Green Expo showcases ways to be eco-friendly

Students were encouraged to recycle and help UCF reduce its carbon footprint at the 2009 Green Expo on Thursday. 

"UCF is one of our largest users, definitely in the top 10," Chuck Krivickas, an engineering support specialist for Progress Energy, said.

Every year, UCF spends millions of dollars on electrical energy bills, but Jennifer Albert, senior information specialist for UCF's Department of Sustainability and Energy Management, said the new thermal energy storage facility on the north side of campus will help reduce that cost by almost $700,000 a year. 

Albert said the thermal cooling system is "like a thermos."      

 "Mom put something warm in a thermos and it kept it warm until we were ready to eat it at lunch," she said. "Instead of keeping it warm, [the facility] keeps the water cold."       

Some of the student organizations present at the event were the Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions (I.D.E.A.S.), the Hewlett-Packard Campus Ambassadors and the Student Sustainability Alliance. The groups came together to help make a difference in the carbon emission reduction process.      

Hewlett-Packard Campus Ambassador Daniel Rivera paraded around the expo wearing a large computer-shaped sign that said, "Do you have the Power to Change?"     

"This campaign encourages all computer users to turn off their computer and allows them to curve emissions and save energy," Rivera said.     

He said Hewlett-Packard has created a power-to-change widget that can be downloaded at hp.com/powertochange that allows people to see how much energy they are saving when they shut their computers down.

Chris Castro, president and founder of I.D.E.A.S., said the club has started something called T-totes, where the organization gives students a tote made from old T-shirts in exchange for their plastic bags. Students can use these bags when they go grocery shopping or wherever else they make purchases, he said.      

Local businesses at the event stressed conservation. Christine Kirkpatrick, outreach coordinator and information specialist for the ombudsman office at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said the department wants to promote water conservation, energy conservation, sustainability and overall waste prevention.     

Other participants included Keep Orlando Beautiful, Inc. and Progress Energy, to name a few.       

Keep Orlando Beautiful, Inc. offered programs that students can get involved with, such as the Adopt-a-Street Program, Adopt-a-Stop Program and the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program.      

To help UCF reduce its carbon footprint, members of the Student Sustainability Alliance suggested bike riding or walking instead of driving to campus, using paper napkins, printing double-sided documents, eliminating the use of aerosols, donating old clothes, paying bills online, using cold water for laundry, recycling, turning off lights and computers when they aren't being used and using totes instead of plastic bags.  

 "In renovations of buildings we could add automatic light bulbs that turn on and off when someone enters or exits the room, increase the A.C. in each building, add toilet timers in the women's restrooms and waterless urinals in the men's restrooms," Lisa Kipersztok, a micro & molecular biology major, said.      

Kipersztok said she believes the buildings on UCF's campus will be completely eco-friendly in a matter of 10 years.