Camosun College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Benches for New CETI Building Fine Wood Working Program Students from the Fine Wood Working program are building benches using wood from trees that were cut down on the development site for the new Centre for Trades, Education and Innovation building. The benches will be used in the new building.

Edible Herb Gardens School of Trades and Technology, Facilities Services and the Farmbox Program The Culinary Arts department, Grounds and Camosun's Farmbox program worked in collaboration to plant a variety of edible plants around both campuses. The Culinary Arts department continues to harvest herbs and plants for their program and is working to develop a map identifying where these plants can be found.

Solar Technology: Solar Array, Electric Vehicle and E-Bike Charging Stations School of Trades and Technology, Mechanical Engineering Department With funding from President's Funds 2013 grants, Camosun College has installed a 4 KW Solar Photovoltaic (PV) array to offset the charging of electric vehicles, electric bikes/scooters and electric grounds keeping tools at the Interurban Campus. In 2013, two President's Funds proposals were submitted – one for an Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station and the other for solar charging of electric grounds keeping tools. The grants were approved on the understanding that the recipients work together to complete their projects. Along the way, the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) heard about the project and offered to provide additional funding if a four stall Ebike charging station could be added. With funding for an increased solar array size, the project has grown to include offsetting the power used by the interurban grounds keeping golf carts and battery powered hand tools. The energy provided by the array, which feeds power directly into Camosun's electrical grid, along with the energy consumed by the various charging stations is fully monitored. After a year of operation, the goal is to show that the sun's energy provides more energy than is required by all the charging stations. The array was installed by Electrical Apprentice students under the guidance of Home Energy Solutions, the solar array provider. The array's performance will be monitored by Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology students.

Student Project Garden VP Strategic Development, Facilities and Services, School of Access and School of Trades and Technology The Student Project Garden at Interubran campus involved over 35 faculty , staff and students. The key partners in the development of the garden were the Women-in-the-Trades program (WITT) and the EARTH gardening program (ETP) Two arbors and five raised beds were built by students in the WITT program; ETP students planted the garden in May of 2012, and with the assistance of a student from plumbing and piping, framing structures were designed and installed on three of the beds to allow for fitting with deer fencing or plastic (to increase the growing season).

Communication Strategy for Alternative Transportation School of Business and Transportation & Parking In 2012 and 2013, marketing students worked within the Office of Environmental Sustainability to develop a communication plan and promotional videos to encourage students, faculty and staff to leave their cars at home and take alternative transportation to Camosun.

Engagement & Awareness to Reduce Contamination/ increase Waste Diversion School of Business and Office of Environmental Sustainability With a goal to reduce solid waste and increase waste diversification rates, a Ready-Set-Solve student team was established in 2012 by the office of Environmental Sustainability and Facilities Services. The student team designed a series of source separation flyers to educate , inform and communicate with the college community. These are now being utilized by the Camosun College Facilities Services team in the recycling, waste and composting areas. Compost Program Initiative School of Arts and Science, Facilities Services, CCSS, CRD and David Suzuki Foundation A sustainable organic waste compost system has been developed at both campuses. 22 green cone digesters are installed at the Lansdowne campus resulting in the diversion of an average of 700 liters of organics per month from the waste stream in 2013. In addition, a Standard Operating Procedure Manual for On-site Compost Collection was developed. A similar program is in place at the Interurban campus . 6 cone digesters were installed in October 2013 and compost collector bins are placed in all buildings with the exception of 2, where the organic waste is being collected for a vermicomposting project. An average of 380 liters of organics per month was collected between October 2013 and February 2014.

Plumbing Lab Water Reclamation School of Trades and Technology In 2011, a grey water reclamation system was installed in the Plumbing shop's Cross Connection Lab. The system reclaims the water used in the lab and recycles it for re-use in the same lab, resulting in a completely self-contained lab with net zero water use. The system is included in the new BC Building Code, so students are training with the latest technology, giving them a competitive edge. Rainwater Harvesting School of Trades and Technology Rainwater that is currently entering the municipal storm water system is harvested and used by the Cross Connection lab in the plumbing shop for washing floors and for plumbing mock-ups. Purchase of a storage tank and pumping and treatment equipment was supported by the 2012 President's Funds.

Sustainability Policy Development Environmental Technology Program and Office of Environmental Sustainability Students from the Environmental Technology 222 class will be helping to develop Camosun’s draft sustainability policy. They will be looking at how the policy conforms to ISO 14000 standard to prevent pollution and conform to legal requirements. They will also be looking at how the policy can go beyond, and reflect Camosun’s leadership commitments to sustainability.

Sustainability Day CCSS, CSEA and Community Partners Sustainability Day is an annual event organized by a group of students at Camosun's Lansdowne campus. For 10 years Sustainability Day has engaged students, staff and faculty with different information booths and activities related to environmental Sustainability. Community partners are actively involved in the event as is the Camosun Students for Environmental Awareness group and the Camosun College Student Society.