Spring 2017
In This Issue
adjusted Oct 2015
Student Eco-Reps Present Semester Projects

Penn's Student Eco-Reps program is an internship program for undergraduate students interested in learning about environmental issues and working on sustainability projects that advance the University's Climate Action Plan 2.0. This year's Eco-Reps have been working in small groups with staff in Penn's Sustainability Office to help to implement projects aimed at improving the University's environmental footprint in areas such as waste, energy, food, and water, as well as projects focusing on environmental education and literacy. These projects included:
 
Peer Sustainability Workshops : Trainings for student groups on campus about incorporating sustainability into everyday life. Student Eco-Reps:  Soomin Shin (SAS '19) and Maddie Tilyou (SAS '19).
 
Eco-Reps Composting Pilot Project: Conducting surveys and waste audits to evaluate how Penn students currently dispose of their waste and how these processes can be improved. Student Eco-Reps: Reps: Karen Chi (SAS '19) and Helen Dai (SAS '19).
 
Drying Racks for Laundry Rooms Pilot: Drying racks were introduced for public use in various University laundry facilities in order to conserve energy and foster long-term sustainability habits. Student Eco-Rep: Michael Shu (SAS '17).
 
Residential Recycling Bags or Bins Study: Research was conducted on recycling habits and perceptions within residential dorms to explore the feasibility of replacing residential recycling bags with personal recycling bins. A survey revealed a general desire for increased accessibility towards recycling. Student Eco-Rep: Michael Shu (SAS '17).
 
Ecology Tour Project : The ecology tour project aims to educate and increase awareness of sustainable aspects of Penn's campus. The tour features green spaces, such as Penn Park, Shoemaker Green, and New College House's green roofs to showcase Penn's wealth of trees and biodiversity. Student Eco-Rep: Carol Chen (Wharton '19).
 
READ MORE about the projects and the Student Eco-Reps.
Green Purchasing Awards -- Call for Nominations
Purchasing Services, in conjunction with the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee (ESAC) Purchasing Subcommittee and the Green Campus Partnership, is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for this year's Green Purchasing Award (GPA). This award recognizes the leading actions of any individual and/or team that advance the development of sustainable purchasing practices at Penn. It is an opportunity to spotlight those who are championing sustainability across campus, as well as to celebrate key projects that are contributing to a more sustainable future.
 
Visit www.upenn.edu/purchasing to review the nomination guidelines and information about the submittal process. Nominations remain open until Thursday, June 30. Award recipients will be honored at the Penn Purchasing Supplier Show on Wednesday, September 28.  


Staff & Faculty Eco-Reps Meet with Housekeeping Staff 
At their March monthly meeting, Staff & Faculty Eco-Reps heard a presentation from various members of the housekeeping leadership team, learning more about housekeeping's efforts to promote sustainability on campus. Housekeeping's Operations Manager, Joe Gaither, and Aramark Training Manager, Glenn Zeitzer, discussed the importance of clear and accessible signage for recycling vs. trash, as well as the sustainability of the cleaning products used by the housekeeping staff. Housekeeping also presented some of their department-wide improvement goals, such as the use of alternate environmental cleaners, the use of microfiber cleaning cloths, and the implementation of hand dryers in campus restrooms.
 
READ MORE on the Penn Waste Management and Recycling page , and download slides from housekeeping's presentation.

Meatless Mondays
In January, Penn Dining Services launched its Meatless Monday program, encouraging students to go meatless during lunch on Mondays in order to make healthier choices and to consider their own environmental impact. The program runs every Monday in all University dining halls, and the meat usually served in the "comfort" lines, "expo" stations, and soup kettles has been replaced with a plant-based food.Skipping meat one day a week has many benefits for the health of individuals, our nation and the planet.  Reducing your intake of meat reduces heart disease and stroke, limits cancer risk and curbs obesity. It also minimizes water usage, reduces greenhouse gases and lowers our fuel dependence. 
 
Penn Dining and Bon Appétit worked with the student-run Dining Advisory Board to institute the program.  READ MORE

New Toner Purchase Program
You are probably using remanufactured toner in your printers and copiers - and don't even know it!  In keeping with Penn's Climate Action Plan 2.0, Purchasing Services promotes an environmentally sustainable supply chain.  They have worked with University suppliers and vendors to actively identify and promote products and processes that make a positive sustainability impact. Remanufactured toner is one of those products.  While recycled toners have been in the market for years, only now is the purchasing office confident in their ability to perform as virgin toners.  The supplier is also confident in its product and has warrantied these toners against failure and/or damage to printers.  Understanding that the first few generations of remanufactured toners were not always reliable, Purchasing Services didn't want preconceived opinions to derail the initiative without a fair trial.  The purchasing office was pretty sure this would be an easy 'green' change that it could make to support our planet - and save Penn resources because these toners are more cost effective than other toners - so it decided to substitute remanufactured toner without any fanfare, or even an announcement. All black toners with remanufactured options were substituted (108 different toners) resulting in over $40,000 in savings, while delivering a positive impact on the environment.


Penn Campus Now Recognized as an Arboretum
The University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia is now officially recognized as an arboretum, the University's Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) announced in April. Penn's urban campus has achieved particular standards of professional practices deemed important for arboreta and botanic gardens, and therefore has been awarded a Level I Accreditation by The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program. READ MORE
Join in the Spring 2017 Penn Landscapes Celebration
This spring, FRES organized a celebration of the gardens and meadows, fields and walks, and trees and lawns that make up Penn's urban campus.  The Office of the University Architect oversees the planning and design of Penn's landscape features and, in collaboration with FRES Operations & Maintenance Department, manages the care of its green spaces. Their exemplary efforts have earned the University a number of awards including a Sustainable SITES Certification for Shoemaker Green, and for the 8th year in a row, recognition as a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. READ MORE
Pennovation Center Awarded LEED Gold
PC North facade complete
The Pennovation Center recently was awarded LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Center scored high in a number of areas that address sustainability issues, such as high performance in water use reduction, optimizing energy performance, and managing construction waste. The Center also received credits for designing the site itself to address issues of community connectivity, building reuse, and indoor environmental quality. For example, points were given for providing building occupants a connection to the outdoors through the introduction of daylight into the building, for maintaining the existing structure of the original building, and for promoting community growth through pedestrian access between the site and the rest of the neighborhood.   READ MORE

April's 30x30 Challenge Gets Penn Community Outdoors
April 1-30 marked the 4th annual Penn 30x30 Challenge, in which the Penn community was challenged to spend at least 30 minutes outdoors every day for 30 days. Open to Penn faculty, staff, and this year for the first time, students, the challenge encouraged the community to get outside, learn about local ecology, and experience the health benefits of spending time in a natural setting.
 
2017 30x30 drew 310 participants, many of whom shared photos on the Cluster app documenting their time in the outdoors. Most of these images can also be found on Instagram with the tag #penn30x30challenge. By submitting photos, and attending as many events as possible, a few people were selected for a special prize, a hand-painted stainless steel S'well water bottle. The lucky winners were Nicole Perry, Rich Zak, Sandra Bowman, Kelly Andrews, and Colleen Mullarkey.  READ MORE


Power Down Challenge Wrap-up
We are very pleased with the efforts undertaken by the Penn community in February to reduce energy consumption, engage in conversation on sustainability, and reevaluate existing energy habits. On February 22nd, Penn's 2017 Energy Reduction Challenge Day, the campus produced  impressive results with a campus-wide energy reduction of 11.4%. Penn's Sustainability Office has allocated the savings of  $11,400 to CURF to  support student research  related to sustainability as a result.
 
To read more about our efforts and accomplishments throughout the month, check out the following articles in the  Daily Pennsylvanian IMPACT , and  34th Street .

Bike to Work on May 19
Penn is an official partner this year with The Bike Coalition of Greater Philadelphia for Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 19th.  BCGP will be running one of its three city-wide Energizer Stations at the Penn Museum, next to the Indego bike station, from 8 - 10am, providing free coffee and snacks. Details of the event are on the Green Campus Partnership website.  READ MORE
Air Quality Award to Penn from DVRPC
The Air Quality Partnership (AQP), a program of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, educates residents about the dangerous effects of ground-level ozone and provides air quality forecasts to the public. To celebrate local initiatives and best practices to reduce air pollution, five organizations in the Greater Philadelphia region received 2017 Air Quality Partnership Excellence Awards. Each year, public and private institutions are honored for their efforts to improve air quality.
 
Penn has been recognized for reducing emissions from transportation sources through a comprehensive program that includes commuter transit benefits, parking management strategies, electric vehicle charging stations, bicycle facilities, alternative fueled fleet vehicles, and last-mile shuttles and van pools, among other sustainability measures. Penn utilizes a suite of strategies that serves as a best practice for other public organizations, said the DVRPC in a press statement. READ MORE
Penn wins Clean Commute Employer of the Year
The Clean Air Council of Philadelphia has chosen the University of Pennsylvania as the Clean Commute Employer of the Year! In 2014,  Cleaner Commute Philadelphia  launched the Clean Air Commute Awards to highlight the efforts of Philadelphia-area commuters and employers who go the extra mile for sustainable commuting. The award was presented at the annual Run for Clean Air on April 9 to Brian Manthe of Business Services and Dan Garofalo of FRES, who accepted on behalf of the University.
 
This past January the University announced an initiative to reimburse a portion of their out-of-pocket commuting expenses to full-time employees who bike to work. 

SEPTA Travel Center @ Penn opens in Penn Bookstore
A unique partnership between Penn and SEPTA debuted this semester on campus.  The SEPTA Travel Center @Penn is the first-of-its-kind information hub opened by SEPTA.  Located in the heart of campus on the first floor of the Penn Bookstore at 36th and Walnut Streets, the Travel Center is staffed by SEPTA customer service agents Mondays - Fridays from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.  Information is available on all forms of travel in and around Penn and the City, including Penn Transit, LUCY® (Loop Around University City), New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, Indego Bike Share and car sharing.


Partner Profiles
Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Deputy Director, Cory Colijn

Cory Colijn joined the Kleinman Center team from Penn's Professional Programs in Earth and Environmental Science, where she served as the Administrative Director. Prior to coming to Penn, she worked for several Philadelphia-based nonprofits, focusing on the ecological restoration of Philadelphia's extensive park system. Cory holds a Master of Science in Applied Geoscience and a B.A. in Earth and Environmental Science, both from Penn.
 

The Kleinman Center was established in 2014. How have you seen it develop as a part of Penn's overall environmental sustainability initiatives?
 
I really think of this as beginning in 2009 with President Gutmann's signing of the Presidents' Climate Commitment and then extending to our own campus climate action plans -- we have a rich history of defining environmental sustainability in higher education.
 
But before the Kleinman Center there wasn't a home for the energy policy aspects of Penn's broader commitment to sustainability. For example, there was so much organized, formally, around energy in the sciences, but there wasn't a go-to place for the policy aspect of this work.
 
But there was certainly interest. There were students organizing clubs, faculty in Wharton, Law, SAS and Design working on projects directly related to energy policy, research grants coming into the University - there was interest. With the generous gift from Scott and Wendy Kleinman, School of Design and our Center became the home.
 
Are there opportunities for all students at Penn - no matter their course of study - to become involved with the Kleinman Center?
 
Yes! Absolutely! We've created our own student-center initiatives and also sponsor student opportunities that exist and are housed elsewhere on campus. We've had really excellent success at engaging students from multiple schools (and even more programs), in part because we've designed our student initiatives with flexibility in mind. As long as a student has a curiosity about energy policy, they're pretty much guaranteed to find something at the Kleinman Center.
 
For example, at KCEP, we fund student internships in two ways: 1) We cultivate relationships with NGOs and government agencies, who post positions with us that are guaranteed to go to a selected Penn student. (The selected finalist is then funded by the Center.) 2) We allow students who are offered unpaid internships in positions related to energy policy to apply to our competitive grants program for summer funding.
 
That student grants program also extends beyond funding summer internships. Students can apply for funding 4 times a year to cover opportunities that range from attending a conference, covering the costs of materials for a research project, organizing a club/group trip, bri nging a speaker to campus, etc. Creativity is really the only limit on what we can make happen!
 
And, new last year, we've launched a certificate program for graduate students, with a core group of classes offered through the Kleinman Center that both undergraduates and graduate students can take, including our popular Introduction to Energy Management and Policy, taught every fall.
 
 
What do you learn from the students you encounter in programs there?
 
They're always hungry for more! Our undergraduates, professional students, and graduate students, all share a common interest in understanding how they can apply their Penn education post-graduation. They don't just want a superficial understanding of the issues, they want a deep understanding, they want to know how they can make the biggest impact when they leave Penn. We try to create opportunities for this type of learning through our events, conferences, visitors programs - bringing people from the outside to Penn to share their understanding and their knowledge of the big picture issues.
 
At the Center, we're constantly learning and responding to student ideas. The vast majority of student programming we support today was originally conceived from conversations and requests from the students themselves. From new courses, to our grants program, to our research assistant positions, those ideas all came from our student community. 
 
 
In the very short term, over the next few months, we're launching the first in our series of signature research projects. In the past, we've provided seed funding for both faculty and student research , and we'll continue doing that over the coming years. But these signature projects are a little different; they're research questions designed by the Center and refined with input by Penn faculty, fellows, and visiting scholars. These multi-year projects, like Optimal Pathways to Regional Energy Transition (defined here ) , are taking the Center's research agenda to the next phase. 

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