3rd Annual Eco-Competition
Sixteen buildings, five months, one trophy. Who will win the third annual FAS Eco-Competition? We’re not sure yet—but the FAS Eco-Competition is nearing the end and the competition is stiff.
The FAS Eco-Competition is run from November to March every year and includes all types of buildings—from the towering William James Hall, to the new lab building Northwest Labs, to the small Center for Middle Eastern Studies buildings.
The competition focuses on two areas—building operations and occupant education — and is based on LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED EB). Categories include energy use, bike racks, recycling infrastructure and outreach, and green office purchasing. The duality of the competition requires the input of the building manager, green teams, Eco-Citizens, and staff, faculty, and students who work in the building.
Buildings participating in the 2008–09 FAS Eco-Competition include:
- 17 Sumner Road & 38 Kirkland Street (Center for Middle Eastern Studies)
- 51 Brattle Street (Division of Continuing Education)
- 60 JFK Street (Office of Physical Resources)
- 71 Mt. Auburn Street (Office for the Arts)
- Bio Labs
- Herbaria
- Hoffman
- Jefferson
- LISE
- Lyman
- Music Building/Paine Hall
- Northwest Labs
- Robinson Hall
- University Hall
- William James Hall
The competition has encouraged building mangers and staff to make positive changes to their buildings. A few highlights include:
- Scott Lozier, the building manager of 74 Mt. Auburn Street, set up composting for his building and did a sustainability-themed sock monkey puppet show at an Office for the Arts staff meeting.
- Steve Robichaud, 60 JFK Street’s building manager, installed dual flush toilets and energy-efficient hand dryers in the Office of Physical Resources buildings.
- Pat Shea, Wayne Ishikawa, and Linda Cross, members of the Division of Continuing Education Green Team, have reduced the amount of extra mail the building gets, sent monthly eco-updates to the community, set up green boards in their buildings, displayed the FAS "Green Your Scene" posters in their buildings, and installed power management on all computers and monitors in the computer labs.
- Maureen Mahoney, Johannah Shinner, and the rest of the University Hall Green Team have made major changes to University Hall including: CFL installation in the hallways, recycled paper products in the bathrooms, dual flush toilet installation, setbacks to the air handling units, and installation of storm windows.
- Kendra Slaughter of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies has stocked her office’s cupboards with compostable products and has set up composting for the office!
- Tom Tribble and Mitra Nathasingh, the building management team for LISE, removed half of the fluorescent lighting tubes in their hallways, and the occupants couldn’t even tell the difference!
- Jim Sheehan, building manager for Northwest Labs, trialed LED and fluorescent lights for the building’s elevators and asked occupants which ones they preferred. They chose the LEDs, which were promptly installed.
All in all, the FAS Eco-Competition is shaping up to be a huge success. Interested in entering next year? Let us know!
More information on LEED EB
