Good Jobs Green Jobs Regional Conference 2012

This was a great experience. I met a lot of great contacts and enourage you to go to www.greenjobsconfernce.org to check it out. There is also a Facebook. It is facebook.com/goodjobsgreenjobs. You can follow the conference on twitter @gjgjconference #gjgj2012.

The conference will be held in  in the West in Los Angeles, CA  March 15-16, Philadelphia, PA April 3-4, and in the Midwest in Detroit, MI May 10-11

While at this conference I met Bernie Burgerner with the Southeastern Green Chamber of Commerce.

I am quoting part of his email below:

“You can find more information on the Green Chamber and on our Greenhouse Accelerator on our website:  www.greencs.org.

Your ‘Shades of Green’ efforts look very interesting and seem to have found an appreciative audience.  We are all about creating green local jobs by helping green startups become successful, and we do this by accompanying the startups with a team of advisors for about two years, and by providing bridge loans of up to $50,000 – all pro bono (as a non-profit organization), applying the experience and know-how of our wide membership base.  We also take the ‘sustainability’ message to academic institutions – we spent time in the classrooms with Emory’s Goizueta Business School Executive MBA program and with GSU’s Global Partners’ MBA program.”
I plan to join the chamber as an individual. I think it is worth the money to have a voice in green jobs.
Dee

Single-stream Recycling

Beginning now, the GC recycling program is accepting single-stream recycling!  This means that you can mix your newspaper, mixed paper, aluminum cans, steel cans, and plastics #1 and #2 in the same bag to drop off at the recycling centers!

Blue bins are being converted to two separate collections: one for mixed paper/newspaper, and another for bottles/cans.  Cardboard should be broken down and stacked neatly behind the blue bins.

Energy and Water Meters Installed

Over the last two months, Plant Operations has installed 70 flow meters to measure electricity, natural gas, water, steam, and fuel oil usage for main campus buildings.  About half of the meters are electricity meters, making continuous measurements of energy usage for each building.  In the past, GC’s main campus was all one connected circuit, so we couldn’t determine how much electricity each building was using.

The meters are data-linked to our Siemens Apogee System software, which allows our energy technicians to constantly monitor and report usage.  The Sustainability Council Energy Workgroup will be meeting soon to draft a reporting plan that will serve to encourage the campus community to pay attention to their energy use and conserve where possible.

Clean Air Campaign

The Office of Human Resources & Employee Relations is excited to announce Georgia College’s recent partnership with the Clean Air Campaign initiative.

What is the Clean Air Campaign?

The Clean Air Campaign is a not-for-profit organization that motivates Georgians to take action to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion. Their focus is on both congestion and air quality because they are linked—vehicle emissions are a major contributor to smog formation.

The Clean Air Campaign. . .

  • motivates commuters to use other ways to travel to work, events, and school, such as carpooling, teleworking, vanpooling, taking transit, biking and walking. We call these commute alternatives.
  • partners with employers to develop customized programs that motivate and make it easier for their employees to use commute alternatives.
  • works with schools to educate and involve our next generation of citizens to participate in solutions to our traffic and air pollution problems.

Formed in 1996 by government, business, civic, health, environmental and educational organizations, The Clean Air Campaign is one of 10 organizations in the region implementing strategies that improve mobility, also known as transportation demand management (TDM). The Clean Air Campaign also administers and provides marketing support for regional incentive programs, such as Commuter Rewards, that encourage commuters to use commute alternatives such as carpooling, transit, vanpooling, teleworking, biking and walking.

What is Commuter Rewards?

Commuter Rewards is a program that rewards commuters who carpool, ride transit, vanpool, telework, bicycle or walk to work. The concept is simple: Use a commute alternative. Log your commute. Earn cash. Win prizes. Register at http://www.logyourcommute.org. Below is a description of the commuter rewards that are available to you.

CASH FOR COMMUTERS: Start to carpool, telework, use transit, walk or bicycle to work and earn $3 a day, up to $100.

CARPOOL REWARDS: Carpools of 3 or more people who ride together and log enough trips each month can ear $40 or even $60 gas cards.

COMMUTER PRIZES: Random prizes of $25 are awarded to individuals who use alternative commute modes. This isn’t like the lottery – one in 20 participants wins each month! The more you log, the great your chances of winning.

RECOGNITION FOR CLEAN COMMUTING: Individuals who reach clean commuting milestones receive special recognition for doing their part to improve air quality.
Questions about the Clean Air Campaign initiative can be directed to Diane Kirkwood, diane.kirkwood@gcsu.edu, or Kimberly M. Tarver, kimberly.tarver@gcsu.edu.  

Recycling Updates

Plant Operations Director John Gadson and Custodial Superintendent Walter Dudley met in mid-December with the General Manager of Advanced Disposal, Mr. Jon Hipp.  We toured campus and discussed the options available to Georgia College for curbside collection of waste and recycling.  The advantages of moving to curbside collection include less handling of materials, thus making it easier for student/staff/faculty volunteers to deposit recyclable materials anytime day or night, and right next to their office or residence hall.

GC disposal bins- Main campus. Green dots are roll-off bins, Gold triangles are 1 cubic yd. bins, and Red squares are 9 cub. yd. front loader bins.

 

Also, Mr. Hipp confirmed that because of the Material Recovery Facility in operation at Attaway Recycling, we no longer have to sort materials into separate bags.  All recycling (mixed paper, newspaper, plastics #1 & #2, aluminum and steel cans) can be bagged together.  We will begin switching the blue bins over to a new configuration shortly.