Fanshawe making green strides
Fanshawe College has refused to be anything but on-the-ball when it comes to going green and energy conservation, and a lot of the students may have already seen or felt the effects of this trend.
In fact, the changes made on the London campus are even being touted as incredible, and industry leading, by people who know a thing or two about savings energy.
“Fanshawe College, they have made some great steps in energy conservation,” explained Hans Schreff, London Hydro's program manager of conservation activities. “Ken Pirhonen, [the] facilities manager at the college, has embarked on one of the largest energy conservation projects in the city to my knowledge.”
While they're happy to hear the praise, the college stresses that any changes they've made so far are only the tip of iceberg, and small in terms of what they'd like to accomplish.
“In terms of a going green strategy we're just at the beginning stages,” said Emily Marcoccia, Fanshawe's marketing and communications manager. “The college has certainly made a commitment to going green and provide sustainability around our services.
“We've just recently made that statement at a senior level and now we have to put it into effect.”
But until the ball gets rolling on the more industrious of the college's plans, they've taken a definitive step in the right direction with a collection of relatively recent changes made around campus. And for the students, at least the ones who spend long hours on campus, they may have already noticed some of these smaller differences.
“The ones to date have been pretty much based on capital or infrastructure,” Marcoccia continued. “The government last year gave us provided us with infrastructure renewal money, we were able to undertake some energy efficiency projects that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to.”
The most noticeable change would be the rebuilding of the façade on the B-building, which was constructed in 1964, and was therefore less energy efficient than it's newer counterparts. The rebuilding has allowed the college to replace the old structure with energy efficient windows and doors using more sustainable materials according to Marcoccia. On top of B-building, various buildings have undergone heating and ventilation overhauls in the hopes of making them more efficient as well.
Some of these changes are actually making the college money in fact according to Schreff.
“Fanshawe is performing a major lighting upgrade along with other items,” Schreff explained. “And [they] are receiving some financial incentives from London Hydro in our Electrical Retrofit Incentive Program.”
Some of these changes, Marcoccia explained, are new sensors that turn off college lights in the evenings, and on weekends switching back on, only when there is movement in the room or corridor. On top of that, students who spend time working on campus over the weekends have probably learned to bring an extra sweater because the heating gets turned down.
But it's not just energy that's become a focus. Brian Harness, the food services manager at the Oasis, is trying to make the cafeteria more environmentally friendly.
“Most of the changes will be to take-out,” Harness said. “For instance, a lot of the products we're looking at will be made out of corn products. So it's a whole line of new things to replace stuff like the take-out salad dishes and plastic forks.”
And though the cost will likely be higher for the more eco-friendly products, Harness believes that sometimes you need to make sacrifices to make the big changes.
“We want to get away from Styrofoam,” Harness continued. “I would say we're aiming for 98 per cent of our stuff will be green, and we're already halfway there. The only things we won't be able to change would be coffee cups and soup bowls because no one has made them yet.”
“My greatest wish has to do with the staff and students,” Marcoccia continued. “If the staff and students each answered the question on how we could go green, if everyone gave us one answer, we could conceivably change this college over night.”
In fact, the changes made on the London campus are even being touted as incredible, and industry leading, by people who know a thing or two about savings energy.
“Fanshawe College, they have made some great steps in energy conservation,” explained Hans Schreff, London Hydro's program manager of conservation activities. “Ken Pirhonen, [the] facilities manager at the college, has embarked on one of the largest energy conservation projects in the city to my knowledge.”
While they're happy to hear the praise, the college stresses that any changes they've made so far are only the tip of iceberg, and small in terms of what they'd like to accomplish.
“In terms of a going green strategy we're just at the beginning stages,” said Emily Marcoccia, Fanshawe's marketing and communications manager. “The college has certainly made a commitment to going green and provide sustainability around our services.
“We've just recently made that statement at a senior level and now we have to put it into effect.”
But until the ball gets rolling on the more industrious of the college's plans, they've taken a definitive step in the right direction with a collection of relatively recent changes made around campus. And for the students, at least the ones who spend long hours on campus, they may have already noticed some of these smaller differences.
“The ones to date have been pretty much based on capital or infrastructure,” Marcoccia continued. “The government last year gave us provided us with infrastructure renewal money, we were able to undertake some energy efficiency projects that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to.”
The most noticeable change would be the rebuilding of the façade on the B-building, which was constructed in 1964, and was therefore less energy efficient than it's newer counterparts. The rebuilding has allowed the college to replace the old structure with energy efficient windows and doors using more sustainable materials according to Marcoccia. On top of B-building, various buildings have undergone heating and ventilation overhauls in the hopes of making them more efficient as well.
Some of these changes are actually making the college money in fact according to Schreff.
“Fanshawe is performing a major lighting upgrade along with other items,” Schreff explained. “And [they] are receiving some financial incentives from London Hydro in our Electrical Retrofit Incentive Program.”
Some of these changes, Marcoccia explained, are new sensors that turn off college lights in the evenings, and on weekends switching back on, only when there is movement in the room or corridor. On top of that, students who spend time working on campus over the weekends have probably learned to bring an extra sweater because the heating gets turned down.
But it's not just energy that's become a focus. Brian Harness, the food services manager at the Oasis, is trying to make the cafeteria more environmentally friendly.
“Most of the changes will be to take-out,” Harness said. “For instance, a lot of the products we're looking at will be made out of corn products. So it's a whole line of new things to replace stuff like the take-out salad dishes and plastic forks.”
And though the cost will likely be higher for the more eco-friendly products, Harness believes that sometimes you need to make sacrifices to make the big changes.
“We want to get away from Styrofoam,” Harness continued. “I would say we're aiming for 98 per cent of our stuff will be green, and we're already halfway there. The only things we won't be able to change would be coffee cups and soup bowls because no one has made them yet.”
“My greatest wish has to do with the staff and students,” Marcoccia continued. “If the staff and students each answered the question on how we could go green, if everyone gave us one answer, we could conceivably change this college over night.”
