Tech's Footprint

People leave hundreds of footprints around towns, offices and homes every day. Reducing those footprints could potentially save the planet. Consider the footprints that last longer than marks in the newly fallen snow – consider carbon footprints.

The carbon footprint isn’t so easily erased.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere each year by a person, family, building, organization or company. A person’s carbon footprint includes greenhouse gas emissions from heating a home or driving a car. It also includes greenhouse gases that come from producing the goods or services an individual uses, including emissions from power plants that make electricity, factories that make product and landfills where trash is sent.

Missouri State University Energy Manager Pilar Karlen watches campus electricity use hum each day. Monitoring four computer screens in the powerhouse on the Springfield campus, Karlen and staff use technology to their advantage.

Since Phase I of the energy program began in 1996, MSU has saved $36.8 million in gross energy costs. Last year, the school dropped to 82 kilo British thermal units per square foot per year from 172 kbtu in 1996, despite doubling the campus footprint.

Karlen said striving to save energy campuswide is a goal for the university, and it does so by reducing the use of traditional energy, such as electricity, produced mainly by burning coal.

Karlen said energy reduction requires monitoring, which in turn requires technology.

Carbon Foodprint    
In January, MSU rolled out a new software program for its largest dining hall, Blair-Shannon. Provided by Charlotte, N.C.-based Compass Group of North America, the software dubbed Carbon Foodprint aims to help institutions reduce their carbon footprint.

The Carbon Foodprint software not only monitors the carbon emissions of the dining center, but also details steps for MSU to take toward making the dining hall more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Managed through contract food services company Chartwells, Blair-Shannon provides more than 4,000 meals a day and receives three semitrailers worth of food each week. Chartwells Resident District Manager Tony Hein said the facility was the ideal Carbon Foodprint candidate, while MSU’s two other dining halls – Garst and Kentwood – are not future candidates for the program.

“I have always had an interest in sustainability efforts, and through Chartwells, I heard about other universities using this program and knew it could work in Blair-Shannon,” Hein said.

Carbon Foodprint officials did not respond to interview requests from Springfield Business Journal.

Hein said the software, which costs MSU $75 a month, is relatively easy to operate. Initially, the university inputs basic information into the program about the dining center, such as square footage and a list of equipment it currently operates. Each month, the number of customers served, along with the number of hours the hall was open, are entered. The software connects with the procurement company the dining center uses to order food each month to determine where the food is sourced, how it was grown and how much was ordered. That information adds up to Blair-Shannon’s carbon foodprint of 6.62 pounds per person served, decreasing the dining hall’s footprint by 36.8 percent since starting the program in January 2013.

The software is changing the way Hein looks at food. He said food grown in greenhouses have larger carbon emissions than those grown in outdoor gardens, and beef has a larger footprint than other meats such as turkey or chicken. As a result, the university tries to serve slightly costlier beef substitutes, such as turkey burgers, and has instituted meatless Mondays.

“We are a strong beef-raising area, so we couldn’t cut that out entirely,” Hein said, noting the initiative was driven by students and supported by the Residence Hall Association.

How far the food travels before arriving at the dining center also is a factor, Hein said. Hein said buying local is the preferred choice, noting pineapple sourced from Hawaii would be a rarity at the dining center.

Hein said the university breaks even on food savings, but the real impact is on the environment.

Campuswide energy savings
Blair-Shannon dinning center is just one piece to MSU’s energy-savings puzzle.

Using a program called Metasys, created by Milwaukee, Wis.-based Johnson Controls, university officials monitor energy use in each building in real time. Operating since October, Metasys transmits data it collects to what MSU calls the energy dashboard, an online platform for public access.

For example, during the week of March 10, 21 of MSU’s buildings on the energy dashboard used 428,123 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Karlen said that amount of energy could power 7,523 refrigerators for a month. The 254 tons of carbon produced from that electricity could fuel 1,425 passenger automobiles or produce 230,000 cheeseburgers for consumption.  

“We want everyone involved in our program, so it’s important that they can see what we are doing in terms of energy savings,” Karlen said, noting she hopes the university can serve as an educational tool not only for students, but also the community.

Karlen said people are taking note, especially the student body. Part of the sustainability budget comes directly from the university, but part also comes from the $2 per semester sustainability student fee, approved by the student body. Karlen said the department receives $200,000 annually from the school, and according to MSU’s website, just more than $100,000 in student fees are dedicated annually.

With the university’s fiscal 2015 $7 million utilities budget in mind, Karlen said the university is starting a new trial program for campus computers. The centralized power management system for monitors and computers on campus operates with the university microcomputer support administrator and with the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager software.

“We used to ask people to shut down their computers before leaving for the day and hope they would do it. With this system, we could just do it for them,” Karlen said.

The technology also can be used in 45 buildings on campus to control the HVAC system and lighting.