PLAYgreen

RSF Garage Gets Lighting Upgrade

Newer, brighter, more efficient lighting (left).  Older, darker, less efficient light (right)

The lighting in the RSF Parking Garage is being replaced with energy-efficient fixtures that will reduce energy consumption, save the campus money, and make the garage a brighter place.

The new fluorescent lighting being installed will use half the electricity of the existing lighting, saving the campus about $10,000 per year. The total cost of the project -- funded entirely by our friends at the campus department of Parking & Transportation -- is $72,000; and with a $24,000 rebate from PG&E, the project will pay for itself in less than five years.  A very nice return on investment.

The total savings in energy consumption is estimated at 100,000 kWh per year.  What does that mean? According to PG&E's Carbon Footprint Calculator, a typical residential customer uses about 6,480 kWh of electricity per year, so the savings are equivalent to the electricity used to heat about 15 homes for a year!

The new lamps provide brighter illumination (see photo camparison above) than the creepy orange light from the existing fixtures. The improved quality of the light contributes to safety in the garage.

Construction is scheduled to be complete by the end of November, so please drive slowly, respect temporary detour signs and traffic barricades, and keep an eye out for the workers. The safety of everyone using the garage is important.

Rec Sports would like to pass a big thank you on to the folks at UC Berkeley’s Campus Energy Efficiency Program (part of Capital Projects) and to the Department of Parking and Transportation for making this fantastic project happen.

Questions or concerns about this project should be addressed to UC Berkeley Capital Project at 510 643-4793.

Pool Cover at Hearst Means Big Energy Savings

Rec Sports has purchased and installed a pool cover for the Hearst pool.  At first blush this doesn’t sound like much to celebrate, but if you look a bit deeper you’ll see that this pool cover will save an estimated 12,000 therms of natural gas per year.  To put that in perspective, PG&E says that the average residential customer in the Bay Area uses about 400 therms a year. This means that the energy we save by using the pool cover is equivalent to the energy used to heat 30 homes for a year!  In terms of pollution, these savings are equivalent to avoiding 60 tons of greenhouse gases each year.

And the double bonus is that it will save Rec Sports – and the campus – some serious coin.  The total project cost was about $19,000, but PG&E offers a $1 rebate for every therm saved. This means we got a $12,000 rebate on the original cost.  What’s even better, the savings will continue year after year: based on current energy prices, this pool cover will save us about $8,900 each year. Even before the first year is over, our savings will completely pay for the pool cover!  And BTW, we already have pool covers in use at Strawberry and Golden Bear pools.  

Thank you to the folks at UC Berkeley’s Campus Energy Efficiency Program (part of Capital Projects) and everyone who helped make this project possible. To learn about other Rec Sports Green projects visit the What We’re Doing section of the Playgreen Blog.

RSF Garage to Get CO Sensors; Saves Energy & Money!

 

The RSF garage is about to become a much more energy efficient place.  Energy saving Carbon monoxide (CO) sensors are being installed throughout the garage.  The sensors will control the six exhaust fans in the garage, which currently run 24/7 -- by law a parking garage must exhaust CO once levels rise above a specified amount, if a garage does not have a reliable way to monitor the CO levels -- and the RSF currently does not -- it must exhaust the air 24/7 as a precaution.  According to our energy consultant, after we install the CO sensors the fans may only need to run 1 or 2 hours a day, greatly reducing the amount of electricity used to power the fans.

Saves Energy and Money

Running the fans only when needed is expected to save around 154,000 kwh's per year.  According to the US Department of Energy, the average U.S. household uses 11,040 kwh's per year.  So this change would save an amount of electricity equivalent to the electricity used in about 14 homes per year!  The expected total dollar savings each year is $17,000.  Rec Sports pays 60% of the electricity used in the garage, Parking & Transportation picks up the other 40%.  So that's a $10,200 savings on the Rec Sports side. 

Cost of the Project

The total cost of the project, funded by Parking & Transportation, will be $65,000, but the university will get a $40,000 PG&E rebate, bringing the total cost to $25,000.  With a yearly savings of $17,000,  the entire cost of the project will pay for itself in 1.5 years.  A great win for Rec Sports, Parking & Transportation, the University, and the planet!

 

 

 

Image: RSF Garage Vents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greener Towels at the RSF

We wash a lot of towels here at the RSF -- as many as 13,000 towels per week and 50 loads of wash each day. That requires quite a bit of water. To help reduce the eco impact of this process, we've switched to a detergent by Vaska, a Berkeley based company that produces an eco-friendly herbal detergent free of harmful chemicals. Vaska's detergents, recently awarded “champion” status under the EPA’s Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative, break down quickly to non-polluting compounds to help protect aquatic life in both fresh and salt water.

Saves Water and Energy Too

And that's not all. Because Vaska is herbal based, it requires fewer rinse cycles than chemical-based detergents, greatly reducing the amount of water (and energy) needed to clean our towels.  Vaska estimates that this will save over 100,000 gallons of water per year, per machine. And we have four machines -- that's over 400,000 gallons per year!

Does it Clean Like Chems?

You're probably wondering, "but does it clean as well as chemical-based detergents?" The San Francisco Giants  think so -- they've been using Vaska to clean grass and infield-stained uniforms since last year.  And we just learned that the SF production of the hit musical Wicked uses it too -- apparently Elphaba's (the wicked witch of the west) green makeup stains her wardrobe something fierce, but Vaska gets it clean.

 

More about Vaska.

PLAYgreen Festival II

 

All of our attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and volunteers made the PLAYgreen Festival a great success. We thank you!

Please enjoy the slide show of all the fun we had together.

PLAYgreen Festival II - Save the Date!

PLAYgreen II Join us for the Bay Area's premier eco-experiential event, where you'll experience and learn how to play, work and live a greener lifestyle, will be held on Friday, February 26, 2010 in the Pauley Ball Room on the UC Berkeley campus.  Join thousands of UC Berkeley students, campus and community supporters as they touch, taste, feel, experience and learn about the latest products, fashions, technologies, services, sounds, cuisines and career opportunities from the very best local and national eco-friendly companies. Hosted by Cal Recreational Sports, admission to the ultimate eco-experiential festival is FREE! Join the Facebook fan page or follow us on Twitter

RSF Electricity Use Dips Below 1989 Levels

 

We're pleased to report that despite increasing our open hours over the last few years, electricity use at the RSF has dipped to 17.2% below 1989/90 levels. How have we done it?  The biggest savings have come from our lighting project. Throughout the RSF, existing light fixtures have been replaced with high efficiency, high output fluorescent lamps and transformers. This has been done in the field house, combatives room, weight rooms, blue gym, gold gym and the upstairs racquet courts.  All are equipped  with occupancy sensors so that lights automatically switch off when an area has been unoccupied for 20 minutes. 

The energy savings from this project are 252,000 kW-hours of electricity per year, for an estimated cost saving of $25,000. The total cost for the RSF Lighting Improvement Project is estimated to be $114,000, but 80% of that amount will be paid through a grant from PG&E. Thus, the RSF’s net cost is $23,000. So based on the energy savings, plus the PG&E grant, the project will pay for itself in less than one year.

We also shifted our 5 all-night custodians to day shifts. This improves the quality of life for our employees -- who now get home earlier to their families -- and also saves a ton of electricity. Now, all lights are out soon after we close, instead of burning all night long. This simple change saves nearly one month’s worth of electricity each year (about 10% of our total electricity use). 

Do you have an energy saving idea that you'd like to share with us?  Please send them to us at rsweb@berkeley.edu.

5 UC Berkeley Students Win Clinton Global Initiative Award

Clinton Global Initiative University Announces Doug DeRoy, Kevin Hur, Jonathan Lee, Richard Novak, and Anurag Sridharan of the University of California-Berkeley as 2009 Winners of CGI U Outstanding Commitment Awards.

“CGI U offers college students a space to create positive change in local communities or on a global scale,” said Robert Harrison, CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).  “Funding provided by the Pat Tillman Foundation and the Wal-Mart Foundation for the Outstanding Commitment Awards will ensure that these exceptional commitments are able to achieve the impact these extraordinary students have envisioned.”  

 

Through grants from the Pat Tillman Foundation and the Wal-Mart Foundation, winners will receive funding to advance their CGI U Commitments to Action: new, specific, and measurable plans launched through CGI U to address a global challenge of the winning commitment maker’s choosing.  The CGI U Outstanding Commitment Awards are designed to support unique, meaningful work that creates lasting and positive social change, most notably within CGI U’s focus areas – energy and climate change, global health, human rights and peace, and poverty alleviation.  The awards recognize students and student organizations from a wide variety of graduate schools, historically black colleges, Ivy League institutions, religious and tribal universities, and state schools. 

Here's what they plan to do:

Doug DeRoy plans to design and implement low-cost, practical, and self-sustaining student vegetable garden programs in a pilot test of 10 selected California public schools, with an emphasis on underserved areas.

DeRoy will create programs that foster a fun, experiential learning environment to engage students in the entire process of growing their own food. He will design three general program models: one for elementary (K-5), one for middle (6-8), and another for high school (9-12) applications. Then, he will solicit his program models to public schools throughout California, with an emphasis on those in underserved areas. Out of those solicited, he will select a pilot group of ten schools – based on faculty interest, need, logistical feasibility, and other factors – to participate in his project. 

Unlike most student garden programs, DeRoy’s focuses on under-served areas, instead of wealthier communities. His goal is to demonstrate that with small funds, a team can implement a practical, hands-on, and self-sustainable student garden.   

Kevin Hur commits to combating Hepatitis B, a major health issue, within San Francisco’s Asian Pacific Islander community. 

Hepatitis B significantly affects Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) more than any other population and yet little progress has been made to screen and vaccinate APIs in counties that have a high percentage of APIs, such as Alameda County, California. 

Hur will employ a three-part strategy that includes targeted outreach education about Hepatitis B to the API population; screenings and vaccinations provided by health professionals and free clinics; and establishment of stronger ties between the API community and existing health services within the county.  

Jonathan Lee accepts the award on behalf of Global Medical Brigades-Berkeley.  Led by University of California Berkeley undergraduates, Global Medical Brigades-Berkeley commits to developing a comprehensive community health worker training program in the region of Honduras.  

In settings deprived of healthcare infrastructure, community health workers extend access to basic health services by diagnosing, treating and referring patients, as well as delivering medical interventions. Jonathan Lee and team aim to create a sustainable model for healthcare through the empowerment of individuals as community health workers (CHWs). By serving as CHWs, community members directly contribute to the establishment of a primary healthcare foundation and become active participants in managing their health. Partnerships will be developed between CHWs and distant health centers, and a community-wide health promotion program will be offered to educate individuals on hygiene, sanitation and household water treatment. In order to implement the recommended strategies, hygiene resources and materials will be distributed to community members.  

Over the period of one year, health programs will be conducted in 50 rural communities, resulting in over 35,000 individuals gaining the capacity to better manage their health. By investment in the human capital of CHWs, this commitment ensures continual access to medical services and transfers responsibility from NGOs to the communities themselves. 

 

 Richard Novak accepts the award on behalf of Future Scientist.  Future Scientist, a student group from the University of California-Berkeley, plans to develop a solar energy electrical system for an orphanage in Puerto Alegria, Peru. 

Their goal is to provide the initial resources to an impoverished community that will enable them to become a focus of technical expertise that nearby communities can utilize. 

This project will provide the area with clean, off-grid power, unlike the gas generator currently in use.  Students will learn to maintain and develop solar panel systems at a level that will permit self-reliance. This team also plans to train the community so that they could start a solar business, if they so desire. 

Anurag Sridharan accepts the  behalf of Berkeley Green Home.   Berkeley Green Home is a University of California-Berkeley student-initiated and student-run project that is developed to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on existing housing lots for the UC Berkeley community.  

Accessory dwelling units, also known as backyard homes, have long been built and used by homeowners throughout the United States and are well-represented in the Berkeley community. This team proposes to take this existing platform and make it highly energy efficient and a healthy living environment through a sustainable construction process that involves off-site pre-construction of building panels and subassemblies with rapid onsite final assembly.   

Once construction is complete, ongoing testing and monitoring will be conducted to record the impacts of the incorporated technologies. They will coordinate with on-campus courses to present findings to interested students and community members, record potential improvements and offer a real life setting for future generations of students to advance this environmental initiative even further. 

About Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U)  

CGI U, a project of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), challenges college students and universities to address global problems with practical, innovative solutions. At CGI U, young people and universities do more than simply discuss the world’s challenges – they take real, concrete steps towards solving them. To date, 1,700 commitments have been made by students, universities, and youth organizations.

 

 

Take the RSF Energy Survey

Rec Sports has partnered with the Mechanical Engineering department to research energy use at the RSF. We've done quite a bit already to reduce energy use at the RSF; most notable is the switch to more efficient – but brighter! – lights throughout the facility. See our blog posting for more on this.

One goal of our partnership with Mechanical Engineering is to discover further energy saving technologies that could be applied to the RSF.  To this end, researchers would like to better understand how you perceive the amount of energy used by our cardio machines, and how your use of these machines might change if some of the energy generated could be captured and applied back to the energy grid.

Please help us out and take the survey!

 

Help Clean the Scene

Make a Difference in Berkeley on September 19 at Coastal Clean-up Day 

Here in California, we pride ourselves on our breathtaking coastline and beaches. Unfortunately, our beaches are very polluted and often are cluttered with trash and litter. Pointless pollution is harmful to the coastal ecosystem and to public health. Here's why:

• contaminates drinking water and waterways,
• closes beaches and shellfish beds,
• causes algal blooms which can lead to fish kills,
• contaminates sediments in waterways,
• adversely affects the life cycles of aquatic organisms,
• can lead to public health risks and fish consumption advisories for humans, and
• endangers wildlife through ingestion of and entanglement with litter.

According the the Natural Resources Defense Council, "in 2008, beach pollution prompted 20,341 closing and swimming advisory days at ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches." Yuck!  In order to make the beaches and coastline in our community happy and healthier, we invite you to come help clean the scene in Berkeley. 

International Coast Clean-up is a one day world-wide event and will be held on September 19, 2009. 

There will be 8 sites this year in Berkeley and you can register through the Berkeley Marina Shorebird Nature Center

 

Out of town on the 19? Click here for volunteer opportunities across the state. 

Source: "Non-point Source or Pointless Polltion," www.cleanoceanaction.org