10x12 Program:
Spring Quarter 2011 News
Spring 2011
10 x 12 Program launched to reduce water, gas,
electricity consumption by 10 percent by 2012
In the first five months of the 10x12 pilot, electricity consumption reduced to below baseline average levels in three of the four pilot buildings.
Participating departments were offered 25% of up to a 10% utilities reduction, as an initial incentive to promote conservation and waste reduction actions. The Office of Sustainability and Facilities Management awarded a total of $1,790 in utilities rebates. The rebate, symbolized by a "giant Check" signed by Rich Van Den Hul, WWU Vice President for Business & Financial Affairs, was divided among the six academic departments in the successful buildings.
Utilities rebates to participating departments were offered during Phase 1 of the pilot 10x12 program. In Phase 1, departments agreed to support a volunteer departmental conservation coordinator; participate in department energy, and waste self-assessments, and implement department projects and conservation and waste reduction reminders and encouragement.
The greatest reduction was accomplished in the Biology building. Biology department conservation co-coordinators Kendra Bradford, Peter Thut, and Mary Ann Merrill assessed autoclave electricity use, monitored fume hood fan sashes, and implemented a program to compost non-toxic bio-lab wastes, including paper towels. The 10x12 program purchased small waste bins compostable trash bags, designed and printed bin labels for compostable lab waste collection and arranged for an SSC Food Plus toter to be placed on the biology Dock. Biology lab monitors remove compostable waste after each lab and place it in the toter, where it is picked up by SSC, the university waste disposal service provider. Biology staff and faculty also separate food scraps and compostable food wrappings and containers, and place this material in the separate compostables container. These efforts resulted in a 30% reduction in landfill waste pick-up costs for the Biology building.
Biology staff also implemented a system for monitoring lab fume hoods to ensure the sashes are not left open when the lab is not in use. Lab fume hood fans are typically large users of energy, and air movement through sashes can also result in increased building heating costs, during the winter months. The Biology building showed the greatest electricity reduction of the 10x12 buildings during the first 5 months of the project, reducing electricity consumption by 5% and heating by 6%, averaged for January through May, 2011.