Ideas on how to treat the planet better are probably fresh in your head since Earth Day was last week.
Treating the world better should not be a once-a-year project, though. Luckily for you, UCF has many environmentally friendly initiatives year-round.
Sure, you are aware of the recycling bins around campus, but UCF has several programs and projects going on simultaneously to reduce the school's carbon footprint.
One of the most interesting projects that will hopefully become a consistent policy all over campus includes water-free urinals in the Student Union.
The water-free urinals are being tested on the first and third floor to see how much water they save opposed to standard urinals. Implementing them could save about 1.3 gallons of water per flush.
Another idea that could become a standard program is the composting project in the Student Union, which starts in May. The experimental composting, which is part of the Black, Gold & Green initiative, allows some of the leftover food scraps to be turned into organic fertilizer. It is simple, too, since the worms do all of the work.
The project will start small with just some of the food from the Union being utilized. Hopefully this green project, like so many others at UCF, will find success and a future home on campus.
These are just a few of the many projects and programs UCF has implemented in an attempt to go green. The universities dedication has even received national attention this month.
UCF's video highlighting its environmental efforts is on the U.S. Department of Energy's website.
The video includes President Hitt, staff from UCF's Department of Energy & Sustainability Management and Chris Castro, who is the president and co-founder of I.D.E.A.S.
It focuses on UCF's Kill-A-Watt program, which is an energy efficient challenge for students living in campus dorms. The two and a half month long program offers seminars educating students on energy consumption and a competition to see who can reduce their total amount of energy used.
Some of the dorms have produced more than 30 percent of energy savings, which means about $32,000 worth of savings for UCF.
The video also offers extra tips on how to reduce the amount of energy you use on campus and at home
Simple steps like taking the stairs instead of an elevator and unplugging appliances before you leave the house are some of the ideas noted in the short film.
We're proud UCF has a long list of endeavors and hope you're inspired to go green all year long, too.
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