@ the Sustainability Charrette
•New Student Orientation
•Staff Training
•Curriculum and faculty training
•Bike and scooter rentals
•Carpooling and ZipCar options
•Sustainability Portal Website
•Rainwater Collection
•Passive conservation design
New Student Orientation
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Directed towards Freshmen, Transfers, etc
NRB/SO
Seminar on sustainability within RPI
What is happening on campus, research,
presentations from student groups
(Ecologic etc.), how you can be sustainable
 FYE start up kit
 Contains
-Mug – non-plastic
-Cloth bag – replace all plastic bags on
campus (aka in Union etc.)
-Incentives for not using plastic bags (either
charged less for not using one or charging
more for using one)
New Student Orientation (cn’d)
 Power Strip – guide to organization in order to eliminate
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phantom loads
Guide on how to be sustainable
Equate consumption to impact etc.
-What a volt is etc. and how much you impact the
environment personally (how much energy do you use per
hour of video games etc. )
Tray-less cafeteria
Go along with orientation in how much can be saved by
eliminating food waste and how much can be saved by
eliminating replacing china etc.
Impact
 Environmental
 Low
 Cultural
 Medium/High
 Economic
 Cost > Medium
 Payback > N/A
New Student Orientation (cn’d)
 Stakeholders
 Student Life
 New students
 FYE (and others involved in implementation)
Implementation
 FYE
 Staff
 Students
 SO Program
 Sustainability Central Resource, if available
RA Programs
 Res Life
 Refreshers on everything that was covered
 Encouragement to live sustainability
 Continuation of education started during orientation
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Who is going to do this?
Office of sustainability
FYE
Environmental groups
Delivered by students
Staff Training Program
 NEO (New Employee Orientation)
 Begin at NEO
 Steps being taken by the Rensselaer Community –
energy, water and resource conservation
 Point out relevance to Rensselaer Plan and Mission
 Develop early good habits
 Web –based Training
 Traincaster program – develop a course around
Sustainability (interactive quizzes etc.)
Staff Training Program (cn’d)
 Seminars/Webinars
 Free seminars and webinars that will provide usage and
interactive information for faculty, staff and students
 Record webinars for future viewings
 Involve departments to keep seminars/webinars
 Incorporate sustainability training into performance plan (HR)
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Who is going to do this?
SSTF
Office of Sustainability /Task Force
Professional Development / Human Resources
Impact
 Environmental
 Low
 Cultural
 Medium/High
 Economic
 Cost > Low
 Payback > N/A
 Implementation > Short Term
Curriculum and Faculty Training
 Workshops
 Help instructors properly teach and incorporate sustainability
into courses
 Training and curriculum development workshops for
instructors
 Specific to the type of class
 Interdisciplinary
 Networking
 Allow for communication with other instructors and students
for sharing of ideas and feedback
 Allows courses to compliment and build upon one another
 Evolving methods and solutions
Goals
 Incorporate sustainability into every student’s course
of study (rather than just those who choose it as a
major/minor)
 Enable students to address the interdisciplinary and
multifaceted issues facing our world
 Incorporate sustainability into the mindsets of those at
Rensselaer
 Sustainability should be a basic element of
design/evaluation/and decision-making processes
Implementation - What
 Creation of workshops and related material
 Establishment of network
 Evaluation of effectiveness
 Surveys
 Feedback from students and instructors
Implementation – Who
 Instructors, staff, students with knowledge in
sustainability-related areas
 If available, coordination from central sustainability
resource.
Implementation – How long?
 Short Term: Creation and implementation into some
courses
 Has already begun
 Middle-term
 Further development and implementation.
 Long-term
Impact
 Environmental > Low
 Economic
 Cost > Medium
 Payback > N/A
 Cultural > High
 Implementation > Medium
Alternative Community Transportation (ACT)
 Carpooling, taxi sharing
 Google Map of people who want to carpool
 Also includes the time they need to travel to RPI
 creates easy visual to make it easier for people to carpool
 Create incentives for the driver – free parking on campus?
 Effects
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Reduces carbon emissions
Encourages Networking
Promotes unification on campus
 ACT map (bicycle racks, shuttle stops, etc.) – incorporate
into RPI Map?
 Shuttle, CDTA schedules (tie into displays at the bus stops)
ACT Continued
 Zip car (long-term goal)
 Apply for implementation online
have either a link or a sub interface in Sustainability website for
the Zipcars in Troy
 Work with Zipcar
 to extend the life on its vehicles (2 years)
 to use alternative energy vehicles (electric, CNG, biodiesel)
 to provide feedback for vehicle performance
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list data on sustainability website
 Effects
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Reduce carbon emissions
Save students/faculty/staff/administrators? Money
 Aid in the culture shift to detract from consumption
 Improvement of roads
Bike and Scooter Rentals
 Coopering with Troy Bike Rescue for supplying bikes
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and performing repairs
Bike racks and shelters will need to be replaced in
good areas on campus
Tire fill stations in high-traffic areas
Rent a bike using ID card; receive helmet and lock
from assistant
Special pricing available for monthly rentals
Charged daily, with “late fees” for bikes not returned
on time (inventory management)
Bike and Scooter Rentals (cn’d)
 Bike-related equipment to
be sold at the bookstore
 Student Union to be the
center “office” to initially
pick-up and return bikes.
 Potential for additional drop
off/pick-up areas to be
added
 Scooters also available for
rental in the same system,
except locks are not
provided since they fold for
easy transportation.
 Impact
 Economic
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Cost > High
Payback > Long
 Cultural > Medium
 Environmental > Low
 Implementation time > Medium
Sustainability Portal Website
 Will serve as a focal point for all sustainability-related
web pages at Rensselaer
 Links to both current pages (SSTF, Ecologic) and the
up and coming (Institute-Wide, ACT, ect…)
 Most recent updates/posts displayed live on the site’s
main page
Impact
 Economic
 Cost > low
 Payback > N/A
 Cultural > Medium
 Environmental > Low
 Implementation > Short - Midterm
Sustainability Portal Website
Rainwater Collection
 Research Project (Civil/structural Engineering) to
design a scalable rainwater collection system
 Use for local buildings, on roof or next to it
 Can be scalable to use for different size buildings
 Initially to be tested in house with the green house, and
then upgraded to encompass all campus buildings
Passive Conservation Design
 Schedule rooms to optimize sunlight
 Shading with trees in the summer
 Passive solar to heat rooms
 Thermal mass