Student Contributor

• Milestones achieved by Facilities Management at Brock!

  Friday, June 15, 2018 | By Amanda Smits

  Blog Contributor: Shanen D’Souza

  

  Photo: Engine room at the Central Utilities Building, Brock University

  Facilities Management (FM) is the department responsible for all activities related to the maintenance, operations and development of Brock’s facilities and grounds. The department is heavily focused on sustainable development and the functioning of the campus. FM is always looking to reduce its impact on the environment and community around us. The recent grant of $75,000 awarded to Brock by the Ontario government to install 10 new electric vehicle charging stations is a testament to FM’s continued work towards Brock becoming a more sustainable campus.

  In the past year, the efforts of Facilities Management have reduced the energy consumption of the university as well as its greenhouse gas emissions. These efforts have also created thousands of dollars of yearly savings for the university. Installing new Variable Frequency Drives to two return fans in the Schmon Tower has led to over $86,000 in savings and 456,000 kWh in energy saved! These frequency drives coupled with a new high efficiency motor reduce the energy consumption of the Tower, the most used building on campus. Even a simple change in the LED lighting in both the 1^st and 5^th floors of the Tower have resulted in annual savings of over $3,000 and 17,000 kWh in energy.

  Another notable initiative by FM was the recommissioning of the Chiller in the Plaza building. A chiller is a machine that is used to cool the various buildings on campus. By using the Central Cooling Loop on campus instead, FM was able to shut down the Plaza chiller, as the Central Loop provided the necessary cooling on its own using innovative engineering methods. This has resulted in over $82,000 in annual savings and 435,000 kWh saved of energy. Subsequently, recommissioning the electric boilers in Decew Residence is now saving the university $140,000 annually and reducing energy consumption by 75,000 kWh!

  These proactive projects, along with several others in the last year, have cumulatively saved 1,750,000 kWh of energy and $332,000 on an annual basis! As the Facilities Management department leads Brock’s structural initiatives towards sustainability, the campus as a whole, can reduce its environmental impact and continue to be a good social citizen in the community.

  Categories: Blog, Innovative Partnership, Student Contributor, Sustainability at Brock

• Ready, Set, Charge!

  Thursday, June 07, 2018 | By Amanda Smits

  Blog Contributor: Shelby McFadden

  

  Photo: Electric vehicle charging station located at the Brock University International Centre.

  We have exciting news to share, as Brock was just approved for the installation of 10 new level 2 electric vehicle charging stations, which are to be installed by November 2018. Brock was generously given $75,000 through the Ontario Government’s Workplace Electric Vehicle Charging Incentive Program to carry out the project.

  To date, Brock has three electric chargers on campus, all of which are used frequently. The first charging station was installed at International Centre in 2013, through the partial gifting from Sun Country Highway. Then in 2016, two additional stations were added. There is one charger at the Central Utilities Building, and one in Lot H behind the tower.

  These chargers are available to be used by the Brock community, but also by people in the community and visitors to the Niagara Region. Currently, these chargers are free to use for permit holders, with non-permit holders only needing to pay a small amount for parking.

  With the student population sitting at around 18,000 students, and electric vehicles rising in popularity, these new charging stations will make it easier to accommodate electric vehicles on campus.

  This is really exciting, especially as someone who hopes to buy her own electric vehicle one day soon.

  While not perfect, electric vehicles have less impacts on the environment, as the only emissions are associated with electricity production, which is less of an issue with coal having been phased out in Ontario. By driving an electric vehicle, the average Canadian can reduce their car’s gas emissions by 60 to 90% (Plug ‘N Drive, n.d).

  This is a step in the right direction for helping to reach Brock’s emission reduction target of 20% by 2023.

  I am personally quite excited to see these chargers pop up around campus in the upcoming months, and am looking forward to future initiatives contributing to sustainability on campus.

  References:

  Plug ‘N Drive. (n.d). Electric vehicle benefits. Retrieved from https://www.plugndrive.ca/electric-vehicle-benefits/

  Categories: Blog, Innovative Partnership, Student Contributor, Sustainability at Brock

• Sustainability Committee Workshop

  Friday, June 01, 2018 | By Amanda Smits

  Blog Contributor: Kaitlin James

  The Brock Sustainability Coordinating Committee serves as a forum for discussion of sustainability related information, practices, actions and initiatives, with a goal to enhance and promote sustainability at Brock.

  Today we had our first sustainability committee workshop of the new year. It was great to meet everyone and hear about all of the different initiatives going on across the university campus. Bringing together such a diverse group of individuals is integral to be able to facilitate and sustain sustainability campus wide, and allowed for an all-encompassing, active discussion of what we would like the future of sustainability to look like at Brock, including potential challenges in implementation.

  Myself and the other summer interns were excited to share with the group what we have been doing over the last couple of weeks and engaged in meaningful conversation to help build our list of current initiatives taking place across campus, ensuring that our list is as comprehensive as possible. It was great to see all that is being done across the school to make steps towards a more sustainable campus. I’m excited to see what the future of sustainability at Brock has in store for us!

  To learn more about Sustainability at Brock visit: brocku.ca/sustainability

  Categories: Blog, Student Contributor, Sustainability at Brock

• In our backyard: ESRC playing a part in Brock’s Community Garden

  Friday, May 25, 2018 | By Amanda Smits

  Blog Contributor: Shanen D’Souza

  

  Brock’s Community Garden, located opposite Theal House, has received tremendous support and involvement by the Niagara community in recent years. Every year people are encouraged to adopt a plot and grow different plants, whether it is colourful flowers or vegetables for supper. The 12 initial plots were so high in demand that the grounds crew had to make 8 additional plots, and now all 20 plots are assigned.

  The Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) has adopted one plot and will be maintaining it over the summer months. I, along with the other summer interns as well as the staff at the centre, will be growing various plants this summer. Being an international student who grew up in a desert, I never had the opportunity to plant and watch flowers grow and bloom, so this is a very exciting opportunity for me.

  We will be planting cardinal flowers, a native red flower of the Niagara region. The Centre is working to promote sustainability on campus and aims to be an environmentally-friendly community member. Planting a native species promotes the unique flora of Niagara, and the red colour signifies the signature Brock red colour. We will also be planting some red vegetables like tomatoes and red peppers, and hopefully even some cucumbers.

  I am excited to watch these plants grow and bear fruit over the next couple of months. I have heard that deer and bunnies do feast upon fruits of the Brock Garden, but hopefully we will get to enjoy some too!

  

  Categories: Blog, Innovative Partnership, Student Contributor

• First week at the ESRC: An introduction to what we’re working on this summer

  Thursday, May 17, 2018 | By Amanda Smits

  Blog Contributor: Shelby McFadden

  

  Summer student assistants (from left to right): Kaitlin, Shanen and Shelby working in Theal House.

  From the moment my parents and I pulled up to the quaint wonder that is Theal House during a tour of campus, I knew that I would get along perfectly at Brock. I immediately decided to accept my offer for the Masters of Sustainability program for fall 2018. I made the important decision in Swiss Chalet over lunch, as my family and I went over all the benefits of attending Brock.

  Little did I know then, but I would later be offered the Special Projects Assistant position within the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) for the summer. And so on the evening of May 6^th, I moved to St. Catharines, and by the next morning, I was sitting in Theal House and starting training. Some of you may have a vague recollection of hearing about how the ESRC renovated and moved into Theal House back in February and how the Centre is partnering with Facilities Management on sustainability initiatives through a formal charter.  These milestones mark an exciting time for sustainability at Brock, and this summer is no exception, as we are working hard in the Centre on sustainability planning.

  To help carry out this new work on sustainability at Brock, three students, including myself, have been hired for the summer to work on both sustainability planning and communications. This is a really exciting opportunity for me, as I get to familiarize myself with Brock and the ESRC before I start my Masters in the fall. I will be able to gain valuable and relevant experience in the field of sustainability, and help contribute to something meaningful and positive in the Brock community.

  To be able to have a job you enjoy often feels rare to find, and so I am beyond thrilled to be joining the passionate and skilled staff dedicated to sustainability in the ESRC. I think the most amazing part is that staff, faculty, and students are all coming together to share their insights and skills, to engage with issues surrounding sustainability, and help to share Brock’s future directions.

  In the week and a half I’ve been at the Centre, I feel like I’ve gotten a good grasp on what’s currently happening at Brock in regard to sustainability, and I am optimistic for what is to come in the future. I am convinced there is a lot of good work being done at Brock, but that there is also a lot of room for growth and improvement. I want people to be aware that even though the Centre is tucked away in its own private space on campus, we are very much an active part of campus, and that there’s a lot of good and promising work being done here. I encourage faculty, staff, students, and visitors to pay attention to sustainability initiatives and efforts throughout the year, and to come visit us at Theal House and see what the ESRC is doing. We will be around all summer working hard on these exciting initiatives. Stay tuned to find out additional information and initiatives in our weekly summer blog series.

  Categories: Blog, Innovative Partnership, Student Contributor, Sustainability at Brock