#MyLastTrash
Could your next piece of trash be your last? That鈥檚 the question 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 hopes you鈥檒l ask yourself every time you toss something away, so as to help 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 achieve its goal of zero waste by 2020.
That would mean a population of around 500,000 students, staff and faculty, plus countless visitors every year, sending next to nothing to landfills. It鈥檚 not a small challenge, but 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 has made big strides, already diverting 69 percent of its waste from landfill. As with many great challenges, however, the last mile is the hardest.
鈥淲hat we need is a collective push to get us across the finish line,鈥 said Hilary Bekmann, associate director of sustainability for the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 system. To get that push, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 has launched its , asking students, staff and faculty to:
- to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (and perhaps win a pair of #MyLastTrash argyle socks).
- to promote the #MyLastTrash effort even further. (The application deadline is midnight Nov. 8.)
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday (Oct. 23) honored the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 system as a 鈥淕reen Power Leader鈥 for 2017 鈥 and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis was a major contributor to this achievement. The recognition comes as 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 strives for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings and vehicle fleet by 2025, something no other major university system has done.
The 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 system also has a goal of zero waste 鈥 and has launched the #MyLastTrash hashtag (or should it be a 鈥渢rashtag鈥?) to aid the cause. See story in box.
The EPA based its on statistics from 2016, when all of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 boasted on-campus solar generation of 36 megawatts. 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis produced almost half of that, primarily from the 16.3-megawatt solar farm on 62 acres south of Interstate 80.
Fittingly, David Phillips accepted the EPA award on behalf of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息. He served as the Davis campus鈥檚 director of utilities during the planning and construction of the solar farm, which went online in 2015. He has since moved to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 headquarters as associate vice president of energy and sustainability 鈥 and it was in that role that he attended the awards ceremony. It took place during the during the Renewable Energy Markets Conference in New York City.
Getting more from the sun
Phillips cited another 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis contribution to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息鈥檚 green power leadership: 鈥淓qually important, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 investments in two Central Valley solar farms transformed that development into the country鈥檚 largest university solar project.鈥
新澳门六合彩内幕信息 originally planned a long-term contract to buy all 60 megawatts of power from a single solar farm, Five Points, in Fresno County. Then, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis upsized the project to 80 MW (60 from Five Points and 20 from Giffen), and, as a result, the campus gets a greater share of the power. Five Points came online last November and Giffen in August of this year.
Here鈥檚 the bottom line for 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis as of today: More than half of the campus鈥檚 supply of electricity is carbon-neutral, with 15 percent coming from hydropower (Western Area Power Administration), 14 percent from on-campus renewables (solar power and biodigester) and about 23 percent from off-campus solar (the Central Valley farms), according to David Trombly, senior engineer in the utilities division.
新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 green power statistics for 2016 show on-site production and off-campus purchases of 45.5 million kilowatt hours, or 36 percent of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 total of 128 million kWh. Further, the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 system as a whole ranked fourth in the EPA鈥檚 tracking of on-site green power generation, behind Walmart, Apple and the Department of Energy.
The EPA鈥檚 annual Green Power Leadership Awards recognize organizations, programs and individuals for actions that significantly advance the development of green power sources. The EPA defines green power as electricity that is generated from renewable resources, including wind, solar, geothermal, biogas and low-impact hydropower.
The awards are given in five categories. 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 received one of eight Excellence in Green Power Use Awards; the University of Tennessee at Knoxville was the only other university to be honored in this category.
新澳门六合彩内幕信息 President Janet Napolitano launched the university鈥檚 in 2013. The initiative builds on 新澳门六合彩内幕信息鈥檚 pioneering work on climate research and furthers the university鈥檚 leadership on sustainable business practices. 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 is improving its energy efficiency, developing new sources of renewable energy and enacting a range of related strategies to cut carbon emissions.
Campuses are thinking creatively
Commenting on the EPA award, Napolitano said: 鈥淚 am excited about the leadership role that University of California campuses and medical centers are playing in accelerating the transition to renewable energy. It鈥檚 the right thing for us to be doing, both environmentally and economically. Clean energy technologies are creating jobs, benefiting local communities and helping us shrink our carbon footprint.鈥
Phillips acknowledged that the 2025 carbon-neutrality goal is ambitious, but noted that 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 has 13 megawatts of additional solar power in development, and the campuses are thinking creatively about how to succeed.
鈥淐ost-effectively cutting emissions requires both on-campus action and systemwide collaboration, and this is showcased in 新澳门六合彩内幕信息鈥檚 work to develop new renewable energy supplies,鈥 he said.
The 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Office of the President contributed to this report.
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Dateline Staff, 530-752-6556, dateline@ucdavis.edu