UAlbany Energy - Community

UAlbany Energy Campaign News :: Fall 2007 Energy Campaign

Author: Matt R.
Subject: Fall 2007 Energy Campaign
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:17 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

The Fall 2007 Energy Campaign has started!

This semester's energy campaign will span from September 5th to November 10th. The Spring 2007 campaign was a success so we are hoping that the Fall 2007 campaign will be even better!

Colonial, Dutch, Indian, and State saved a total of 75,884 kWh's. Freedom Apartments saved 634 kWh's and Empire Commons ended with an increase in electricity consumption.

All the rewards should be installed by now. You can view earned rewards here: http://www.ualbanyenergy.org/website/prizes2007spring.pdf

Community Polls :: How would you like to spend the money saved?

Author: Matt R.
Subject: How would you like to spend the money saved?
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:26 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

THERE IS STILL TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND EARN MONEY FOR YOUR RESIDENCE HALL OR APARTMENT!

As you know, the UAlbany Goes Green Initiative is focused on reducing its use of electrical energy (current usage is about $7 million per year) to become a more sustainable community. The campaign is nearing the end, but there is still time to make a difference. After the buildings close for Spring break, any savings for this same timeframe as compared to 2006 will be GIVEN TO EACH QUAD OR APARTMENT! This notion of everyone being a winner is a wonderful initiative to help facilitate a change in behavior in all of us to bring us to a new level of energy savings on campus as well as the greater community.

Every on campus student uptown gets to vote on how they would like to spend the money saved in their place of residence! Visit www.ualbanyenergy.com to find out where your residence hall or apartment stands in the campaign, and also to sign up to cast your vote! To register and vote for quad prizes go to: www.ualbanyenergy.org

1. Click on the Community Login button on the very top
2. Click on the register button on the far right of the drop down area.
3. Agree to message board terms
4. Fill in the information required *. Use your UAlbany email address.
5. Once your form is complete click "Submit" on the very bottom.
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6. After you register sign in to the website using the Community Login button
7. Click on the Community Polls button next to it. Find the Poll you want to vote on and click it.
8. You will then be redirected to the actually community poll where you can vote on your favorite prize.
9. Just make sure you are signed into the website buy clicking the Community Login button. If you're not, just make sure to sign in again. Certain browsers will log you out.

We encourage residents to come up with innovative ideas to reduce electrical usage within their community, and participate with the remaining programs over the next week. Here are just a few. Check with your Quad or Apartment complex for more information!

UAlbany Energy Campaign News :: 2/28/2007 Energy Usage Update

Author: Matt R.
Subject: 2/28/2007 Energy Usage Update
Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 6:46 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

Empire's in the red!
At approximately 6:10 PM, Gene H. updated all six residence data. Empire Commons is now above the Spring 2006 baseline (+1%). Colonial Quad, Freedom Apartments, and State Quad are struggling at 0%. Indian and Dutch Quad's have remained at -3%.

More to be explained in following posts...

Website Energy Usage Update Schedule:
Monday: Indian, State, Dutch, and Colonial
Wednesday: Indian, State, Dutch, Colonial, Empire Commons, and Freedom Apartments
Friday: Indian, State, Dutch, and Colonial

Environmental News Headlines :: Act regionally to stop global warming!

Author: NYPIRG Liz
Subject: Act regionally to stop global warming!
Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:45 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

NYPIRG's Environmental Protection Project urging students to submit public comments regarding the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. It's easy to do, and makes a big difference! For those of you who aren't entirely familiar with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI): New York and 8 surrounding states have committed to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions to combat global climate change. They have proposed this plan to have power plants reduce their emissions by 10% by 2019. The state has issued a preliminary draft regulation for how to acheive these emissions reductions, and are accepting comments from the public.

Please copy the below letter by hand, legibly and feel free to add to it or put it in your own words if you wish. Encourage as many people as you can to do the same! All letters must be hand-written legibly and include a New York State address. The more letters we get, the more pressure will be on the government to enact these changes. Drop off completed letters in the NYPIRG office, Campus Center Room 307, by Friday, March 2nd, and we'll mail them for you. A sample letter is included below.

SAMPLE RGGI COMMENT LETTER
(Date)
Department of Environmental Conservation
Climate Change Office
625 Broadway, 14th floor
Albany, NY 12233
Re: New York State Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Pre-Proposal Rule- Part 242 to Title 6 NYCRR
Dear Climate Change Office:
I would like to commend the Department for moving forward with regulating power plants� global warming pollution. I fully support the Department�s decision to require polluters to purchase all the emissions credits needed to comply with the rule. This puts people ahead of polluters and must be kept within the language of the regulation.
Unfortunately, there are two areas that need to be fixed before the preliminary rule is issued as a draft regulation.
1. Require that all large scale power producing facilities be subject to this program. The state should not be creating exemptions when the ultimate goal is to expand the program to include other major sources of global warming.
2. Ensure the nuclear industry does not profit from the regulations. Nuclear power should be specifically excluded from receiving any funds designed to help limit global warming pollution.
These changes will ensure the public benefits from New York addressing global warming.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit these comments.
Sincerely,
(Name & Full Address)
_________________
Liz Hartman
NYPIRG at UAlbany Project Coordinator
CC307
442-5658
albany@nypirg.org

UAlbany Energy Campaign News :: 2/16/2007 Energy Usage Update

Author: Matt R.
Subject: 2/16/2007 Energy Usage Update
Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:32 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

Please Note:
Unfortunately due to the snow storm, meter readers were unable to obtain the energy usage figures for Empire Commons and Freedom Apartments. Hopefully the updated energy usage for these two living areas will be available on the website next week (2/21/2007).

The four Residence Quads (Indian, State, Dutch, and Colonial) were updated today (2/16/2007).

Website Energy Usage Update Schedule:
Monday: Indian, State, Dutch, and Colonial
Wednesday: Indian, State, Dutch, Colonial, Empire Commons, and Freedom Apartments
Friday: Indian, State, Dutch, and Colonial

Environmental News Headlines :: It's Getting Hot in Here!

Author: Nickleson
Subject: It's Getting Hot in Here!
Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:47 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

I hope you're all ready, my gracious guardians of Gaia, for the energy campaign is currently underway! If not yet, energy efficiency percentages will soon be released and exposed to the public. I've decided that since the campaign is beginning, I'll give you all a bit of inspiration and tell you why conserving resources is so important.

So first of all, what exactly is global warming? Well, when the sun's radiation hits the planet, it is either reflected or emitted off of the earth with the intent of escaping the planet. However, greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and even water vapor trap some of that radiation in, causing a heating effect. When we burn fossil fuels, we are taking ancient carbon that's been stored away for millennia and introducing it back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, causing more and more heat to be trapped. As the heating accumulates, this leads directly to global warming, causing a slew of rather unfortunate consequences.

As the planet's temperature rises, glaciers and permafrost will melt, sea levels and oceanic temperatures will rise, and the species of this world go crazy desperately attempting to keep up with a change that they are obviously unprepared to adapt to. Because of the warmer average temperatures, the migratory patterns of birds are thrown off, sensitive coral reefs die out due to the temperature difference of a mere few degrees, and mosquitos, in addition to other bugs become much more prolific in areas they could never have survived in previously. Hurricanes, typhoons, and tornadoes are at an all-time high, wreaking massive amounts of damage upon our cities(such as New Orleans). We have reached a point that even the planet didn't expect.

In this planet's history, global warming and cooling has been a natural cycle, but a temperature rise of this magnitude is completely unprecedented. In correlating graphs between time and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, one can find that the concentration(as well as temperature) trends begin to increase dramatically right around the same time as the industrial revolution. It is clear that we have a hand in this and that it is our responsibility and duty to clean up this mess.

While the future may seem bleak, if we step up to this challenge, we can make a difference not just for us, but for our children, as well as generations down the line! In setting a new standard for conservation efforts, we can have a huge impact simply by doing the most mundane of tasks. So now I'm calling for all of you to rise to this occasion and make our generation proud! If you want more details on how you can help or any other questions, drop me a line at nc4092@albany.edu and I shall respond to you as expediently as I can. Remember-we can make a difference!

Nickleson Cook is a member of the environmental taskforce and hopes you're as ready to rise to the occasion as he is.

Environmental News Headlines :: Kilowatts to Kilobucks

Author: Nickleson
Subject: Kilowatts to Kilobucks
Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:46 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

The university is counting down the seconds until the start of the Energy Saving Campaign-just a few short days! We hope you're all preparing for this university effort by shutting off those lights and pressuring your peers to do so, my fellow creative and concerned conservationists! With the campaign so close at hand, it's time to disclose the main details of this event, for there's even more to gain from this than you think.

To recap, the Energy Saving Campaign is a project of SUNY Albany's Environmental Sustainability Task Force. Our goals for this campaign are to help residents develop efficient, environmentally friendly, energy saving habits and to assess current energy usage on campus. The campaign will run from February 1st to April 1st. We strongly encourage all residents to do their part to make this campus a more environmentally sustainable community!

Released weekly in the ASP will be energy efficiency percentages for Indian, State, Colonial, and Dutch quads; as well as Empire Commons and Freedom Apartments. Due to technical difficulties in deciphering the actual energy usage for Alumni Quad, we regret that we won't have the proper data for it to run in the campaign. Every week, energy meters will be read for each building on each quad and these readings will be used as a comparison to baselines for the same week last year(Spring 2006). The percentages are created based on these comparisons. Once the campaign begins, you can also check your quad or apartment complex's electrical efficiency percentage and which buildings are included at www.ualbanyenergy.org. If you click on the associated image, it'll even take you to a graph and chart showing your quad or apartment complex's overall progress.

To help encourage residents, the university will reward each quad or apartment complex according to their energy efficiency achievements. A vote on what to use the cash on will eventually occur. If you'd like to discuss what you'd want or other energy related subjects, just log onto the forums at the UAlbany Energy website, and post a topic about it. Register with your SUNY e-mail, and you're good to go. If you have any questions about the site, click on the FAQ's link and you'll find answers to most common inquiries about the campaign and website. Under the FAQ's page, we've included a few nifty tutorials to help you get involved. Should you have any additional questions or comments, feel free to e-mail us at webmaster@ualbanyenergy.org and we will do our best to answer you in an expedient manner.

Nickleson Cook and Matt Ryan are members of the Environmental Sustainability Task Force and hope you hate pollution as much as we do.

Environmental News Headlines :: The Environmental Task Force and You

Author: Nickleson
Subject: The Environmental Task Force and You
Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:42 pm (GMT -5)
Topic Replies: 0

SUNY Albany's Environmental Task Force is a coalition of professors and students set up by the late president Hall to attempt to make our campus more environmentally friendly. Often times, when I begin explaining this task force and the Go Green effort, I am immediately met with cynicism. But before you, like so many others, sway to this demeanor, hear me out. The blunt truth is, this task force has many great minds forming many great ideas, but time is still needed to do anything.

As it currently stands, our school's recycling and energy conserving capabilities are next to abysmal, however, you will be pleased to know that the blame runs to the student just as much as the administration. And why would you be pleased to hear that you're also guilty for making mother nature cry? Because you can do something about it! I walk through the campus center and see trash thrown into recycling bins. Why? Because people are just too damn lazy to walk over to a trash can. Computers and lights are left on all over this campus 24 hours a day simply due to apathy. You know, AOL just released a new version that lets you IM people that aren't online, so you can shut off your computer and still get those regretful drunken IMs from your stupid drunk friends! I know, I know...getting up and flicking that light switch? Walking an extra 10 feet just to get to that garbage can? It's an absolute journey, but that's why the task force was made.

This coming February, an energy conservation campaign is beginning for all of the uptown quads and apartments. Accompanying my wonderful article every week will be a percentage change in the energy efficiency of each quad and apartment, so you can check up and see just how much your neck of the woods loves the Earth. Furthermore, every last penny saved goes directly to the quad or apartment to be spent on things for the quad. See? You get to hug a tree and get something out of the deal! With any hope, some of these habits will stick with you. Ah, but the fun doesn't stop there.

In an effort to get the most efficient input, we've set up a website with online forums and polls so you can tell us what you think about it(http://www.ualbanyenergy.org/). Just register with your SUNY e-mail and you're good to go. We need as much input as possible, so get all your friends into it(peer pressure works wonders!).

Now that I've gotten that bit done with, we can move on to my secondary objective in pumping out a weekly article: education and edification for the sake of efficient and effectual environmental enlightenment. In other words, discussing environmental issues, how they just might matter, and how you just might be able to do something about it. I encourage anyone who finds their eyes meandering upon my article to write me an e-mail, should you have a question or comment(nc4092@albany.edu), and I will gladly discuss it in the following week's article to the best of my ability.

Nickleson Cook is a member of the Environmental Task Force and a strong advocate for tree-hugging.