Greening Our Meeting

September 13, 2009

Navigation Map    The Yearly Meeting Friends in Unity with Nature Committee asked us to assess how green our facilities and practices were and to set goals for how we might improve. Because the facilities we use belong to the Sidwell Friends Lower School, we have relatively little control over many of these matters, but luckily for us, the school has recently committed itself to practicing responsible environmental stewardship. With the construction of the gym and the renovation of the Groome Building, they were given a Gold level LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Green Building rating system. The Manor House (we use the Teachers' Lounge) and the Meeting-house have had environmental improvements, detailed below. The SAM Building (Science & Arts) was built before the commitment to environmental stewardship and will actually be the most difficult to modify at this point. This is where many of our First Day Classes are held.

   The following were the specific suggested commitments from the Yearly Meeting (starting from the outside):

   Create a program to encourage carpooling in your meeting, or alternative means of transport (bicycling, metro)..
Tom Capon has agreed to count the cars in the parking lot so we get a baseline assessment. On the other hand, we don't want to discourage people from coming. This sounds like a good idea until we try to implement it. How do we feel about encouraging carpooling?

   Pay for the carbon offset for meeting related travel.
We do this by contributing $200 to Trees for the Future to plant trees.

   Grow hardy native species perennials and shrubs instead of annuals. Use the runoff from the roof for the garden. Avoid using chemical pesticides or fertilizers used on the grounds.
Andropogon Associates were the landscape architects who planted native species to minimize the need for irrigation. The beds that do require additional water are irrigated through diverted rainwater downspouts and rain gardens that collect and reuse storm water. They use integrated pest management to maintain the landscape and organic fertilizers. All the yard waste is composted.

   Replace outdoor lights with motion sensor or solar powered lights.
The pole lamps in the courtyard are electronically controlled to go on a half hour before dusk and to turn off at 11:30 p.m. They have lids on them so all the light is goes where it is needed and none goes up.

   Seal and insulate windows/doors to save 440 lbs of carbon per window.
The windows are doubled paned with argon gas and low energy transmission of solar heat.

   Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs.
Almost all the lighting is from compact fluorescent bulbs or tubes. The ones used have the lowest level of mercury and are recycled. A possible improvement would be to check the lights on the walls to be sure they are compact fluorescent bulbs.

   Turn off unneeded lights regularly.
None of the lighting has motion sensors. Do we want to check into installing automatic lights in the Library and the Meetingroom?

   Replace non-energy star appliances with energy star appliances.
When we bought a new refrigerator last spring, the new one was energy star. There are three, and possibly four, window box air conditioners (library, office, child care room, and Teachers' Lounge) which will be replaced with more energy efficient ones as they wear out. Would we want to invest in more efficient ones sooner? The dishwasher in the Groome Building is energy efficient, but the hot water heater there is being replaced so the water heats up faster.

   Turn down the heat thermostat.
The new boiler uses gas to provide radiant heat. It is programmed to be on when people are using it and off when they are not. For every degree reduced, we save 260 lbs of carbon per year. We need to check the temperature at which it is set. Might it be turned down?

   Turn up the cooling system.
Cooling is done by electricity and is programmed for 74 degrees when occupied and 80 degrees when not. We could save 250 lbs of carbon annually by increasing it one degree. Are we comfortable with these temperatures?

   Have an energy audit.
Based on the intentions with the renovations and new construction, the Lower School has a Gold LEED rating, but in 2011 an energy audit will be done to see that the intentions have become reality.

Is some of our power from renewable sources like solar or wind? 50% of the energy used by the school is from wind power.

Are there aerators on the taps to conserve water? Yes.

Are the toilets low-flow types? In the new buildings, yes, but not in the old.

   Recycle 50% of waste regularly (paper, metals, glass, plastic).
Most of our paper is recycled, primarily because our office is usually unoccupied. There is room for great improvement in terms of recycling (especially aluminum foil and containers and plastic bottles and containers) and cutting down on the amount of trash we generate at potluck and hospitality.

Is there any composting of kitchen wastes? No.

Are the paper products we use (towels and toilet paper) partially recycled paper?

Do we use non-toxic cleaning products? 100% of housekeeping products comply with Green Seal environmental standards.

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