George A. Smathers Libraries Green Team

A University of Florida Libraries weblog

Archive for December, 2008


Dec. 2nd meeting

Published December 2nd, 2008 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

In our meeting today we discussed:

-the incandescent/CFL lightbulb exchange that the Office of Sustainability is coordinating.  We sent out an announcement about it out to the watercooler list.  Jack, Beth, and Bonnie will be contacts.  We’ll collect incandescent bulbs or $1 bills until this Thursday, Dec. 4th and then Beth will let Jason Fults konw how many to reserve.  We’ll pick up the CFLs on Tues., Dec. 9th sometime between 11am-2pm.  Those that reserved the CFLs will pick them up from our offices on Wed., Dec. 10th.

-Green Team t-shirt: Alicia is going to look into some companies that can print organic cotton shirts.

-Take the stairs sign: Bonnie (I believe) came up with the clever phrase :Burn calories, save watts.” Alicia is going to get in touch with Barbara H. to have the sign changed.

-Saving energy: Laurie will inquire about making the computers more energy efficient.  Robena will check on the status of having the monitors use sleep mode in the next branch meeting (? or some other meeting)

-Mr. Beale, the retired environmental engineer: Alicia will get in touch with him to see when he may be available to either come to one of our Green Team meetings or to present some ideas at a staff/town meeting

-Green Team captain meeting that was on Nov. 20:

  1. One Less Car update- will have the challenge every fall semester.  The winning team will be a combination of the most active team and the number of participants.  There will be an honorable mention for the team that saved the most CO2.
  2. Change the Margins campaign-  The default margins in Word are 1.25″ on the left/right and 1″ on the top/bottom.  If we change all sides to 0.75″ we will have 19% more typing space.  If everyone did this on campus we could save 22 million sheets of paper, 72 acres of forest, $120,000/year.  The Office of Sustainability is going to ask that the margins be changed in all computer labs.
  3. Sustainability Recognition Awards- 2 tracks: student track and faculty/staff track.  Each track will have awards for water saving, energy/waste reduction, and a Bright Idea award.  The Bright Idea award will recognize the best idea for advancing sustainability.  The faculty/staff track will include an award for the most active Green Team.  The awards will be presented on Earth Day (April 22, 2009) by Dr. Machen.  Green Team volunteers are wanted to help design the rewards.  If you want to help, please contact Jason Fults in the Office of Sustainability, jason@ufl.edu

Please comment if I left anything out.

CFL free lightbulb exchange

Published December 1st, 2008 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Hi everyone, I’m just forwarding this email from Jason in the Office of Sustainability.  We can talk about it in tomorrow’s meeting.

On December 8th & 9th, the UF Office of Sustainability’s Green Team
Network (http://www.sustainable.ufl.edu/greenteam/), in collaboration
with Neutral Gator (http://www.neutralgator.org/), will host a

lightbulb exchange to help offset the carbon footprint of UF
athletics.  Our goal is to distribute 1,000 high-efficiency compact
fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) to members of the UF community.  Each of
these lightbulbs, which normally sell for a few dollars each, can last
for several years and save you approximately $55 in energy costs when
you use them to replace regular incandescent bulbs.  The U.S.
Department of Energy estimates that if every American home replaced
just one regular lightbulb with a CFL, we would save almost six
billion kWh per year—enough energy to light nearly three million
homes.  We’d also save more than $600 million in annual energy costs
and reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of nearly 750,000 cars.

CFLs will save you money and lighten your carbon footprint, and you
can get them FOR FREE through participating in this event.  They also
make great holiday gifts for your friends and family who haven’t yet
made the switch.

HERE’S HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Take orders from your Green Team and other department members the week
of December 1st-5th, and let Jason know how many CFLs you’d like to
reserve (by responding to this post on the Green Team Google Group).
The CFLs can be exchanged 1 for 1 for incandescent bulbs for free, or
you can buy the CFLs (without exchanging) for $1 each.

The bulbs will be reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis, and
will be distributed via a table at the Colonnade on December 8th from
11a.m.-5p.m and December 9th from 11a.m.-2p.m.  When you reserve your
CFLs, please include when you would like to pick them up and a phone
number where you can be reached during business hours.

If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this post or contact
Jason Fults, Green Team Project Manager (392-7578, ext. 34).