September 16, 2009

Purdue to celebrate sustainability with Green Week 2009

Green roof at Schleman Hall
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Green Week 2009 will include the unveiling of Purdue's new recycling plan, the grand opening of the plant-covered roof at Schleman Hall, an alternative energy transportation show and a community-wide cleanup of a local portion of the Wabash River.

A pilot recycling program at Freehafer Hall placed recycling bins at each staff person's desk. Recyclable materials are picked up from those bins by custodians twice per week, but each staffer now must take their own trash to a centralized collection point in the building.

Gary Evans, Purdue grounds director, said the program will be expanded during Green Week to five more buildings and go campus-wide in 2010.

"Desk-side recycling makes it easier to recycle, but it also prompts people to think, 'Is this item really trash?'" Evans said. "This program reverses the notion that it takes effort to recycle."

Purdue reduced its landfill total by 500 tons last academic year, Evans said. Dozens of exterior recycling bins are being placed around campus to encourage even more recycling. A full recycling plan update will be presented at 10 a.m. Monday (Sept. 21) in Stewart Center, Room 218 A/B.

Green roof plants
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Purdue Housing and Food Services serves almost 500,000 meals per month that generate 20 tons of waste. This waste no longer goes to a landfill; instead the West Lafayette Waste Treatment Plant is using it to generate methane to power the plant.

"This has been a tremendously fortuitous partnership that benefits the entire community," said Terry Cegielski, University Residences sustainability director. "While we continue to seek ways to reduce waste, this is a very practical way to reuse and recycle."

Visit https://www.purdue.edu/sustainability/pages/green_week.html  to sign up to tour the South River Road plant at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. on Tuesday (Sept 22).

Purdue President France A. Córdova will attend a public ribbon cutting at 2 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 22) for the grand opening of the plant-covered Schleman Hall green roof that covers the student services building.

The student-run Boiler Green Initiative spurred the project with help from a State Farm grant. BGI President Carmen Martin said such green roofs initially cost more to install but create long-term savings.

"The roof reduces storm water runoff, improves energy efficiency, extends the life of the roof by protecting it from the elements and is aesthetically pleasing," Martin said.

A green tea party with tours of the roof will run from 2:30-5 p.m. Boiler Green Initiative is seeking grant support to retrofit several Purdue buildings with similar roofs, including the Armory, Mann Hall and the horticulture building.

The Boiler Green Initiative is challenging the Purdue and local community to leave their cars at home during Green Week. Participants are encouraged to walk, bike, carpool or take the bus. Information and registration for the Alternative Transportation Challenge is available at https://www.boilergreen.com

The Purdue Sustainability Council is sponsoring an alternative and fuel-efficient transportation show from noon to 4 p.m. on Thursday (Sept. 24), in the bike lane west of Stewart Center. The show will feature cars from Purdue's hybrid fleet, student-built solar race cars, a Porsche converted by students to electric power, a battery-powered Volkswagen Beetle built by a professor and a Volkswagen Rabbit converted to run on biodiesel fuel including used vegetable oil.

"Purdue faculty, students and staff are advancing clean-energy technologies in surprising ways," said Brianna Dorie, Purdue Green Week coordinator. "These vehicles are a tangible touchstone of how far we have come and where we are pointed."

Green Week culminates Friday (Sept. 25) afternoon with the Sustainability Showcase, which will fill the Purdue Armory with displays explaining sustainability efforts, initiatives and research at Purdue, and with its vendors, supporters and others in the local community.

"Purdue functions like a small city that is increasingly focused on sustainable practices," said Robin Ridgway, Purdue's director of sustainability and environmental stewardship. "The showcase features the best ways we create heat and electricity, eat, clean, use water, transport people, clean facilities, and dispose and reuse waste."

Ridgway will give tours of Purdue's increasingly modern utility plant at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 23). Sign up for the tours online at https://www.purdue.edu/sustainability/pages/green_week.html

"Purdue is investing millions of dollars to ensure that this cogeneration plant continues to meet the university's energy needs as cleanly, efficiently and affordably as possible well into the future," Ridgway said. "For the last century, Purdue has accomplished this goal in large part through the efficient and once uncommon practice of generating steam to simultaneously provide both heat and electricity to the campus."

The week concludes with the Wabash River Cleanup from 4-7 p.m. on Friday (Sept. 25). Dozens of volunteers will descend on a one-mile stretch of the river south of State Road 26 to bag, remove and, when possible, recycle deposited waste.

A complete and up-to-date list of the week's events - which includes a symposium on better water-usage practices, a panel discussion on sustainability efforts at universities statewide and a presentation on Purdue's efforts to become an arboretum - is available at Purdue's sustainability Web site, "Black & Gold & Green," at https://www.purdue.edu/sustainability

Writer: Jim Schenke, 765-494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu

Sources: Robin Ridgway, 765-496-6405, rmridgway@purdue.edu

 Gary Evans, 765-494-0139, gkevans@purdue.edu

Brianna Dorie, bdorie@purdue.edu

Terry Cegielski, 765-494-1000, tcegiels@purdue.edu

Carmen Martin, cbmartin@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: A complete listing of events is available at https://www.purdue.edu/sustainability

PHOTO CAPTION:
Purdue's Green Week 2009 will include tours during the grand opening of the new green roof at Schleman Hall that is largely cloaked in a variety of colorful vegetation. The vegetation controls storm water runoff and makes the building more energy efficient. (Purdue University photo/Andrew Hancock)

Publication-quality photos are available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2009/green-roof.jpg  and https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2009/green-roof-plants.jpg

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