF). In2010 USF initiated a new no Styrofoampolicy in the dining halls. This new policyeliminated the use of disposable Styrofoam take

out containers, and replaced them with reusableplastic ones.

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Continued

Students can check out these containers for afour dollar deposit, and can have as many out atone time as they would like. They simply need to

return them for a refund of their original deposit.

This allows food services to eliminate campuswide waste (Logan and Rogers). Food services

have also implemented trayless dining to helpconserve both water and energy, at an estimated32,992 gallons of water per academic year (PatelCollege of Global Sustainability USF).

WaterIn 2011, USF teamed up with Southwest Florida

Water Management District, they collaborated tostart a campaign on conserving water on all USFcampuses. USF coordinates with the Florida

Department of Environmental Protection; theFDEP is in charge of issuing permits and theenforcement of the National Pollutant DischargeElimination System (NPDES). NPDES develops

storm water management programs that helpremove illicit discharges to MS4s, which reducespollutants in storm water runoff. MS4s are large

municipal separate storm systems located inincorporated counties. Currently, USF is part ofthe Phase 2 MS4 program (Office of

Sustainability). At first glance many would

believe that waterless urinals would be excellentfor theenvironment. There are several reasonswhy USF chose not to partake in waterless

urinals, for example; waterless urinals use a lotmore energy to operate than a standard urinal.Usage of more energy means these urinals have a

greater impact of pollution on the environment.Also, the creation of replacement cartridges forwaterless urinals uses dangerous oils and plastic,

these have a bad carbon footprint on theenvironment causing deadly toxins in the air andpollution. The used waterless urinals cartridges

are disposed of in a landfill or incinerated. Both ofthese actions have a negative effect on theenvironment (Office of Sustainability). To

purchase these replacement cartridges is a highercost than using water. After much research of thecost of well water, USF found that there is noeconomic benefit to using waterless urinals. If

USF were to use waterless urinals they would bepolluting the environment by the manufacturingand disposing of replacement cartridges, and it

will take more energy to run them, causing more

pollution.

USF has done a great job of water meteringand reduced water consumption. Motionsensing automatic flush valves and faucets

have been installed in most buildings on thecampuses. This is an excellent way to conserve

water and prevent waste. Water efficientshowerheads were donated by Tampa; theseshowerheads were installed in residencehallsto conserve water consumption.

USF ran a month long test by comparing waterconsumption from two identical resident halls.One hall had the water efficient showerheads,

and the other did not. The hall with the newshowerheads saved 7,000 fewer gallons than

the regular showerheads (Office ofSustainability: USF is going green). 7,000 less

gallons a month could result in theconservation of 84,000 gallons of water saved

each year(Office of Sustainability: USF isgoing green).Giant patches of land, like USF Gold Course,are watered by non-potable storm water. Agreat way to conserve water, instead of using

valuable well water, is to use non-potablestorm water is used. This also cuts down onthe energy needed to sanitize well water. Using

well water on so much grass is impractical andwasteful. USF has also adopted a low

maintenance xeriscaping landscape treatmentpolicy for new buildings and common areas.This policy only permits plants indigenous tothe community to be planted in on campuses

(Office of Sustainability). These plants requireless maintenance and use of chemicals, whichrun off and pollute water systems.

TransportationUSF has improved many of their campuses tobe more environmental friendly. Like any

other project, it has many steps to follow inorder to become greener. In this case USF hasa plan on reducing the emission of green housegasses by reducing the number of cars used

every day on campus. In addition to that, theyalso are providing the students with manydifferent options in order to get from one place

to the other without having to use their cars.


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Continued

The first step to reduce the emission of gassesis to have students not to drive their cars toschool. This is because when there are more

people driving from one place on campus to the

other, more contamination for the atmosphereis added. However, not every student of the

university lives on campus or in a place whereyou can get to school from a walking distance.Nevertheless, those who live on campus and

around it make up a big number of cars reducedin campus. The school, in order to reduce evenmore the amount of people driving, decided toimplement roads for walking but specially for

biking, therefore the students do not need towait for a bus or drive. In addition to beenvironmentally friendly, the students wont

have the need to look for parking drivingaround campus, they are not releasing gasses tothe atmosphere and specially, they are helping

the transportation system for the school. Also,the school has added bike racks on everybuilding for the safety and comfort of the

student. USF has added many different featureson campus so that students do not feel the needto leave school in the middle of the day. They

offer arcade, food services, trails with plenty oftrees for shade and housing.

The Patel College of Global Sustainability reportsimprovements in their bus system for the comfortof the students and to be less contaminant. Theyhave improved the routes of the busses and addeda few features so the students can plan their dayaccordingly to the bus schedule. Lets start bytalking about the (AVL) system; which stands forautomated vehicle locator. This allows thestudent to track the bus in real-time. So thestudent can plan their day and never be too earlyor a little bit late to catch the bus. In addition of

being able to see the times in real-life, the studentcan receive text messages with alerts on the busroute he/she desired to know about.Furthermore, the buses on campus run onbiodiesel, not all of them but at some time they allwill be using biodiesel. In addition to all thisamazing features added to the transportationsystem, riding the bus is 100% free for USFstudents. In addition to riding free on campus,they have also the benefit to ride free on the

Tampa bay and regional bus system (HART).

These busses are equipped with a train in thefront of the bus so the riders can transport theirbicycle in a safe and comfortable way. Parking atUSF has improved greatly in the past years until

now. Before the wait time to find a parking spoton campus was greater than now. USF hasimproved their parking system in order to havemore safety for the pedestrians, also to reduce the

heat islands ofparking. There have been a fewbuildings added for parking around campus so theidle time can be reduced, therefore lesscontamination is released. The buildings rangefrom four to seven floors and are more effectivethan parking lots in front of the buildings. Thesestructures are a great contribution to thesustainability plan that USF is trying to improve.

This is because a few factors. First, the studentswont be driving around looking to park, morespace is added to school so more plants and treescan be added for the pleasure of the sight and tohelp the environment in reduction of contaminangasses, and lastly, students find more comfortableto park in a building centered around campus sothe walking is less. However, not many peoplefind attractive to pay more than one hundreddollars every two semesters in order to be able topark on campus. This is somehow controversialbecause two different points of view from a recent

survey done by a student of the college ofengineering. First, it is very nice that buildings forcars help the mobilization of the car flow oncampus and therefore there is less idle time for thestudent and more safety for the pedestrian.Secondly, many students are not willing to paythat amount of money therefore they will useother forms of transportation, which can includecar-pooling or riding a bicycle, which asmentioned before, helps enormously theenvironment and reduces the flow of cars at theschool.

In addition to the transportation system forstudents, the university together with the Patelcollege of Global Sustainability has also added asystem for the employees. They have in one handa very high discount if the ride the bus everydayto school, which is only twenty-five cents for eachride. On the other hand, they have theconvenience to use golf cars inside campus fortransportation of different means. These golf carsare electric and gasoline powered.


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The University of South Florida is working hardon developing new golf cars that can run onsolar energy in order to reduce the emissions ofgasses from the fuel. The golf cars are availablefor USF faculty members in order to not haveregistered big vehicles around campus. The golfcars are different in sizes and they work veryefficiently to transport employees, supplies toevery building on campus and to move furniture.One day the electric cars and the gasoline-powered cars will be replaced by those that runonly on solar energy in order to reducepollution. In order to have full use of the golfcars, during nights the school hired a group ofstudents who take those studying until late at thelibrary to their cars, this improves security forstudents and helps to fully use the advantages ofthese cars. The University of South Florida hasdone and incredible job in helping students tobreath a cleaner air. Not only by reducing theemissions by also becoming a campus where

smokers can only smoke in designated areas.From public transportation to school faculty

transportation, the school has improved inevery single detail in order to help thecampus, and the world, be a better, more

environmentally friendly place to live andstudy. All the changes that the university has

done to the school help in the process of beinga greener campus.

New technologies have been added and

more access to them is getting easier day-by-day. One example is the electric carcharge station located at the USFSP

campus. This not only helps to charge yourcar for free but it also encourages studentswho can afford it to buy cars that help the

environment. The school is helping theworld in very different ways to be friendlierwith the environment; the next step is us,

the students, who are the ones who canmake a difference for us and future USFbulls that want a better place to fulfill their

dreams.

Student Initiatives

With the opening of the Office ofSustainability came student initiatives topromote follow through of thesustainability efforts. The Office of

Sustainability has four strategic goals tomeet their mission. The four strategicgoals are:

(Strategic Goal 1)

Strengthening and supporting integrated

and synergistic interdisciplinary researchacross disciplinary, departmental, collegeand campus boundaries.

Both the USF St. Petersburg

campus and the USF Tampa

campus have introduced the WeCar

Car Sharing program. This program

in collaboration with Enterprise

and the Center for Urban

Transportation Research has

created a way for students to get out

of the everyday car routine. This

program is open to students and

faculty 18 and over. The cars offer a

solution to student who live on

campus with no car, or those who

are too young to rent a car from a

normal car rental agency. All the

cars are fuel efficient and designed

to help with parking and

transportation issues that arise from

universities. There are currently

two vehicles at the St. Petersburg

campus and four cars at the Tampa

campus. Online reservations can be

made at www.carsharing.usf.edu

Spotlight: USF-WeCar Car Sharing Program

Continued

USF office of sustainabilit


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(Strategic Goal 2)

Building a sustainable campusenvironment at USF.

(Strategic Goal 3)

Constructing an up-to-dateclearinghouse of informationabout all the sustainability

engagement activities currentlyoccurring at USF andencouraging and rewarding

faculty, staff, and studentengagement in sustainabilityinitiatives.

(Strategic Goal 4)Creating a sustainableenvironment that supports anexpanded and improved

teaching and research mission,a more engaged residentialcommunity, and a university-

based global village ("Office ofSustainability").

In Fall 2010, StudentGovernment created a new

position, Chief SustainabilityOfficer. Also, the school hasmany student organizations.The Student EnvironmentalAssociation is a student run

organization founded in 2007("Office of Sustainability").Their mission is to educate the

community about theenvironment and worktowards making USF more

environmentally friendly. Thegroup meets every Mondayfrom 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

and helps with manycommunity volunteeractivities. Another group called

Students In Free Enterprise orSIFE is a global 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicatedto making a difference in the

community ("Office ofSustainability").

SIFE meets every Thursday at5:30 p.m. Students in FreeEnterprise is an organization that

is on over 1,500 college

campuses around the globe. AtUSF SIFE has created a project

called Refill-a-Bull whichstarted three years ago. Thestudents decided to help with the

problem of plastic water bottlesbeing thrown away. Theycreated an aluminum water

bottle that is sold for $5.00("SIFE at University of SouthFlorida"). The project didnt stop

there. The organization then

teamed up with the USFPhysical Plant to install over 62

water stations throughout thecampus for the bottles to berefilled ("SIFE at University of

South Florida In just eightmonths students saved over 1.2million plastic bottles from

being sent to a landfill ("SIFE atUniversity of South Florida").Emerging Green Builders is a

non-profit organization whosemission is to create a mutuallybeneficial relationship among

USF students, the Tampa Baycommunity, and local businessleaders in the area of green

building and sustainability("Office of Sustainability"). AtUSF St. Petersburg campus

students have created theStudent EnvironmentalAwareness Society or SEAS.

This organization is open toanyone including students,faculty, affiliates, and members

of the surrounding community("University of South Florida St.Petersburg).

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The State of Floridaprovided the project a grantand the U.S. Department of

Energy provided a $3.9

million grant for a thermalstorage system (Temple).

"When I looked into ourenergy needs, especially inthe future and looking at

limited energy resources, Icame to the conclusion solarenergy would have to play avery important role on our

energy needs," Goswamisaid. From that point on,my research has become

focused on solar energy(Temple).

The group promotes awareness ofenvironmental issues and taking stepstowards making a greener community,

campus, and world. SEAS meets at 10 a.m.

on the first Friday of every month to cleanup the harbor surrounding the campus

("University of South Florida St. PetersburgCampus").In 2008, the President of USF Judy Genshaft

signed the American College and UniversityPresidents Climate Commitment whichobligates USF Tampa to conduct an annualgreenhouse gas emissions inventory and

develop a long-term Climate Action Plan(CAP) to reduce and, eventually, eliminategreenhouse gas emissions from the Tampa

campus operations and infrastructure("Office of Sustainability"). When the Officeof Sustainability was created in 2009, they

created a Climate Action Plan and agreenhouse gas inventory ("Office ofSustainability"). The majority of greenhouse

gas emissions is due to the energyconsumption of the university. The CAPstates that energy consumption must be

reduced to lower greenhouse gas emissions.To better accomplish this goal, the Student

Green Energy Fee was created ("Office ofSustainability"). The fee is a nominal student

fee that is 0.58% undergraduate resident percredit hour and 0.27% graduate resident percredit hour. It is used to assist USF to

promote renewable energy technologies,reduce greenhouse gas emissions, saveenergy and reduce their energy cost ("Office

of Sustainability").

Faculty OutreachThe students arent the only ones who havebecome more involved, many facultymembers have made contributions as well. Agreat example is Professor Yogi Goswami.Dr. Goswami is the co-director of USFs

Clean Energy Research Center and theEditor in Chief of Solar Energy Journal(Temple). The professor and his team at theCollege of Engineering are building a solar

power plant at the USF Tampa campus.

Continued

www.acad.usf.edu


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Interview with Garrick Aden-Buie

Graduate Research Assistant

Office of Sustainability

Garrick Aden-Buie

1. What has USF done to improve sustainability?

USF has done quite a lot to move towards sustainability, such as installing solar panels, led lighting,motion sensors and light timers, implementing automatic hibernation for computers in the library andlabs, removing trays and Styrofoam from dining halls, and much much more. The best introduction tosustainability efforts on the USF Tampa Campus is in our most recent ACUPCC Climate Action PlanProgress Report, which is located at http://rs.acupcc.org/progress/780/ under "General Statement ofProgress"

2. Has/how has your department been involved in that process?

From http://psgs.usf.edu/office-of-sustainability:

The Office of Sustainability coordinates and builds partnerships for university-wide initiatives thatadvance the University of South Floridas strategic goal of creating a sustainable campus environment.To accomplish this mission, we actively support faculty, staff, students, alumni, and neighborhoodpartners in their efforts to transform the University of South Florida into a Green University, wheredecisions structural and routine consider both individual and collective impacts to our campus,

community, economy, and environment. As citizen-scholar activists, we share a sustainability ethicthat promotes conserving resources, reducing waste, recycling and reusing materials, finding newsources of clean energy, increasing energy efficiency, and diminishing life-cycle impacts and ourconsumption of greenhouse gas producing materials. We engage in this ethic of stewardship to guidethe development and implementation of programs, policies, and other courses of action in the operationand management of the University of South Florida system as well as its institutional teaching,research, and service commitments.

3. How much money do you think USF should put towards sustainability and green efforts?

I think that sustainability and green efforts are worth the investment in the long term, provided theinvestments allow USF and its campus users to consume less energy (and less fossil fuel based energy)and produce less waste.

4. Are there any student organizations working towards a greener campus on future?

There are several student organizations working towards a more sustainable campus, most of whom arelisted here: http://psgs.usf.edu/usf-office-of-sustainability/initiatives/student-initiatives/


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5. Is USF doing anything to involve the

community in their sustainability efforts?

USF works hard to engage the local, state andregional community in their sustainability efforts.To name a few, we are involved in Clean CitiesTampa Bay and Resilient Tampa Bay. You canfind out more about our community engagementinitiatives at http://psgs.usf.edu/patel-center/

6. Why do you personally believe that

becoming a greener or more sustainable campus

is or is not important?

Personally, I believe that being more sustainable ishighly important given the constraints of ourplanet and the current growth rates of populationsand cities. I believe that innovation will rise to thechallenges of the future, after all humans arehighly resilient. But what we are starting to seeeven now is that sustainability isn't the same asausterity and that when given a choice, smart,intelligent, creative, innovative people arechoosing more and more to live in cities and placesthat focus on sustainable ideas, like walkability,

public transportation, etc. Ultimately,sustainability is a people- and place-centereddesign choice, and the cities that choose to makesustainability a focus are really choosingto make the people and places in and around thatcity the focus. As a university and a small city ofsorts, we should strive to be at the forefront of thisinnovation, and we should work to attract as manyintelligent, innovative scholars, students andthinkers to be a part of our community.

usfunplugged.wordpress.com


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Office of Sustainability: USF is going greenDigital bullpen. Web. 18 March 2013.

http://digitalbullpen.com/2011/12/09/office-of-sustainability-usf-is-going-green/

This first source explains the firsts steps taken by the president of the University of South Florida and other oher employees. Here we can get a broad explanation on how the university started to implement thereduction of the green house gas emissions. With the support from the students of both campuses, USFTampa and USFSP, a bill was created where students collaborate with their tuition money to increase the

budget for future green technologies for a greener campus.

LEED. University of South Florida. Web. 18 March 2013

This article contains information on how the university has been acquiring new technologies regarding toreduce gas emissions. As an example, this source explains how there were two stations to charge electric carinstalled on USFSP. In addition, this source provides information about how the USFSP obtained the LEEDcertification. It explains how the university achieved this great accomplishment and how it is on the progreson becoming even greener and more sustainable.

The Office of Sustainability. Patel College of Global Sustainability. USF. Web 19 March 2013.

This website is probably the most complete and informative source that we have found as of now. Here iswhere they explain the steps taken to be where we are now in terms of being green. This office is where mosof the planning and decision-making is done, because they fund big in the school. This source shows us howthey help to get faculty and students together in order to make green decisions for the campus. In the websitethey have divided into categories what they are trying to accomplish and from the different departments. Inaddition, it gives information on the development of becoming greener from the different areas: Recycling,water, transportation, green buildings and more.

Office of the Provost and Executive President Sustain-a-Bull. USF. Web 19 Match 2013.

This website from USF is a very good source to find out about details on the projects. Here we can findinformation such as the budget for the different colleges around USF. In addition, it informs the readers onwhat has the money been spent into. In addition to that information, it keeps reports on what happensaround the Tampa bay area that can affect the University of South Florida. It has not too much articles to

base a project as a whole, but has some very valuable information that can be crucial for the white paper.

Greenhouse Gas Inventory Greenhouse Gas Subcommittee . USF. Web 19 March 2013.

Bibliography


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This is an article that is very informative about the greenhouse effects and how USF committed to helpreduced them. In this article, it explains how the president of USF signed the climate commitment in order tstart a new green era for USF. What makes this article very helpful is that it has actual information about thamount of gases emitted to the atmosphere. It also includes valuable information about the money that has

been spending USF. In addition to that, it contains information of what the different structures need to bemore sustainable. We can also gather information about the quantity of students and how big numbers affec

the school in different areas. This source is a great cluster of information that is very valuable for the GreenTeam research.

Stars, a Program of AASHE University of South Florida Score Card. Web 19 March 2013

This website is an amazing source of detailed information about what the University of South Florida hasdone to be awarded with the LEED certification. This source has detailed information of what has theuniversity incorporated in every single building. Especially the intelligent building that acquired the principacertification. It has a great amount of valuable information such as reports before and after the projects,

course inventories, and the future projects the university is working on. Furthermore it informs the readers othe type of certifications the university obtained and the ones they are working on. Also, the source explainswhat are the steps the school is taking in order to achieve such certifications.

http://www.pplant.usf.edu/index.php/additional-information/sustainability-initiatives

Active recycling program since 1994. Currently recycles mixed paper (office paper, newspaper, magazinesand cardboard), aluminum cans, glass and plastics, mixed metals, yard debris, tree limbs and wooden wastefluorescent bulbs and fixture ballasts, and electronic equipment.Since inception over 7100 tons of paper, 48 tons of aluminumOperates a community recycling site in conjunction with the city of Tampa on USF Sycamore Drive.

http://www.pplant.usf.edu/pdf/USFPPlantRecyclingPresentation.pdf

Originally initiated in 1990 and limited to the Tampa campus administrative and academic buildings.Distributed 2,000 small office size yellow containers, transferred to centrally located 64 gallon containers onmost floors for removal.350 mixed recycling bins in common areas for glass plastic and aluminum cans.Community recycling station available to individuals where no recycling pick up is available, operates at nocost to USF6500 tons of paper recycled to generate $140,000 in revenues44 tons of aluminum recycled to generate $35,000 in revenues.


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http://psgs.usf.edu/usf-office-of-sustainability/initiatives/recycling/

The purchasing department is reviewing a green purchasing directive. General efforts underway Energy stcomputer equipment, flex fuel fleet purchases, and emphasis on sustainability.USF completed its first waste audit and found 9700 tons of mixed paper and 48 tons of aluminum recycledsince the program began based on actual receipts from 1996-2007.500 tons of mixed paper in 2009 alone.

Various colleges, departments, and divisions oversee their own electronic waste recycling.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_tampa/usf-is-taking-green-to-a-whole-new-level,-out-with-styrofoam,-in-with-reusable-to-go-boxes

In 2010 USF initiated a no Styrofoam policy, which was met with wide student acceptance. Styrofoam to-go containers were replaced by hard plastic containers that can be checked out for a $4 deposit. Studentscan have as many out at one time as they want and they can be returned for a refund of their deposit at anytime. This allows the food services to help eliminate campus wide waste.



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The Office of Sustainability. Patel College of Global Sustainability. USF. Web 19 March2013.

Office of Sustainability: USF is going green. Haley Radeka. The Digital Bullpen. USF. Web09 December 2011.

LEED. University of South Florida. Web. 18 March 2013http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/tag/leed/

Office of the Provost and Executive President Sustain-a-Bull. USF. Web 19 Match 2013.

http://www.acad.usf.edu/Office/Strategic-Initiatives/Sustain-A-Bull-USF.htm

Stars, a Program of AASHE University of South Florida Score Card. Web 19 March 2013

https://stars.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-south-florida-fl/report/2011-01-28/1/1/8/

Greenhouse Gas Inventory Greenhouse Gas Subcommittee . USF. Web 19 March 2013.

http://www.acad.usf.edu/Office/Strategic-Initiatives/docs/USF-Greenhouse-Gas-Inventory.pdf

"Web Ecoist." A Brief History of the Modern Green Movement in America. Atomic Online,n.d. Web. 27 Mar 2013. .

"2010 Campus Master Plan At Tampa Data Collection And Analysis." . University of SouthFlorida, 03 Mar 2011. Web. 3 Apr 2013. .

"Physical Plant." Physical Plant Sustainability and Energy Conservation. University of SouthFlorida, n.d. Web. 3 Apr 2013. .

Chachere, Vickie. "University of South Florida News.""Green" Patel Center Opens at USF.University of South Florida, 21 Jan 2010. Web. 3 Apr 2013..

Works Cited


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"University of South Florida News." Gold Standard. University of South Florida, 27 Feb 2012. Web. 3 Apr2013. .

"LEED." LEED. U.S. Green Building Council, n.d. Web. 3 Apr 2013. .

Carney, Ann. "USF Magazine." Sustainability: Sustainable Renovation. University of South Florida, n.d.Web. 3 Apr 2013.


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USF office of Sustainability. http://www.pplant.usf.edu/pdf/USFPPlantRecyclingPresentation.pdf. n.d. PDF

Document. 24 March 2013.

Photo Citations:

2013. Photograph. University of South Florida, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013. .

2011. Photograph. Florida High Tech, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013. .

2013. Photograph. Tumblr, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013..

2013. Photograph. USF Office of Sustainability, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013. .

2010. Photograph. University of South Florida, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013..

2013. Photograph. USF St. Peterburg, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013..

2013. Photograph. Facebook, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013. .

2003. Photograph. James Madison UniversityWeb. 3 Apr 2013..




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2007. Photograph. Community Mobilization, Tampa. Web. 3 Apr 2013..

Andrew Baz . Recycling in Adelaide." [Online image] 03 April 2013..

usfunplugged. "Be our Sustain-abila-buddy!!!." [Online image] 03 April 2013..


The Green Team

Msl.cas.usf.edu

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