Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.07
Liaison Katie Koscielak
Submission Date May 7, 2020

STARS v2.2

Cal Poly Humboldt
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Katie Koscielak
Sustainability Analyst
Facilities Mgmt
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Name of the campaign:
Energy & Water Conservation Competition in Residence Halls

A brief description of the campaign:

The Energy & Water Conservation Competition in the Residence Halls is generally an annual competition where student employees for Green Campus coordinate an outreach campaign encouraging on-campus residents to save energy and water over the course of a month. The campaign has taken several iterations over the last several years, in order to test and bolster engagement. Generally the concept entails having different Residence Hall areas compete against one another to save the most kWh per person and the greatest volume (in hundred cubic feet) of water per person. Winners are calculated by comparing consumption during the competition month to consumption from the previous month. Residents receive prizes and incentives throughout the competition, such as "sustainable succulent" giveaways, upcycled tshirts that students design and print themselves on recycled textiles, individual prizes for champions from each area, and a party at the end of the competition for winners.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:

The competition was held during Oct 2018, and results calculated by students are as follows:
The winning Residence Hall area was Shasta/ Del Norte, where residents saved an average of-
14.5 kWh per resident saved (electricity)
.308 hundred cubic feet per resident saved (water)

Total savings achieved throughout all Residence Halls from this Competition equate to $1052.62 in electricity savings, and $1790.55 in water savings, or combined total savings of $2843.17 over the course of the 4 week competition.


Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Green Workplace Assessment (GWA)

A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):

The Green Workplace Assessment (GWA) is a campaign of Green Campus wherein offices and departments volunteer to complete a checklist about sustainable behaviors and actions in their department, for which results eventually garner them a green workplace certification of Platinum, Gold, Silver, Green, or "Not Yet Green Certified, Keep Trying!" (Highest possible rating to lowest rating). Once a department opts-in to the Assessment program, students first recruit a staff champion from that area. The staff champion fills out a questionnaire. From there, students review the initial results, then visit the office space to complete an in-person consultation. At this visit, they are confirming that answers are accurate, checking for low hanging fruit behaviors and actions that the office could immediately change (for example, changing sleep settings on computers), and trying to understand barriers for the office users. Following this consultation, students prepare a report with recommendations on how office participants could save more energy, water, reduce waste, or improve their carbon footprint. They then prepare a summary presentation of the recommendations in the report for a staff meeting at the office. During this period, they also offer educational tools (such as signage to turn off lights or turn off water when soaping hands or dishes). The final step in the assessment is to return to the office after three months to deploy the questionnaire again. This allows students to determine if their educational efforts and interventions have yielded change to the way office users behave and act in their office. After the second questionnaire deployment, the office earns their final rating, receiving a framed certificate showing their achievement and certification level.

GWA also buys and gives away tools such as smart power strips, LED lamps, and timed outlets, among other donated incentives such as indoor plants that will clean the air in indoor office spaces.

A blank (template) questionnaire is attached below for reference.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):

Find information about the Green Workplace Assessment (also known as GWA) at https://greencampushsu.weebly.com/green-workplace-assessment.html

The questionnaire completed by the office champion contains a calculator that attempts to make savings estimates for kWh per year used by certain appliances in the office, gallons of water used per year based on certain water fixtures and behaviors, lbs of carbon dioxide per year used based on the corresponding energy calculation, and dollars spent per year linked to certain behaviors, fixtures, and appliances. This allows students to make an estimated savings measurement in each of these categories from the first time the office completes the questionnaire to the second time the office completes the questionnaire (or gives a pre-audit versus post-audit measurement). This also allows the students to broadly quantify positive impacts of their engagement, outreach, and education techniques for this campaign.

*It is important to note that the calculator used for GWA makes broad assumptions about usage, and therefore outputs should genuinely be understood as high level estimates, rather than discrete measurements. Students do not attach energy meters or other devices to appliances or fixtures during their audit/consultation process.


A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns:

Additional sustainablity-related outreach campaigns of the University include:

1. Earth Week planning and outreach activities are deployed during the third week of April every year by a student planning Committee. Events include collaboration from a number of campus organizations, and generally consist of workshops, discussions, art, diy making workshops, speakers, panels, film screenings and more all focused on sustainability topics.
2. The Office of Sustainability collaborates with Housing, Dining, and Marketing & Communications to give away a targeted sustainability gift and information tri-fold to all new students during move-in. This outreach campaign seeks to inform new students about campus sustianbility practices and norms that they may be unfamiliar with, such as the fact that HSU does not provide bottled water, or that students may trade in their OZZI token for a reusable food container at campus eateries, among other information.
3. Donation Dash is an annual move-out event targeting Residence Hall users in which participants are encouraged and educated on sorting their waste responsibly into groups consisting of charitable donations, food donations, recyclables, compost, books, clothes hangers, and more. This outreach campaign annually helps to divert more than 20 tons of waste from the landfill.


Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Read more about the Energy & Water Conservation Competition at https://greencampushsu.weebly.com/residence-hall-energy--water-saving-competition.html


The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.