usf going green - team dream green

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University of South Florida

Going Green

By:DREAM GREENGrady Bonfield

Liridon GjeloshiBetsy Clary

For: Dr. Francis Tobienne, Jr.Professional Writing

ENC3250.791F13

November 29, 2013


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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Eco-Friendly Commuting Benefits Students 2

New Science and Technology Building 3 Pre-College Global Sustainability Program 4 USFs Push For Student Recycling 5 Conclusion 6 Annotated Bibliography 7-8 Works Cited 9 Glossary 10


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Introduction 1

The Introduction To The Green Movement At USF

In the past two decades USF has made significant strides in

their sustainability initiative. Not only does the college itself

take initiative in going green but they also allow for many

student-run initiatives to be successful in their efforts as well.

Some of the first green initiative projects started by USF were

planting over 2000 new trees, adding new bike lanes in order

to provide a safe alternative to automobiles as a way to get to

class, and by providing a free off-campus shuttle system thatuses biofuel technology.


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Eco-Friendly Commuting Also Benefits Students 2

USFs Push Toward Eco-Friendly Commuting Also Benefits Students

Thanks to the green push at USF, new and efficient programs will be available tobenefit the students while benefiting the green movement. Two new programs wereintroduced by the dean for the College of Sustainability, a new school created by USF

to cover new ground in the green effort for generations to come.

The Expansion of Bike Sharing

One of the ideas mentioned, andcurrently being implemented, was abike-sharing program for students.The program will give students accessto up to 100 new GPS-enabled bikesthat can be used to travel across thelarge campus. It has become a knownfact to students around USF Tampa

that the easiest way to travel acrosscampus was to use your car. This newprogram hopes to halt this issue,which will help lower auto emissionsacross campus by students traversingbetween classes. The program is anexpansion of the current Borrow OurBikes program, but adds significantchanges that should entice morestudents to begin using bikes moreoften across campus. For example, a

24-hour checkout system and morebike banks throughout the campus toreturn bicycles to will make using abike an even more viable option.

With a new trend of bicycles beingused on campus, the College ofSustainability hopes to ride the waveand get students on to the bikeprogram. So far, the program has beenfunded to be able to operate for at

least one year, and the school hopes itwill be a success and carry into thefuture. The program has received over$300,000 from the Student GreenEnergy Fund, and hopes to launch byspring or summer semester of 2014.

The expansion of USFs bike-sharing program willbe ready by Spring 2014

Smart Parking Project

While helping students get to campuswith the bike-sharing program, theCollege of Sustainability plans tosimultaneously help students arriving

in their vehicles on campus. Theschool is currently working with thirdparty developers to create a mobileapplication for students to access. Theapp will hold important informationfor students to access regarding trafficaround campus. For example, a realtime shuttle tracker for students isplanned. There are also plans toimplement traffic informationpertaining to the campus parking

garages, including electronic signsposted above the major garages. Thisproject, dubbed the smart parking

project, plans to launch some timenext year. USF plans to conduct astudy pre-program and post-program


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Pre-College Global Sustainability Program Brings Awareness 4

The building is projected to save close to $80,000 in energy costs thanks to thedifferent designs implemented to the building. For example, an insulated roof aswell as heat-decreasing glass will help lower the cost of air conditioning throughoutthe year. The inclusion of improved water fixtures will serve as a major saver in

water costs. The fixtures are projected to lower usage by 50%, which equates tonearly 90,000 gallons of water saved per year.

In total, the cost of construction was twelve million dollars. In its grand opening forthe semester, the building held 76 classes. While the building will save enormousamounts of money and help assist the green effort by USF, it is doing even more forstudents. The new classrooms included inside the building are significantlyimproved, with technological improvements including smart monitors. The buildingalso houses 13 labs as well as 8 classrooms.

Pre-College Global Sustainability Program Brings Awareness To Students Early

In 2012, the College of GlobalSustainability launched the Pre-College Global Sustainability Program,available to local high school juniorsand seniors. The program, whichspans ten days during the summer,gets teens familiar with varioussustainability careers found indifferent career paths.

Local high school students attend a wildlife trip to asmall island off Seminole Bay

These programs send teens to severaldifferent sustainable centeredlocations throughout the Tampa Bayarea, including aquatic preserves andTampa International Airport.

While on these trips, studentsdocument their experiences in theirrespective daily blogs. During class

lectures, students get their hands dirtywith in-class experiments. In anengineering lab, students createdwater filters while exploring the topicof water sanitation and filtration.Program planner Bessie Skoures saidthe goal was to get the next

generation interested in sustainabilityissues, and it is off to a great start.

Just this past summer, attendance for

the Global Sustainability program hasreached over 150 students.


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USFs Push For Student Recycling 5

USFsPush For Student Recycling

USF students have also made efforts ingoing green by promoting recyclingand compost programs in dorms.

Recycling has become a universitywide standard. The college has greenrecycle bins next to most garbage binsand some students even take theinitiative to go through garbages to

pull out the recyclables and put themin their designated recycle bins. Onedorm on USFs Tampa campus took

the green initiative so far as to run acompost pile instead of having a trashbin for their dorm.

USF is dropping Styrofoam for an eco-friendly

alternative

Students also make the financialsacrifice every semester by paying afee that goes to the colleges green

initiative funds. This money is used topay for anything the school does in itsefforts to go green whether it be put

up new recycling bins or fund a newresearch project when looking for newways to go green. The decision waspassed in 2011 by the student bodywith a whopping 70% approval.

An Eco-Friendly Change To-Go

USF is also going the extra mile withinvolving their campus restaurants. Anew policy replaces the defaultStyrofoam to-go boxes with plastic,reusable to-go boxes. These newcontainers will require a $4refundable deposit and, the studentcan choose to return the container forthe refund or keep it for themselves.

This will hope to drive down waste oncampus, considering the fact that over200,000 to-go boxes were thrownaway on campus within a year.

Thus far, USF is estimated to havesaved over 500,000 containers fromreaching landfills. This is just anotherexample of how USF is becoming eco-friendly through its students. So far,the new policy seems to be a success

to the environment and for students.

ConservaBull Challenges Students

The college also has a program theycall ConservaBull in which they lay outchallenges for students to be green.One of which was a challenge forstudents living in dorms to cut backon their energy usage on campus. Indoing so they were able to save216,820 kilowatt hours of power

which is enough power to get to andfrom Orlando approximately 600times according to the Sustain-A-Bullwebsite. In order to further theprogress of this initiative the collegeannounced that it would be holding acompetition second semester to seewhich dorm hall would be able to have


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Conclusion 6

the largest increase the percentage of energy saved when compared to their firstsemester numbers. Once a dorm hall is picked they announced that they will thenhold a raffle for a new iPod Nano which will only include the names of studentsresiding in the winning hall.

No Slowing Down In USFs Future

For over a decade, USF has made significant strides to be animpactful factor in the green movement. The school continuesto expand its environmental programs and raise awarenessamong the school and communities. Thanks to the largeinvestments to the Patel College of Global Sustainability, future

projects are under way for students to take advantage of. USFhopes to be the most green-friendly school in the nation, andthey are on the right track with the numerous programscurrently in action.

You may visit the Patel College of Global Sustainability athttp://sgs.usf.edu/for more information on the efforts USF ismaking to expand its global sustainability cause.
http://sgs.usf.edu/http://sgs.usf.edu/http://sgs.usf.edu/


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Annotated Bibliography 7

Gadsden, Sandra. "New Science and Technology Building Helps Transform USF St.

Petersburg." Tampa Bay Times. N.p., 23 Jan. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Gadsden wrote an informative article that covers a number of interesting facts from theconstruction of the new building. This piece helped give an in depth look into the many

accomplishments made with the buildings construction. Gadsdendoes an excellent job

digging up all of the great facts, which became handy during the research process.

Miller, Daylina. "USF Offers Bike-Share Program." - University of South Florida.

N.p., 19 Jan. 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.This article gave insight into the new bike sharing program, and the mechanics on how it

will be successful. The author did a great job familiarizing the reader with the program bydiscussing its history and how it plans to improve on it. This was a major contribution to

the writing involved with the commuting areas of the white paper.

Roldan, Roberto. "New Green Programs to save Drivers' Time." The Oracle:

University of South Florida. N.p., 5 Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

This article was also a contributor to the commuting areas of the white paper. Roldan

wrote an excellent article highlighting the current troubles with commuting to the USF

campus, and the future endeavors of the school to improve these issues. Roldan digs up anumber of interesting facts, including the total investments into the project.

Cash, Jacqui. "USF One of Nation's Top Green Colleges." - Uni versity of South

Florida. N.p., 5 May 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

This article highlights USFs efforts in going green by announcing that they have madethe Princeton Reviews guide to the greenest colleges. It goes further into detail by

discussing rankings and special events that the university holds in order to promote a

green life. It also discusses the awards the college has won and the accomplishments of

groups inside the college.

Miller, Daylina. "Sustainability Film Festival." - Uni versity of South Flori da. N.p., 4

May 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

This article discusses how students at the University of South Florida are now using

video diaries and school projects to show and promote the green initiative happening

around the campus. These projects will promote the green initiative as well as informpeople about things that they can do in order to help keep the university green.


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Annotated Bibliography 8

Rogers, Jesse. "USF Is Taking Green to a Whole New Level, out with Styrofoam, in

with Reusable to Go Boxes." WFTS. N.p., 8 July 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

This article discusses the changes being made at USFs dining halls in order to take

part in the green movement happening on campus. They have discontinued wastingfood and water and got rid of the Styrofoam to-go boxes and switched over to areusable to-go box. The reusable to-go box has become a part of the meal plan inwhich the students pay a deposit for a reusable plastic container which they canreuse and at the end of the semester turn back in to be reimbursed their deposit. Bydoing this, USF has decreased the amount of waste we add to landfills every year.

Sustainable Endowments Institute. The College Sustainability Report Card.N.d.

Web. 2011.

This website is an annual report card for the green initiative of a university. Theyshow that the University of South Florida has improved since last year. The reportcard goes into detailed grading of things such as: recycling, energy change, efforts byadministration, buildings, transportation, efforts by the students, and shareholderinvolvement to name a few.

University of South Florida. Physical Plant. N.p. Web. 2009.

This website goes into specific detail in a factual manner about the many ways thatUSF is making an effort to go green. They discuss everything from recycling, toenergy conservation, water conservation, and even pollution prevention methods

used by the university.


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Works Cited 9

Works Cited

Cash, Jacqui. "USF One of Nation's Top Green Colleges." - University of South Florida.N.p., 5 May 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Gadsden, Sandra. "New Science and Technology Building Helps Transform USF St.

Petersburg." Tampa Bay Times.N.p., 23 Jan. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Kavanaugh, Missy. "Development News." 83Degrees.N.p., 18 May 2010. Web. 20 Nov.

2013.

Miller, Daylina. "Sustainability Film Festival." - University of South Florida.N.p., 4 May

2010.Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Miller, Daylina. "USF Offers Bike-Share Program." - University of South Florida.N.p.,

19 Jan. 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Rogers, Jesse. "USF Is Taking Green to a Whole New Level, out with Styrofoam, in with

Reusable to Go Boxes." WFTS.N.p., 8 July 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

Roldan, Roberto. "New Green Programs to save Drivers' Time." The Oracle: University

of South Florida.N.p., 5 Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

"Strategic Initiatives." Sustain-A-Bull USF.N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

"Sustainability Programs and Initiatives at USF and around the World."Patel School ofGlobalSustainability RSS.N.p., 3 July 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

"Sustainability Programs and Initiatives at USF and around the World."Patel School of

GlobalSustainability RSS.N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.Wolfe, Melissa. "Sustainable Thinking." - University of South Florida.N.p., 28 June2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013


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Glossary 10

Glossary

Borrow Our Bikes Programa program that allows USF students the ability torent bikes to traverse the campus

ConservaBulla program encouraging students to accomplish various eco-friendlychallenges proposed periodically

Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED)- a program thatrecognizes eco-friendly buildings, including a ratings system

Patel College of SustainabilityA school established by USF and funded by many

investors to create new discoveries for eco-friendly programs

Student Green Energy Fundapproved by students, a special fee on studenttuition that goes directly to the funds behind USFs environmental sustainabilityefforts


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Glossary 10


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