Skip directly to: Navigation for this section | Main page content
Graphic: A Residential Education Page

Presentations & Case Studies

Presentations

2009 Student Housing Sustainability: Department Presentation

Student Housing Sustainability Coordinator Patrice Stafford and Assistant Director Richard Ronquillo, along with University Dining Services Sustainability Manager Dani Lee, delivered a 30 minute presentation during the Student Housing Fall Gathering. The presentation focused primarily on new initiatives and programs that will continue to advance the sustainability efforts of UC Davis' campus housing.

Case Studies

Resource Recovery Drive

When the students move out of the residence halls at the end of spring quarter, there are many items that are left behind, often in the trash. Cursory audits have shown a large portion of waste during this time is material that should not be landfilled. Resource Recovery Drive is a program that was established in 1994 to divert unwanted, but reusable, items. It is low-cost, involving UC Davis employee time, fuel for transportation and some materials. In 2009, the program diverted 7,137 pounds of reusable materials from the landfill.

Positive Impact

Positive Impact is the educational initiative to provide sustainability programs and resources to students living in the Residence Hall environment. The program provides residents with the tools and tips to lead a more sustainable life on campus and beyond. Positive Impact employs three student staff members known as Sustainability Interns (SIs) and a small group of resident advisors (one per staff) that have responsibility for sustainability education as their Resident Advisor (RA) specialty assignment.

Waste Reduction in University Dining Services

In what began as a pilot project in 2001 funded in part by the Associated Students of the University of California, Davis (ASUCD) to support the organic farming practices of the campus’ Student Farm, University Dining Services (UDS) now diverts nearly 98% of all organic matter including kitchen scraps (pre-consumer) – uneaten food (post-consumer) from the university-owned landfill. In 2007, Dining Services engaged Jepson Prairie Organics located in Dixon, Calif. to logistically plan for the post-consumer composting initiative. The composting program was fully realized in 2008 with all four dining rooms participating in the composting initiative, which to date has yielded over 881 tons of organic material to the composting facility.

2007 Bathroom Vanity Lighting Retrofit

The new hybrid lighting system installed in the bathrooms of Webster Residence Hall use an occupancy sensor and LED nightlight to reduce the burn time of the overhead fixtures. These features eliminate three to four hours of use daily, and show great promise for helping students save energy.

2006 Student Housing Lighting Retrofit

Retrofitting two residence halls with electronic Axis ballasts has achieved a 50 percent reduction in lamp energy consumption. The ballasts use daylight harvesting and programmable dimming to optimize the balance between electric and natural light in bathrooms, hallways, lounges, and laundry rooms.