Sustainability News

Xavier Welcomes New Sustainability Coordinator

The Sustainability Committee is pleased to welcome Ann Dougherty, our new Sustainability Coordinator to campus. She joined our community on October 24. Current co-chairs, Dave Lococo and Kathleen Smythe will work closely with her for the remainder of the year as she transitions into her new position and we adjust our roles within the Committee. Ann brings a remarkable range of experience to this role. She is a professional engineer with a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering and work experience as the director of environmental and process technology with Portland Cement Association. More recently, she has been the founder/owner of Learn Great Foods Co., a food knowledge business offering culinary farm tours and retreats in five Midwest states. She has written and lectured on a variety of topics related to agriculture, tourism and entrepreneurship as well as industrial ecology, air emissions and safety in the cement industry, and rotary kilns. Ann is witty, talented and perhaps as impressed by us as we are by her! “I am honored to be on staff at this unique institution, and look forward to working with everyone,” she smiles. We welcome you, Ann, to our community and our collective efforts. Her office is in Alter Hall Rm. 104A-1 and you can reach her at doughertya@xavier.edu or ext. 1938.

Sustainability Committee hosts Parking Forum

Join a diverse group of people from the University (Physical Plant, Cintas Center, Commuter Council, SGA, CBI, Faculty Committee and the Sustainability Committee) to discuss future ways that we might better serve the parking needs of Xavier faculty, staff, students, and Cintas guests while also achieving sustainability goals for a reducing groundwater runoff; reduced use of private vehicles by faculty, staff and student; and making room for more green space and new educational initiatives. Reworking our parking and transportation models will be among the most challenging tasks we face as a community, so come join us as we begin to craft a vision for a greener, healthier, and more civically engaged parking and transportation infrastructure. The discussion takes place Monday, 24 October from 3-4:30 pm in the GSC Theater.

Last spring three students created The Xavier University Guide to a Green Cincinnati as part of a class assignment. The 22-page Guide contains facts about Xavier’s sustainability progress and practical information about alternative transportation, where to find local food and locally-owned businesses and how to reduce energy use both in dorm rooms as well as the dining room and much more. Today, September 16 the guide is being electronically distributed to all Xavier students in the residence halls. All students, faculty and staff can locate it on our sustainability website at http://www.xavier.edu/green/students.cfm. Elle Ross, a Student Sustainability Intern, will be updating the Guide for next year, so please pass along suggestions to her at rosse2@xavier.edu.

Xavier University Employees Win Sustainability Award

Phil Taylor and Doug Hanson in Technology Support received the 2010 Lamplighter Award from the Cincinnati Computer Cooperative (CCC) this summer.

Walt Fischer, Cincinnati Computer Cooperative board chair; Judy Molnar, Xavier University director of technology support; Phil Taylor, Xavier technology support engineer and Doug Hanson, Xavier technology support engineer.

Xavier University has been donating our out-of-cycle computers to the Cooperative for the past four years. They are refurbished and then donated to schools, students, senior citizens or people receiving state or federal assistance. Donating the computers to CCC saves the University money as well, since we don’t pay anyone to dispose of our old computers.

Even more remarkably, eighty-five percent of the equipment CCC receives is recycled. Parts that cannot be reused go to certified end-of-life recyclers after the hard drives have been removed and crushed. Nothing goes overseas or into landfills. This is a remarkable achievement as eighty per cent of electronic trash (including computers but also cell phones and other items) end up in suburban dumps overseas where those without other opportunities seek to recycle what they can and try to retrieve data from hard drives. What can’t be used eventually gets burned, releasing often precious and toxic chemicals into the air, water, and soil.

To view the article published in the Northeast edition of the Community Press, please visit: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/northeastnotes/2011/06/20/xavier-university-earns-lamp-lighter-award/?CFID=5886260&CFTOKEN=e1b0d301db641d28-D6B50FDD-5056-B43F-61E361792FAC2FAA

College of Arts & Sciences Sustainability Goals

A few months ago, we reported on steps that the Division of Student Life and Leadership has taken to implement elements of the Campus Sustainability Plan into their short-term and long-term goals. Recently, Janice Walker, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, submitted six goals to the President that she and others in the college will be focusing on this year, including inviting a member of the Sustainability Committee to her annual fall Chairs’ retreat and providing three modest grants next summer for faculty to revise or create courses addressing sustainability issues. Most other divisions are working on similar processes and you will see updates on their progress from time to time over the course of the year. To learn more about the Campus Sustainability Plan and what you can do to be a part of the efforts to achieve Xavier’s goal of carbon neutrality, please visit www.xavier.edu/green

Sustainability Coordinator Hiring Committee Named

A new Sustainability Coordinator position has been approved for this fiscal year. The Sustainability Committee named a hiring committee recently, comprised of Committee members and two University representatives, one from Biology and one from Student Life and Leadership, with whom the Coordinator is likely to work closely. The members are: Dave Lococo, chair (Physical Plant and Committee); Carol Reid (SLL); Dottie Engle (Boiology); Dan Marschner (Admissions and Committee); Laura Wallace (student and former Sustainability Intern). The position will report to Dave Lococo, Exec. Director of Physical Plant. The Coordinator’s office space, however, will be more centrally located to facilitate contact with students, faculty and staff across the University. The timeline calls for making a final selection by the end of August.

Click here for a link to the Sustainability Coordinator Announcement,

YSU Sustainable Energy Forum

Carbon Vision presented at the YSU Sustainability Forum on the afternoon of June 8 on the topic of the financial and educational benefits of solar installations at schools and colleges. The prior week Carbon Vision and Youngstown State entered into an Agreement in Principle for the installation of a 60 KW Solar PV system on the rooftop of the University's Moser Hall. Ohio U. S. Senator Sherrod Brown, Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and Dr. David Sweet, President of Youngstown State University were all in attendance at the signing of the Agreement for the solar installation. Dr. Martin Abraham of the YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) announced that the installation would also include a solar panel rooftop racking system supplied by the local Youngstown-based company, Northern States Metals. This project combines green energy, local jobs creation, and renewable energy instruction for students.

Click here for WFMJ video coverage of this event

Ohio Passes New Financing and Tax Legislation for Renewable Energy Projects

On June 17, 2010, State Legislation in the form of Senate Bill 232 was signed into law by Ohio Governor Strickland. SB 232 eliminates the tangible personal property tax and energy generation tax on advanced energy projects in the State. These taxes were a significant disincentive to renewable energy projects. Their elimination helps the State extend its leadership in the emerging energy market and will assist in the creation of more new jobs in this sector. The Bill exempts renewable energy systems installed between 1/1/2009 and 1/1/2012. Eligible renewable energy systems which qualify are also those that meet Ohio's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard and include solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, fuel cells, and energy derived from solid waste. Projects must create a certain amount of Ohio jobs to be eligible. Additionally, projects larger than 5 MW in scope must obtain approval from their local County Commissioner for the tax exemption to take effect. Projects with a nameplate capacity of less than 250 KW will be permanently exempt from personal property taxation.

SB 232 also expanded eligibility for creation of Special Improvement District (SID) Financing. SID financing for Ohio was initially authorized in July 2009 when Ohio House Bill 1 was signed into law. It permits property owners to pay for the costs of certain projects through their real-estate taxes with payback durations of up to 30 years. Until recently, these projects were limited to solar, but SB 232 expanded the SID, or Property Assessed Clean Energy (P.A.C.E.) financing to include energy efficiency, solar PV, solar thermal, geothermal, wind, biomass, and gasification technologies. Currently the City of Cleveland and 16 suburbs are working to enact specific legislation for PACE financing in their respective municipalities. The 16 cities are all member cities of the First Suburbs Development Council. http://www.fscdc.org

What this means for property owners

Combined with current state and federal incentives, the use of PACE financing allows property owners to install a renewable energy system with virtually no up-front costs. The portion of the system cost not covered by cash incentives or tax credits can be paid for over an extended duration of up to 30 years by adding the costs to your existing real-estate taxes, making it more affordable than traditional borrowing. The First Suburbs Development Council is working with the Cleveland Port Authority to generate the first $5 Million of PACE financing availability.

Reference: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=128_SB_232

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