Recycling Data

Today I met with Ed Newman to get the data Nicole mentioned. We spoke for an hour or so about the history of recycling at OU and where he'd like to see us go as a campus. I learned a great deal about what happens to our recyclables after they leave campus, and the plans for the composting program. Then Ed showed me the relevant websites on campus recycling and recycle mania. The campus site is out-of-date, but he handed me hard copies of the more recent data. In fact he handed me a massive folder of fax print-outs and pamphlets and invoices and notes. Chances are, most of what we need is in there, and he gave me a list of phone numbers for any missing data, and for the landfill to determine what kind of treatment they use. I'm working on getting it digital and on one sheet right now.

Requesting Public Records

Today, my search for transportation records took me to Parking Services on the West Green. Instead of the usual raised eyebrows that I am growing accustomed to, the receptionist said someone from the class (a male with brown hair) was there earlier in the week and I should submit a request to Public Records at the Pilchner House for these records.

If you are that person, please post. I'm thinking that one submission is better than two.

Thanks,
Sarah

Hi Everyone,
I met with Ron Chapman Monday Oct. 8- we went over OU's energy for buildings and metering of OU buildings. After talking, our first step as a group would be to copy and paste meters from OU electric meter readings 06-07.xls file to the Building Metering.xls file for 06-07. (Which we hope to have done by thurs. oct. 11).Then following the Project Scope paper to get energy per square foot.
Also, I want to see if I can attach Kyle Brown's thesis to this blog- I think it would be useful to the class and our group. (couldn't attach- so i posted link- does anyone know a way to attach files to a blog?) See you Thursday.
~leah
http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi/Brown%20Kyle%20A.pdf?acc_num=ohiou1149880857

fertilizer reply

here is the reply from David Hamill. Yeah!!!i'll be working out the percentages of Nitrogen tonight, im sure it'll take me forever.


Josh, I cannot go back that far on Nitrogen usage here on campus. Records are incomplete. What I can tell you is the approximate usage since about 2003. I picked 2003 because that is the year that the golf course reopened with the new configuration. Basically, since the opening, we are using about 4 pounds of nitrogen per thousand square feet per year. This is primarily done on the greens and fairways where where the maintenance is the highest. The analysis is generally 32-5-7 but other ones are used. Say in the fall when seeding is done we will typically use 12-24-9 so that the phosphorous enhances germination of the seed. Factors that enter in are weather. The past two summers have been extremely hot so we haven't applied as much nitrogen because we didn't want to stress the grass. Almost all the fertilizer that we use is poly-plus sulfur coated urea which breaks down much slower than the readily available nitrogen type fertilizers. Last year on the golf course we used approximately 7700 pounds of fertilizer. Not all of this was high nitrogen. What we call spoon feeding was done to the greens this year using 3-0-0 and 10-0-0 foliar feeds with micronutrients containing magnesium, iron, manganese, and calcium.It actually is a complicated thing but, maybe you will get from this what you need. On our athletic fields comprising of practice football, baseball and softball, are sand based fields which require a little more care due to irrigation requirements. Because they are sand based, the holding capacities are not as good as native soils. Since these fields have been installed around 1997-98, we have put about 5-8 pounds per thousand square feet per year of nitrogen and other nutrients when required. Soil samples are taken each year to determine the needs of each field. The athletic fields are approximately 12 total acres and on the golf course, the areas that we fertilize is somewhere between 45 and 50 acres. The soccer complex is about 80,000 square feet, is native soil, so it requires less nitrogen per year, about 3 pounds per thousand square feet.Some natural products that we have used in the past include turkey manure, kelp and kelp byproducts. But, due to the fact that our budgets have been cut significantly over the past six years and these natural products are expensive, we no longer use them. I hope this information will be of help to you. If I can be of any additional help let me know.Dave Hamill

fertilizer numbers

i still have not gotten the numbers on the fertilizer from david hamill, he keeps telling me: yes, yes, yes. but so far i have not seen them. he has promised them to me by thursday, all i can do is wait. he seems like a nice guy, and he's awfully busy if you listen to him tell it. i think if i dont have them in hand thursday i'll have to go down to his office (where ever that is) and chain myself to his door.

"i wont leave untill i have the numbers!!!! save the wales!!!!"

-this may get political

lawn mower gas usage

i talked to ron chapman about where it would be appropriate to put information reguarding the gasoline usage of the ground maintenence mowers and this is what he told me in a nutshell:


Josh -Just to confirm our conversation that regarding gasoline use for other than transportation purposes, we had considered that the appropriate means would be to quantify fleet gasoline purchases, determine that portion used for fleet use and that the balance would fall under the "OTHER" category for university fleet gasoline use for mowers - grounds maintenance etc.Ron

Update on survey and solutions

I met with Ron Chapman last Friday and Ed Newman today about potential solutions and what is currently being done to reduce waste/energy especially in the dorms. Ed is going to look into dollar values saved in the past through recycling initiatives and see what previous data he can find. Additionally I have an email contact regarding who can send out a web-survey and am waiting to hear a reply before sending off the IRB. That's all for now...

One more thing...Ed Newman has data on recycling and waste if anyone is working on that...

Full-time and part-time students

I spent the morning at the Institutional Research office going through enrollment data from 1990 - 1995. Data from 1995 - current is available from their website (I received instruction from Serena McCollum on how to retrieve the information that I need). One task completed, a thousand more to go. : )

Project Scope for Building Inventory

Hi everyone -

We met with Ron Chapman last week to determine the objectives and goals for the project being done by the Building Team.

This is a copy of the document that Ron sent me regarding the nature of our project as we all see it -

"PROJECT SCOPE:

PART 1

Develop a complete listing of the main campus (Athens) buildings, their square footage and the various utilities they have. In addition, identify whether they have metering in place for these utilities; electric (AEP or OU distributed), natural gas and steam.

Ø A base file Building Metering.xls has the start of a complete listing.
Ø Buildings for which we have OU electric metering are included in the file named OU Electric Meter Readings 06-07(copy).xls I’ve added the building numbers into the current version of the file OU Electric Meter Readings 06-07(copy2).xls that should assist you in your effort
Ø Buildings for which we have AEP electric metering are in AEP Electric 07-08.xls file
Ø Buildings for which we have Columbis Gas metering are in Nat Gas 07-08.xls file
Ø Water meters are for those accounts as listed in the Water Invoice FY06-07.xls Please note that I’ve compiled a cross-reference listing of those buildings with individual water meters and their building numbers in a tab named Bldgs included within the file Water Invoice FY07-08.xls


PART 2

Using supplied data, determine the amount of energy per square foot (MMBTU/ft2) in campus buildings. I would suggest that you start with a small group of buildings and work your way through the complete list as time permits.

Ø Electric use data is available in OU Electric Meter Readings 06-07(copy).xls
Ø Natural Gas use data in available in Nat Gas 07-08.xls Summary data for Natural Gas use (annual) is found in NAT GAS DATA.xls
Ø Water use data for FY07 is available in Water Invoice FY06-07.xls
Ø I’ve compiled a cross-reference listing of those buildings with individual water meters and their building numbers in a tab named Bldgs included within the file Water Invoice FY07-08.xls
Ø Common identifier (Building Number is available in part in each data file for Nat Gas, AEP Electric and Building Square Footage files
Ø The hard copy document titled All Campuses All Buildings has the building numbers to be used as a common identifier. In most cases, the number has already been incorporated into the data files but you may need to add these numbers to others."

All the files listed here will be posted on blackboard as soon as possible...

Drew

Building info

i got some information on the building square footage from Diane Mack the other day. i tried to post it on the Bb drop bok, but there seems to be a problem with my flash drive. look for it monday, i'll be using the universities computers.

josh