Green OWU

Waste Reduction at OWU

The President’s Climate Commitment asks us to participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste.  Details of two waste reduction measures (Food Waste Reduction and Rainwater Harvesting/Rain Gardens) are detailed in other posts.  Below find additional waste reduction measures.

• see Food Waste Reduction @ OWU
• see Rainwater Recovery & Rain Gardens @ OWU

RecycleMania

Ohio Wesleyan participates in RecycleMania.

Campus Recycling Program

See summary at Recycling at OWU web page.

Light Bulb Replacement

Jack Stenger: By Feb 20 I will have the statistics on how many light bulbs the school uses in a year, how many can be upgraded, how much energy would that save per year, how much extra money would his cost per year, and how much would it save in a year. The great thing about this project is that it pays for itself via a revolving fund. This will cost extra money, but will eventually pay for itself.  Calculate or observe (possible?) how much money the school will save by making the switch. Make a pledge that 50% of the money you save from this project goes back into a sustainability fund to start similar programs.

Limit Bottled Water on Campus

A proposal to limit bottled water on campus has been assembled by Tree House member Valerie Lonneman, Paula Travis and Jack Stenger. Members of Environment & Wildlife Club have already spoken to Laurie Patton, Joan McLean and Roger Ingles about cutting bottled water in their respected programs. All are interested and are making steps to do that.

Paperless Classrooms

Experiment underway to vastly reduce paper use in all of Krygier’s courses this semester.  All course materials on the web or blogs, digital “handouts” and digital submissions. Evaluate potential and problems and set up guidelines for other faculty to adopt.

Alternative Fuel Vehicles at OWU

Document and map all campus vehicles and their uses; investigate alternatives (biodiesel, electric, hybrid) and contribute to planning for the future.  Mapping vehicle use on campus.

BioDiesel at OWU

Biodiesel is a viable alternative fuel that can be used in a number of applications; the most obvious is as a fuel in a diesel car engine.  Biodiesel is made using organic material such as plant oils and animal products mixed with methanol and lye. OWU student Sydney Fitzpatrick (shfitzpa@owu.edu) is researching the procedure and materials needed and generated  small amounts of biodiesel with new vegetable oil.  The ultimate goal for creating a biodiesel program at Ohio Wesleyan is to use the school’s waste frying oil to create high quality biodiesel. Importance of finding uses of biodiesel on campus.  Potential use in campus shuttles (see Public Transport at OWU post).

Silver Recovery on Campus

Jim Krehbel (Fine Arts) will head up silver recovery on campus from sources in fine arts and science programs.