Transcript PowerPoint presentation

Sustainable Housing at the
Evergreen State College
A student research project by Robin
Fenske and Mark Retzlaff
Winter 2005
Purpose of this presentation
• Summarize the results of our project
• Summarize what we’ve learned
• Does not describe framework or plans for
spring quarter
Goal
• A demonstration of the viability of currently
available solutions to sustainability issues
• Goal requires that we
– Maintain widespread applicability
– Effect lasting change
Our research question
• What can be done to make energy use in
Evergreen’s on-campus housing more
sustainable?
Hypothesis
• A detailed analysis of the current energy
system will reveal effective points of
leverage for structural change to a more
sustainable system
The Definition of Sustainability
• Allowing future generations to meet their
needs while continuing to the meet the
needs of today
• Therefore: The energy analysis must include
the human and financial benefits of the
current energy system
Our plan
•
•
•
•
Prioritize energy uses for measurement
Gather data on current energy use
Determine more efficient alternatives
Work with institution to create change
The Data We Collected
Heating Energy Use in Housing
120000
Condensate Return (lbs)
100000
80000
60000
40000
E-L Dorms
A-D Dorms
20000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Time (month)
8
9
10
11
12
What happened
• Specific data collection proved to be very
difficult
– The meters for the heating energy were not in
operation
– Electricity meters were not prevalent enough to
allow effective metering
• The housing system lacks the metering
mechanisms to use energy savings as
leverage
Exploring – the financial cost of
housing’s energy use
• Only a small portion of the total housing
budget is spent on utilities
• There is little incentive for keeping track of
the data we needed
Results
• We disproved our hypothesis
– A good analysis of the energy system is
insufficient to reveal effective points for change
– The housing institution was unmotivated by the
prospect of changing to a more efficient energy
system
Conclusions
• When seeking institutional change,
– the motivation of the institution should be
understood before deciding course of action
– the range of potential change due to alternative
behaviors is necessary, but not sufficient, for
implementing change
Our new hypothesis
• In order to identify leverage points to move
towards a more sustainable on-campus
housing, we must know
– Motivations of the agents of the system
– Alternative behaviors
More depth
• See our website for
– Essays
• The development of the project
• A response to the current framework of
environmentalism
– Plans for the future
www.academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/energy
0405/students/sustainablehousing