UBC Reports | Vol. 49 | No. 9 | Sep. 4, 2003

Hydro Savings Power Programs

They turned off lights and encouraged their colleagues to use less paper in the photocopier and the efforts of UBC’s 125 Sustainability Co-ordinators (SCs) saved the university $75,000 worth of electricity reductions in 2001.

This year, the Sustainability Office recycled those savings into the Sustainability Co-ordinator Disbursement Fund to increase sustainability in departments with SCs and invited coordinators and their colleagues to submit proposals for new projects. The SCs were then asked to vote on which projects to fund.

In addition to putting $25,000 toward the Bike Co-op’s new Hub in the SUB, other projects funded this year include: a program to encourage labs to exchange their highly toxic mercury thermometers for non-mercury ones; a hazardous waste minimization project and initiatives to install a wood-fired heat/hot water system at the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, and introducing “floating” SCs to serve several departments.