This past week was Green Week at Hopkins, and the University hosted many events to promote sustainability and environmental awareness.
As part of this year's Green Week, the Green Idea Generator was a forum for students to present their proposals to make the school more ecologically friendly.
Held by the Sustainability Initiative along with Students for Environmental Awareness (SEA), the third annual Green Idea Generator had eight students and student groups showcase their ideas.
After the presentation and a question-and-answer session, leaders of the Sustainability Initiative along with leaders of student environmental groups such as SEA and Sustainable Hopkins Infrastructure Program (SHIP) developed work teams to work on these projects with the goal of implementing them by the end of the academic year.
The eight ideas presented ranged from an increase in the energy efficiency of electronics to the provision of solar-powered trash cans to composting on campus. Each proposal needed to be supported by facts about the current state of consumption in the University and estimates of the cost of implementation.
Several of these projects were modeled from structures already instituted in other universities.
In addition to individual students, two student groups also presented their ideas that are already in place for execution. A project run by Engineers Without Borders is under way to set up a rainwater harvest system with a solar-powered pump in Ames Hall courtyard, along with building a green roof on Ames Hall.
This set-up can be used to modify the designs of the similar water collection device that is an EWB project in South Africa.
The freshmen EcoReps group also presented their "Reusable Container Initiative," where instead of throwing away the take-out boxes at the FFC, a system of reusable check-out containers will be implemented into the dining program.
EcoReps is expected to present this initiative to the Dining Services soon.
The Eco-Reps meet once a week and develop one activitiy per month to raise environmental awareness in the school.
"We were discussing ideas, and we noticed just as soon as we were on campus how much waste the to-go boxes generate. We've all seen other schools with programs in place, so we wanted to do the same at Hopkins." ECO Rep Charlie Tsouvalas says.
Their idea is to purchase reusable to-go boxes. These boxes can then be checked out by students who have to pay a small deposit. If they lose their box, they lose their deposit. Otherwise, the box can just be scanned in to take food out. The boxes will be washed in the cafeteria, and another one can be checked out.
Another idea proposed fixing the elevator system in McCoy Hall, switching over to one button that called all three elevators and replacing the two-button system currently in place.
Dan Teran, the student director of the Sustainable Hopkins Infrastructure Program (SHIP) explained the idea.
"People typically press both buttons to call just one elevator, and all three elevators come as a result. It would save a lot of energy to have just one button that called all three elevators, and then when one came, the others wouldn't," Teran said.
Overall, Teran deemed the event a success, with turnout much more than the Green Idea Generator had produced in past years. "It was a big success, and pretty much all the projects are being pursued now by SHIP. I think it's going to lead to a very productive year," Teran said.
He attributed the success to the increased publicity that SHIP gave for the event through e-mails and fliers.
For the other projects, each student group has found support from either SEA or SHIP, and plans to meet with members in the coming weeks to continue discussions and gather more research.
Projects for consideration by SHIP have to meet a certain criteria, the most important of which is a payback from the program within seven years.
Since SHIP has direct access to funding, it is an effective vehicle for implementation. SHIP is backing the majority of the projects with the hopes of producing a sound proposal with irrefutable statistics to present to the University administration.
"We [SHIP] won't take no for an answer,"? Sustainability Director Davis Bookhart said.
Bookhart developed the Green Idea Generator with the Hopkins Energy Action Team (HEAT) three years ago as a way to involve the greater student body in sustainability initiatives. SEA and SHIP, along with other environmental student groups, have worked to raise awareness and to enact change.
"Green Week reaches out to students who don't normally associate themselves with one of our student environmental groups," Sustainability Coordinator Leana Houser said.
Houser said the turnout for Green Idea Generator and Green Week was much greater this year than in the past because of better organization and publicity.
"Students feel empowered when they see the success of projects designed by fellow students," Houser said.
