There are some environmental advocates who oppose using wood chips for energy. 

This YouTube video includes the following description: "Forests are also one of our best defenses against global warming, absorbing vast amounts of carbon pollution out of the air. But power companies are increasingly proposing to burn whole trees for energy. Trees are not a "carbon neutral" fuel source. Just like coal, when trees are burned in power plants, the carbon they have accumulated over long periods of time is released into the atmosphere. Unlike coal, however, trees will continue to absorb carbon if left alone. So burning forests for energy not only emits a lot of carbon, but also degrades our carbon sinks. This video shows what happens to the balance of carbon between and forest and the atmosphere when we burn forests to produce energy instead of leaving them standing to continue to absorb and store carbon. Burning forests for electricity is dirty and destructive!" 

It is shared by the Natural Resources Defence Council.

Joyce Mast is coordinating a Request for Purchase to buy and install the solar panels that will go on top of the ECE Building.  The building already has the structural supports for the panels, so the purchase will include the racks, PV panels, and inverters.  Joyce is working with ECE's administrative office, the Purchasing Department, and F&S Capital Programs to facilitate this RFP.

Al Stratman, Carl Wegel, Ryan Welch, and Morgan Johnston met to discuss the requirements for applying for Tree Campus USA recognition.  Al directed Morgan and Ryan to pursue the application for this fall.  Morgan will take the lead, with Ryan handling a lot of the needed writing effort.

There are five requirements to get recognized as a Tree Campus USA:

1. Establish a “Campus Tree Advisory Committee”
   
   1. Membership must include a student, a Grounds representative, a faculty member, and a community member.
   2. We are hopeful that the Arboretum would organize this committee, chair it, staff it, and we would just need to attend and participate.
   3. The required responsibilities are unclear in the Tree Campus program, but we would not need to give them any authority over us.
2. Campus Tree Care Plan
   
   1. must include
      
      1. Clearly stated purpose.
      2. Responsible authority/department - who enforces the Campus Tree Care Plan. – F&S
      3. Establishment of a Campus Tree Advisory Committee, terms of the representatives, and role committee plays. – see above
      4. Campus tree care policies for planting, landscaping, maintenance and removal including establishing and updating a list of recommended and prohibited species; managing for catastrophic events. – we would need to document the maintenance and removal policies
      5. Protection and Preservation policies and procedures - include process for implementing tree protection plan including step-by-step process that every project must follow including construction and trenching. – in the standards
      6. Goals and Targets - develop at least one goal and target for your Campus Tree Plan. These could include (but are not limited to) tree canopy target, development of a link between the Campus Tree Plan and other green initiatives on campus or in the community; completion of a campus-wide tree inventory, etc. Include how the goal will be measured. – the goal could be to update and maintain the tree inventory, currently at about 75% for tree locations
      7. Tree damage assessment - enforcement, penalties, and appeals. – we would need to complete and document this policy
      8. Prohibited practices. – in the standards
      9. Definitions of terminology related to campus trees.
      10. Communication strategy - how the campus tree care plan will be communicated to the college community and contractors to heighten awareness about policies and procedures as well as the goals of the institution. – in collaboration with Arboretum, CRC, and possibly iSEE
   2. F&S would take the lead on developing this plan.  The advisory committee could be the primary reviewers.  Morgan can help facilitate this.
3. Campus Tree Program with Dedicated Annual Expenditures
   
   1. Grounds has a dedicated budget for trees.  Ryan noted that right now we are at about $200K per year including replacements, 2 tree surgeons and 2 grounds workers
   2. Ryan would need to develop a regular process for summarizing this data to record as evidence of the funding.
   3. We could expand this effort to collect financial information from other units that handle trees on campus, such as the Arboretum
4. Arbor Day Observance
   
   1. The Arboretum is the natural lead for an Arbor Day Observance event each year.  They have indicated interest in helping with this program. 
   2. We would definitely be involved, but we would prefer they take the lead for developing and organizing the event.
   3. Certain items would need to be tracked: activity program, news coverage, pictures, and I recommend tracking participation rates.
5. Service Learning Project
   
   1. “This should provide an opportunity to engage the student population with projects related to trees and can be part of a campus of community initiative.”
   2. We agree that a student project could be to locate the campus trees and enter basic information (size?).
   3. The project must be completed within the course of the year the application is submitted.
   4. The Arboretum could help coordinate this effort.  We could get a professor to do it in a class.  Morgan can assist with the coordination of this project.

The application is due in December for the year completed, so we would need to complete this effort this fall in order to qualify for next year.

Construction is underway.  The 3rd and 2nd floors are mostly complete. Unfortunately we’re finding that the sensor coverage is not quite as broad as the spec sheets say, so there’s been a change order for some additional devices.

The Parking Department may choose to utilize this Department of Energy Program for promoting public use EV charging stations.

LEED Lab

This multidisciplinary immersion course which utilizes the built environment to educate and prepare students to become green building leaders. In the course students assess the performance of existing facilities on campus and chose one building where they will facilitate the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED EB:O&M) process with the goal of certifying the facility. At the close of the semester the students are prepared to sit for the LEED EB:O&M professional credential exam. To learn more visit LEED Lab. Under “How” the Welcome Packet and LEED Lab Timing Chart are available for download. To express interest please complete this form.

The LEED Lab Timing Chart is organized in such a way to help with sequencing of the coursework. Faculty can choose to start with campus credits first before focusing on an individual building or go straight to the building level credits.

The LEED v4 O&M Candidate Handbook can be found here. Pages 12-14 outline the job tasks of a LEED AP and what type of information GBCI will be testing. Information in the candidate handbook could be used to establish student learning outcomes for the course.

Jaime Van Mourik
Director, Higher Education
U.S. Green Building Council