SUSTAINABILITY REPORT COMPILED BY GEORGIA HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE (aka, “The Green Team”) January 2012 (03132012) Sustainability Committee Sponsor: Mr. Phil Howard 1120 15TH Street, Augusta, Ga. 30912 Tel: 706‐721‐0909 Fax: 706‐721‐0107 www.georgiahealth.edu/green
FY11 Annual SUMMARY This report highlights specific actions taken to advance sustainability across the enterprise and throughout the surrounding community. It includes some metrics and we are working to gather more in the coming year. The organization of a Sustainability Committee, now known as The Green Team, was the first step in developing an organized effort to make sustainability a habit in our daily practices, processes, procedures and decisions, both at home and work. The Green Team was formed in December 2011 and continues to work to get better organized and become more recognized through move results and better communications. Mission To develop, promote and implement a responsible sustainability program incorporating appropriate environmental stewardship and practices to meet the needs of GHSU, GHSU Health System and our community.
RESPONSIBILITY GHSU as an enterprise plays a critical role in the community, state and the nation as a center for research, patient care, employment, and education. The enterprise accepts its responsibility to reinforce the vision of sustainability throughout the enterprise and community. This responsibility can be demonstrated most visibly through actions taken to maintain a healthy work environment, create opportunities for education and awareness, and encourage the consideration of sustainability in our personal and professional lives on a daily basis as GHSU strives to become a leader in sustainability. The Team's responsibilities include:
Determine and promote the implementation of practical ways to foster sustainability. Establish metrics for quantifying, benchmarking, and prioritizing sustainability initiatives for The Enterprise. Develop tools and incentives that will make the sustainable choice the best choice. Communicate and promote sustainability accomplishments both internally and externally. Sponsor green events on campus.
The Green Team consists of co‐chairs and several workgroups. Each workgroup focuses on specific areas of sustainability and has been active in assessing where we are today and Sustainability Committee Sponsor: Mr. Phil Howard 1120 15TH Street, Augusta, Ga. 30912 Tel: 706‐721‐0909 Fax: 706‐721‐0107 www.georgiahealth.edu/green
developing objectives to get us to the point where sustainability is incorporated into who we are. The workgroup are shown below: 1. Education and Awareness – This workgroup is responsible for creating opportunities and materials for the purpose of educating and making us more aware of how we can have a positive impact on our environment, in both our personal and work environments. 2. Recycling – This workgroup is responsible for diverting materials towards reuse, repurpose and recycle and away from the landfill. 3. Purchasing – This workgroup is responsible for developing guidance that will assist decision makers with their purchase of goods and services that has the best positive impact on the environment. 4. Facilities and Utilities – This workgroup is responsible for looking for opportunities to enhance our environment in renovation, construction, repair and maintenance, and operation of our physical facilities. 5. Environmental – This workgroup is responsible for identifying how we can improve our indoor and outdoor air quality.
FY 11 Accomplishments 1. Earth Day – The event was held on April 22, 2011. Each year Earth Day serves as a reminder of the value of natural resources and how a vibrant community can foster long and meaningful changes to the way we interact with our environment. Starting with its first annual event, the enterprise embraced Earth Day as a way of connecting the campus and community through a shared vision of sustainability. The event facilitated sustainable education through a series displays, demonstrations and hands on opportunities of sustainability activities which included participants from across the campus and the community. The event included approximately 300 guests and vendors, hosted games, raffles, provided community education and tips, and opportunities to drop off recyclables. Earth Day can become a great point of visibility and collaboration for GHSU and the community. 2. Bike to Work ‐ The event was held on May 18, 2011 and approximately 25 employees biked to work from 3 different locations – The Hill, Columbia County and North Augusta. 3. Website ‐ The Green Team website is a work in progress and is located at http://www.georgiahealth.edu/green/index.html. It was created as an avenue to provide education and awareness opportunities, but also as a means of communications.
Sustainability Committee Sponsor: Mr. Phil Howard 1120 15TH Street, Augusta, Ga. 30912 Tel: 706‐721‐0909 Fax: 706‐721‐0107 www.georgiahealth.edu/green
4. Precycle ‐ The event was held on September 14, 2011 as an opportunity to redistribute office supplies at no cost to other departments that were no longer of use to the owner. This resulted in departments gaining needed supplies at no cost, but also diverted numerous supplies from the landfill. There were 5 locations for the collection and distribution of these supplies. 5. Recycling a. Established centralized re‐cycling locations for materials such as cardboard, metals, chemicals, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, mercury containing devices, etc. b. Quantified costs of recycling across the enterprise for plastics and aluminum. Although a formal program has not been established due to cost, there have been numerous requests to recycle these items and some departments have taken it upon themselves to begin recycling in their respective areas. In developing the comprehensive recycling study it was determined that a formal enterprise‐wide plan for these items would generate little to no revenue and the revenue would be significantly less than the costs to implement and sustain the plan. (a comprehensive copy of the recycling study can be obtained by contacting The Green Team Sponsor). c. Established recycling programs in labs and research settings. The first program consisted of repurposing bedding material bags from the various labs. These bags are destined for the landfill once empties. The bags made of the same material and size as those purchased for yard waste. They are available for pick up by any employee on a first come, first serve basis. 6. Energy Star Certification ‐ In collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program, Facilities & Utilities launched a program to assess opportunities to reduce energy use, and other associated environmental impacts. The program started with an intensive understanding of the hospital’s needs and a compilation of studies to ascertain just where energy consumption and cost could be reduced, get up to speed on details such as lighting fixtures, toilet and sink water flow. The expected outcome is being awarded the distinction of Energy Star Certification by the US Environmental Protection Agency. If awarded, it will be the only Healthcare Facility in the State of Georgia and the only Academic Healthcare Facility in the South East to receive the distinction of Energy Star Certification. To do this, GHSU completed an assessment of several energy saving projects and identified measures in the following areas: Phase I & II Lighting Retrofit HVAC Scale Back Annual Steam Trap Survey and Replacement Program Sustainability Committee Sponsor: Mr. Phil Howard 1120 15TH Street, Augusta, Ga. 30912 Tel: 706‐721‐0909 Fax: 706‐721‐0107 www.georgiahealth.edu/green
Bimonthly Compressed Lab Air and Medical Gases Survey Program Installation of HVAC variable speed drives Lighting sensors in low occupancy areas Energy recovery wheels installed in six air handlers Boiler Control Retro‐fit and Duel Fuel Boilers Tune‐up
These initiatives collectively realized a $169K savings in the first year and in 2.4 years the original investment of $533K would be realized in energy savings. GHSU has gained a new respect for the role sustainability played and inspired a new passion and dedication to the cause. 7. Utilities Optimal Control Upgrade – This upgrade for the Chilled Water Systems at the South and Central Energy Plants with funding provided by Federal Stimulus totaling $103,233.00 dollars has been completed. The impact is not currently known as it will take several years to determine the actual impact. The expectation is a reduction in electrical usage, which reduces our carbon footprint. 8. Duel Fuel Boilers ‐ “Tune‐up” of boilers to improve performance, reduce fuel consumption, and reduce carbon foot print emissions for 10 boilers. This project is complete. 9. Heat Recovery Wheel Replacements – Completed the replacement of Two Heat Recovery Wheels on the Transgenic Air Handling Units at the Research and Education Building (Lab Animal Services area), and Cancer Research Center. This will reduce heating and cooling utilities cost. This project is complete. 10. Old Dental School ‐ Shutdown of lighting, vacuum, and boiler systems in areas no longer actively used. Savings in electrical and natural gas utilities with a reduction in maintenance cost to service equipment. This project is complete, but still reviewing for other utilities savings. 11. Chilled Water Valve ‐ Replacement and repair of the main isolation chilled water valve in the Central Energy Plant will be completed in FY12. It is leaking thousands of gallons of water a day and city water is used to make‐up the loss. With this replacement and repair, “Chilled Water Make‐up” will be reduced resulting in savings in utilities and maintenance in chemical water treatment costs. 12. Natural Gas ‐ Our facility produces on‐site heat with natural gas – a much cleaner fuel than coal. 13. Steam Trap Project – A steam trap project was completed to correct steam loss and reduce energy consumption, which also reduces our costs. Sustainability Committee Sponsor: Mr. Phil Howard 1120 15TH Street, Augusta, Ga. 30912 Tel: 706‐721‐0909 Fax: 706‐721‐0107 www.georgiahealth.edu/green
14. Clean Commute Week ‐ The workgroup focused on the Clean Commute Week (October 24 – 28) – Education and awareness sessions were held for a week and each day prizes were awarded to various participants. The sessions focus was on clean commuting to include: commuting by bike and bike safety, alternative low speed vehicles, going green and getting involved in GHSU’s efforts to “Think Green ‐ Live Green ‐ Work Green”. 15. The workgroup issued a report in October 2011 with a series of recommendations, the most significant being the recommendation to reduce idling emissions enterprise wide. 16. Building Design ‐ Our buildings are becoming brighter and filled with energy efficient lighting. The Green Team has determined that people tend to be happier and more productive in areas with natural light, so new building designs have been incorporated to emphasize more glass and light flow. The building of the new College of Dental Medicine facility was designed so light could penetrate into virtually all areas of the building. GOALS FOR THE FY2012 1. Coordinate 3 – 4 sustainability events geared towards education and awareness. 2. Improve communications. 3. Become more involved with the community. 4. Encourage the use of the Sustainable Purchasing Guidelines when making purchasing decisions. 5. Establish a Green Office program to recognize offices that demonstrate exemplary performance. 6. Address paper consumption issues. Recognizing that printers and copiers across campus used non‐recycled paper and were set to print single‐sided copies, members of the recycle work group plan to present a plan to Senior Management to change printer settings to print on both sides and switch to recycled‐content paper and find some test sites to gauge the effectiveness of the recommendations, and then set the plan in action. 7. Collection of outdated/expired pharmaceuticals from the community 8. Health System Energy Star Certification Award
Sustainability Committee Sponsor: Mr. Phil Howard 1120 15TH Street, Augusta, Ga. 30912 Tel: 706‐721‐0909 Fax: 706‐721‐0107 www.georgiahealth.edu/green
SUMMARY What makes a university different from other large institutions is the focus on people. Researchers are the engines of new discovery, faculty members cultivate thoughts, ideas, and information, and students bring life and energy to the campus. In this regard, GHSU has a clear advantage in advancing a vision of sustainability through the vitality of the GHSU community. Having said that, the Green Team strives to promote sustainability through education and outreach initiatives, but the advancement of sustainability is a collaborative effort involving all members of the university and community. The full potential of a sustainable vision for Georgia Health Sciences University will be realized when each member of the GHSU community embraces the responsibility to reduce resource consumption and adopt sustainable practices in everyday work. With this in mind, the Green Team has set peer‐to‐ peer engagement efforts among its highest priorities and continues to develop new peer‐ to‐peer outreach programs for the enterprise to model and encourage more sustainable behaviors. It is the Green Team’s aspiration to bring together individuals across the enterprise that are passionate about reducing their environmental impact on their environment. Each administrator will assess the sustainability of practices within their office, advocate for and implement strategies to be more sustainable, represent their office at regular Green Team meetings, and serve as their office contact person for environmental information. GHSU is filled with creative and resourceful people providing an environment where sustainability can thrive and where new ideas are met with visionaries who know how to implement them. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED BY: Georgia Health Sciences University Sustainability Committee (aka “The Green Team”)
Sustainability Committee Sponsor: Mr. Phil Howard 1120 15TH Street, Augusta, Ga. 30912 Tel: 706‐721‐0909 Fax: 706‐721‐0107 www.georgiahealth.edu/green