Ellison Hall Sustainability Campaigns

People standing in a room

Phelps & Ellison Hall Energy Competition

May 5th, 2008 marked the launch of the Phelps & Ellison Halls Energy Competition. The competition aims to reduce building energy use and educate faculty, staff and students about the importance of energy efficiency and conservation.

UCSB and Santa Barbara County are taking action to reduce their impact on global climate change by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. The Community Environmental Council (CEC) has challenged the tri-county region to set a national and worldwide example, by taking initiative to become Fossil Free by 2033. As an active participant in the community, UCSB is taking on the challenge of increasing conservation and energy efficiency on campus. Phelps and Ellison Halls are stepping up to that challenge.

The judging criteria includes:

  1. Percentage reduction in building energy use.
  2. The number of faculty and staff members that pledge to reduce their carbon footprint via the Community Environmental Council’s Get Energized Campaign. In order to receive credit for your pledge, please send your results to phelpsellisonenergy@gmail.com using your halls name for identification.
  3. Taking initiative in your building implementing energy savings among building inhabitants.
    • Promoting turning off the lights and replacing inefficient lighting
    • Programming computers to hibernate
    • Delamping offices and hallways

The energy competition will be judged in January 2009 by campus faculty and staff as well as Tam Hunt, Energy Program Director at the Community Environmental Council.

Katie Maynard

Zero Waste, One Step Ahead of the Game!

Funded by The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF)

Recently the UC Office of the President passed a policy which set waste reduction goals at 50% diversion rate by 2008, 75% diversion rate by 2012, and zero waste by 2020 for all UC Campuses. See the full UC Policy on Sustainable Practices (link to PDF of UC Policy) for more info. Since UCSB already has an incredible diversion rate of 53.23% in 2006 (More on Campus Statistics), The Ellison Hall Sustainability Committee thinks it only makes sense to stay “One Step Ahead of the Game” and shoot for 75% by 2008 and Zero Waste by 2012. In our February 2008, waste audit, we met and exceeded that goal by achieving a 88.76% diversion rate.

Our recycling model is:

Comprehensive: Within Ellison Hall, you can recycle electronic waste, ink cartridges and toner, plastic bags and other thin plastics, textbooks, glossy and magazines, office paper, plastics 1-7, aluminum and glass, cardboard and compost. 48.22% of our waste stream is purposefully recycled materials not including cardboard and paper (waste audit, 2008). Paper and cardboard are still the vast majority of recyclables, but other materials are also important.

Fueled by Behavioral Change: The Ellison Hall Sustainability Committee is made up of the staff, faculty and students that work in the building. These are the same people that will have to change their behaviors to properly sort their recyclables and to think about their waste in a different way.

Headed towards Zero Waste: The last 11.24% is going to be very difficult for us to eliminate, however we have already started to create plans to address this component of our waste stream. In May 2008, we sold mugs at a highly subsidized rate to executive officers in each department to give away to their staff for staff appreciation week. We believe this will help us eliminate disposable cups from the waste stream. We are also looking into ways to reduce bathroom trash. Let us know if you have any ideas for cutting down waste.

See the results of our last waste audit

Information on what you can recycle

More waste facts

Hurricane

Taking the LEED to Climate Neutrality

This year Ellison Hall is going to be certified as a "green" building through the USGBC’s LEEDTM Existing Buildings (LEEDTM EB) Certification Program http://www.usgbc.org/

We will be setting goals towards fighting climate change, improving energy and water efficiency, waste reduction and management, transportation, purchasing, reduction of toxic chemicals, and more!

There are several levels of certification ranging from certified, to green, silver, gold, and platinum. We encourage you to help take the LEEDTM and support us in reaching for as high a certification level as possible.

Ellison will be one of 25 buildings which UCSB Facilities Management will be certifying within 5 years as part of the LEEDTM Portfolio Program.

Learn more about LEEDTM EB

Review more on UC Policy on Sustainable Practices.

Back to Ellison Hall Sustainability page