What We're Doing

Climate Neutrality

10x10 Initiative

 

Western Washington University
10 x 10 Campaign
For Ecology, Equity, Economy and Health

The “10 x10 Campaign” is a university-wide, department-focused effort to reduce utility use across campus and conserve university funds through sustainability education, utility monitoring, improved building performance and monetary incentives. The 10x10 Initiative pilot program began Fall Quarter 2009 and includes Arntzen Hall, Parks Hall, and the Biology/Chemistry buildings.  Colleges participating in this pilot project include the College of Business and Economics, the College of Humanities, Huxley College of the Environment and the College of Science and Technology.

The goal of utility conservation at WWU is driven by three major factors. First is our commitment to sustainability in the WWU Strategic Plan. This document states that the sustainability of our campus operations are a core component of WWU. Secondly, WWU’s signing of the President’s Climate Commitment requires us to develop and execute a plan to achieve and sustain climate neutrality. Conservation behaviors that avoid CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions are the preferred method for reducing our impact on the global climate. Finally, the goal of reaching a 10% cutback in utility use in participating buildings will have a dramatic effect on the utility expenditures in the areas of electricity, natural gas, solid waste and water use. Recent budget shortfalls further emphasize the need to conserve university resources.

The 10x10 campaign will implement conservation measures to embark the university on a path to realize a 10% reduction in utility consumption in participating buildings by the end of 2010. Four core strategies for achieving this goal are sustainability education, improved building performance, utility monitoring, and monetary incentives.

  • Sustainability Education will take place through a proposed “Departmental Sustainability Coordinator Program.”  Participating departments will appoint a “Departmental Sustainability Coordinator” (DSC) who will learn conservation practices from the DSC Program Coordinator, an Office of Sustainability staff member. DSC’s will become the local sustainability representative for their department, focusing on behavior change and creating support for sustainability initiatives through education, monitoring and feedback. DSCs will work to spread a message of conservation and, in as little as 2-4 work hours per month, take practical steps to save resources by:

  • Acting as early sustainability adopters
  • Modeling new behaviors
  • Helping colleagues understand the impacts of their daily activities
  • Identifying more sustainable alternatives
  • Offering tools to make sustainability possible

    This framework has been used with great success in WWU residence halls through the “Go For the Green” program. Local student representatives, or “EcoReps,” have encouraged a 10 to 20% reduction in electricity use in WWU residence hall through behavior change alone. The DSC program will affect not only departmental electricity use, but natural gas & water use, and landfill waste generation as well, all aspects of WWU’s multi-million dollar utility expenditures. DSCs will act as conservation educators as well as liaisons between their department and the Office of Sustainability to allow for program monitoring and publicizing of successes. The Departmental Sustainability Coordinator Program structure is modeled after a similar initiative at the University of British Columbia which has been implemented in over 300 departments since 1998. Individals wanting to participate in the DSC program should email the 10x10 Campaign Coordinator.
  • Improved Building Performance through efficiency measures in heating, ventilation and cooling could have a dramatic impact on energy use. As much at 60% of a building’s energy use is from base load alone; these are energy uses that take place regardless of occupancy or time of day. A minimal “2 Degree Turndown” of heating steam use in campus buildings would create large savings to the university. Maximizing the efficiency of existing systems in WWU buildings will emerge from weekly communication between building mechanics and building occupants through the DSCs, both of which are working to get the most out of our utility expenditures while monitoring occupant comfort.

  • Utility Monitoring will be provided on a building-by-building basis to DSC’s through Facilities Management building data and the DSC Program Coordinator. Regular and accessible updates on building utility use are key for assessing program success for DSC’s, the DSC Program Coordinator and Facilities Management building mechanics. Recent advances in utility monitoring for specific WWU buildings will allow for instantaneous feedback on systemic building operations, a must for maximizing building performance. Feedback on utility use for specific building will also take place through a portal on the Office of Sustainability website.

  • Monetary Incentives will come in the form of a “kickback” to participating departments. Each area will be provided a portion of the quarterly “avoided cost” for each utility use based on comparison to a baseline, three-year average. Three quarters of the savings in each building will return to the university budget.