| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75.14 |
| Liaison | Kylee Singh |
| Submission Date | July 10, 2023 |
California Polytechnic State University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Kylee
Singh Sustainability Coordinator Energy Utilities and Sustainability |
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?:
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?:
Name of the campaign:
A brief description of the campaign:
Droughts are a regular occurrence in California, and they will become more severe as a result of climate change. All San Luis Obispo County is currently in extreme drought or moderate drought, which means that conserving water is critical to long-term water sustainability on the Central Coast. Here in SLO and at Cal Poly, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our local environment and community by saving water whenever we can! Since the Governor’s 25% reduction water use mandate by 2016, Cal Poly has been working to save water in various areas on campus.
https://afd.calpoly.edu/sustainability/campus-action/water/water-saving-tips
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
The For Love of Water (FLOW) Challenge is a water conservation competition between the first-year residential communities to encourage sustainable water use habits. This challenge is hosted by the Green Campus, a group of students dedicated to sustainability education on campus. The FLOW Challenge has the potential to engage all the first-year student residents, approximately 5,000 residents, through marketing tactics such as FLOW Challenge signage posted in and around community buildings, working with University Housing staff to email challenge messaging, and speaking with students at educational booths set up in their communities. For the FLOW Challenge in Winter 2023, total water savings, reflected by the percent change in water use during the challenge compared to baseline use (collected a month before the challenge), was the main method for measuring impact. The average percent change in water use once the challenge ended was a 31.89% decrease from the baseline.
Before the FLOW Challenge, the average resident used 30 gallons of water per day. During the challenge, the average water used per resident per day decreased to 28 gallons.
Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):
The Shut the Sash campaign aims to educate students and researchers about the importance of shutting the sash on fume hoods in the Baker Center for Science building. When the sashes are left open, each fume hood can consume as much energy as 3.5 homes. Therefore, closing sashes when fume hoods are not in use is an important step in reducing energy waste as well as greenhouse gas emissions. As a reminder, Cal Poly Green Campus has placed magnets on each fume hood in the building to encourage users to “Shut the Sash, Reduce Greenhouse Gas.”
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
The amount of usable data was limited to a total of 19 fume hoods on floors two and five; 15 of the hoods were on the fifth floor, and the majority occupied the same lab. Our team obtained baseline data from October and November prior to the start of the campaign. The results from the winter and spring quarters are shown in the table below. To ensure the data is comparable across all quarters, we analyzed the same rooms and looked at only two months’ worth of data at a time.
Our team concluded that tabling at the beginning of each quarter was effective in reminding students of the “Shut the Sash” practice. We are unsure if our marketing materials were implemented by all professors, and hope that putting up flyers would be beneficial for future quarters. The campaign was most effective in Winter quarter, which is when we also had an incentive to give out while tabling and when Mustang News had an article about our efforts.
A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.