The GLRPPR Blog

It’s the final day of the GLRPPR/Region 7 Conference in Indianapolis, IN. On the agenda for this afternoon is a webinar presented by Natalie Hummel of the U.S. EPA providing an overview of two new measurement tools developed by U.S. EPA Headquarters. The GHG Calculator is designed to assist P2 managers, staff and grantees in calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from established conversion factors in the following categories:

• Electricity Conservation (GHG reductions from electricity conversation or reduced use of energy)
• Green Energy (GHG reductions from switching to greener or renewable energy sources)
• Fuel Substitution (GHG reductions from reduced fuel use, substitution to greener fuels)
• Greening Chemistry (GHG reductions from reduced use of GWP chemicals)
• Water Conservation (GHG reductions from reduced water use)
• Materials Management (GHG reductions from green manufacturing processes and waste management scenarios)
• Cross Reference to other applicable tools (A reference table that provides end users an overview of applicable GHG tools and models)

The P2 Results Database, a web-based tool, designed to collect and quantify P2 progress related to air, water, waste and energy reductions from non-profits, local, state, and federal entities plays a significant role in demonstrating P2 benefits on a regional and national level. A critical part of the P2 Results Database is documenting cost savings that result from government, businesses and facilities implementing P2 activities. This database uses a P2 cost calculator to quantify cost savings based on established methodologies and sound research. Over the last several months, the Pollution Prevention Program worked to update and redesign the tool to enhance functionality and better document cost benefits over time. Today’s webinar will also provide an overview of the cost calculator tool.

If you were unable to attend this week’s conference and/or the webinar provided today, or if you would like to recommend the webinar to your colleagues, the Western Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Network (WSPPN) will be providing a similar webinar on June 18, 2009. See the GLRPPR calendar entry for the WSPPN webinar for details and a link to the event registration page.

For more useful calculators and links to your regional module of the P2 Results Data System, see the GLRPPR P2 Measurement & Calculators Sector Resource.

Sign up for the joint conference being offered by Region 5 & 7. It will be held June 3-5 in Indianapolis Indiana. Registration and more information is available at http://www.glrppr.org/meetings/Summer2009/. It will be held at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in downtown Indianapolis.

Here is the agenda for the three day event. Join us!

Wednesday, June 3
8:00- 8:30 am – Registration and networking

8:30-Noon: Illinois Sustainable Technology Center – Green Business Workshop
Save money and improve your organization’s environmental performance through green business practices. Specific topics include greening the office, green purchasing, activity based cost accounting, greening the supply chain, recycling, and green cleaning/janitorial practices. The training will also cover energy efficiency opportunities associated with common office functions, such as heating/air conditioning, electronic devices, appliances, and lighting.

12-1:30p.m. – lunch

1:30-3:15 p.m.
The Kansas Green Teams – A case study of teams that have brought efficiencies/greening systems into the office and industrial workplace. This program has been especially successful in Green Government projects.

Thursday, June 4
8:30 – 8:45 Welcome – Rick Bossingham, Assistant Commissioner of IDEM Office of Pollution Prevention and Technical Assistance

8:45 – 9:45 – Tanya Mottley- U.S. EPA – Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
Discussion of EPA’s Strategic Plan

9:45 – 11:00 –
Roundtable discussion- How do traditional P2 organizations fit into Sustainability efforts? How is your program changing?

11:00- 11:15 Break

11:15 – 12:00 City of Indianapolis
Kären Haley, Director, Office of Sustainability – Where Indianapolis is headed…

12:00 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:30 – Denise Coogan – Subaru of Indiana – Sustainability / How they became zero landfill

2:30-2:45 Break

2:45-3:30 pm : Tony Nesky – R5 Sustainability Network

3:30 – 4:00pm : Phil Kaplan – EPA Regional Pollution Prevention results

Friday, June 5
8:30 – 9:30 – P2 Tech 2.0: Using Web 2.0 to improve information discovery and collaboration – Rick Yoder

9:30 – 10:15 – Greg Hume – Techsolve
Green Supplier’s Network and Collaboration with City of Columbus, Ohio and AEP

10:15 – 11:00 – Dr. Michal Kopach, Eli Lilly – The use of Electronic Lab Notebook for Green Science at Eli Lilly and Company

11:00 – 11:15 Break

11:15 – 12:15 – Cam Metcalf – Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center, University of Louisville
7 steps of an Energy Management Program

12:15 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:30 – Greenhouse gas calculator and P2 cost savings
Natalie Hummel U.S. EPA, OPPT– webinar at computer lab IGCS conf center

2:30 – Dismiss

Just a reminder that the joint Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) and EPA Region 7 Pollution Prevention Roundtable conference will be held in Indianapolis, IN June 3rd through 5th, 2009.  The conference will take place at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Please see the conference web page for a tentative agenda, information on Indianapolis attractions and to register for the conference online. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact Wayne Duke.

Please note that registration fees do NOT include hotel costs, and that you will need to make your own hotel arrangements. A block of rooms is reserved at the Comfort Suites City Centre from June 2 – June 5, 2009 at the government rate of $94.00 and $10.00/day parking; there is a complimentary continental breakfast and free shuttle service for a five mile radius from the hotel. Other amenities include: free wireless high speed internet access, indoor whirlpool/hot tub, and fitness room. There have been a limited number of rooms blocked off for this event. Call as soon as possible to get a reservation. The cut off date for cancellations and registration refunds is May 25, 2009.

For many years, the GLRPPR home page and subsequently the GLRPPR Blog have featured a “site of the month.” This feature was invented as a way of highlighting sites from organizations within the Great Lakes region and beyond which GLRPPR members might find particularly interesting or useful. This feature was created before there were RSS feeds for each Sector Resource on the GLRPPR web site, and before there was an RSS feed devoted to all new additions to the GLRPPR Sector Resources in general.

Upon recent consideration, GLRPPR staff members have decided to retire the “site of the month” and instead do more to highlight a variety of resources as they are added to the GLRPPR web site. Watch in the near future for blog posts highlighting recent additions to the web site or describing resources on the site that you may have overlooked. We’ll also be featuring themes for blogs posts to better foster the sharing of information on specific topics and networking among organizations in the region. More information on themes will be posted soon. Since the LINK newsletter was recently folded into the GLRPPR Blog, we’re hoping that you’ll come to use the blog as a source of information in the same way as you did the newsletter. If you have suggestions for resources or information that you would like to share with other members via the blog, please send your suggestions to our blog coordinator Wayne Duke.

Note that the “site of the month” category will remain on the blog as an archive of the sites that were so featured. The posts describing these sites are of course also cross referenced in appropriate topical categories (i.e. a post about a site related to agriculture would also be found in that category as well). An older list of sites of the month featured on the GLRPPR web site prior to there being a related blog category can also be found at http://www.glrppr.org/news/site_of_the_month.cfm.

A long-time friend (and one of the original creators) of GLRPPR has a new job. The following announcement is from Bill Shilts, Executive Director of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois. The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (which coordinates GLRPPR) is part of INRS.

“I am pleased to announce that Gary Miller has accepted the position of Interim Associate Executive Director within the INRS central office, effective March 16, 2009. Gary has served as the Interim Director of ISTC for almost a year, and has been employed at ISTC (formerly WMRC) for the past 23 years. Gary’s many years of experience with the University and State government will help shape the Institute during this exciting time.

As Gary accepts this new role, John Marlin will become Acting Director of ISTC. John has worked many years at ISTC and had been serving as Associate Director. His experience at ISTC, as well as his prior experiences chairing the Illinois Pollution Control Board and as a well-known and respected environmentalist will serve us well.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Asghar Mirarefi for his service as Interim Associate Executive Director. Asghar will resume a 100% appointment within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.”

Congratulations to both Gary Miller and John Marlin. Those of us in GLRPPR look forward to continuing to work with them in their new roles.

It’s that time of year again. As students go back to school to focus on the three Rs, school districts and technical assistance providers may want to focus on the two Es (energy efficiency). The Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) has developed a Topic Hub on Energy Efficient Schools and Students that describes energy efficient practices and research available to schools and introduces resources that support changes in operations, maintenance, and behavior. Numerous ways exist to reduce escalating energy costs and this Topic Hub assembles guidelines and comprehensive energy programs, identifies educational efforts and case studies, and provides examples of best practices for schools. A “Curricula” section identifies energy related instructional materials and standards-linked K-12 curricula for classrooms.

New resources are continuously added to the Hub’s “Complete List of Links.” If you would like to suggest links for the hub or have other comments, please contact Joy Scrogum.

See the main Topic Hub menu on the GLRPPR web site for other Hubs maintained by GLRPPR and other Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) centers.

It’s a new day for us with a different name, a different leadership, and a renewed commitment to our values.

The Waste Management & Research Center is now known as the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC). The new name better represents the goals and direction of the organization.

The name change is part of even larger changes at ISTC. The Center is now part of the University of Illinois. It joined the other scientific surveys (Illinois State Water Survey, Illinois State Geological Survey, and Illinois Natural History Survey) in moving out of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The four organizations are now part of the Institute of Natural Resources Sustainability at the University of Illinois.

“We are excited about the move to the University of Illinois,” said ISTC Acting Director Gary Miller. “The research, knowledge, and educational goals of the scientific surveys will be greatly enhanced by the strong research and academic excellence of the University of Illinois.”

The ISTC staff remains committed to providing real world solutions to real world problems – solutions that bridge the gap between the natural resources and the human ones. Sustainability examines how to make human economic systems last longer and have less impact on ecological systems, and particularly relates to concern over major global problems such as climate change. By putting “Sustainable Technology” in our name, ISTC is showing its commitment to providing the ideas and systems to reduce environmental impacts and enhance the bottom line.

ISTC will continue to offer direct technical assistance from specialists, energy and pollution prevention assessments, a sophisticated analytical laboratory, research funding to explore a wide range of environmental issues, and information on environmental and pollution prevention issues. In addition, ISTC will continue to serve as the coordinating agency for regional and national programs including the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable and the Printers’ National Environmental Assistance Center.

Becoming part of the University of Illinois and changing our name will require ISTC to make a variety of changes to our website, letterhead, forms, e-mail address, etc. Please bear with us in the coming weeks and months as we make these needed adjustments.

ISTC will continue to maintain office on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana-Champaign, and in OakBrook, Peoria, and Brighton.

The Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) has developed a Topic Hub on Sustainable School Design that addresses many areas, including: indoor air quality; energy consumption and options; construction materials; education materials; water use; waste management; transportation; community interaction; landscaping and the building envelope. It draws upon the myriad resources available to school administrators, school boards, and community planners with the hope that these tools will guide the design of more optimally sustainable schools. The Topic Hub deals with the big issues of construction and retrofitting, siting and commissioning, and actual design of new and remodeled schools. Pollution prevention opportunities and alternative technologies that include lighting, acoustics, air quality, and well-being needs for students and school staff for a healthy and safe learning environment, are presented. Case studies and a glossary of terms are also provided, as well as a “Curricula” section that focuses on teacher training, classroom curricula for grades K-12, college and graduate level programs, community outreach, student-led community projects, and administrator education related to sustainable development and building design.

New resources are continuously added to the Hub’s “Complete List of Links.” If you would like to suggest links for the hub or have other comments, please contact Joy Scrogum.

See the main Topic Hub menu on the GLRPPR web site for other Hubs maintained by GLRPPR and other Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) centers.

As the web developer and resident “geek” of our office, I’m asked a lot questions regarding technologies that are shaping the web. One of the most common questions I get is “What’s so cool about RSS anyhow?”. While I fancy myself as someone who can speak technology in “Plain English”, the folks at Common Craft have created a video demonstrating simply and effectively why RSS is such a great tool. Check it out below!

Now that you’re an expert on consuming RSS feeds, here are the RSS feeds that GLRPPR offers:

• GLRPPR Blog
• GLRPPR Environmental News
• Sector Resources (Click on a Sector Resource to get the feed)
• The latest Sector Resource documents

If any of you have any additional tips or tricks with regard to RSS feeds, please leave a comment.

Just a reminder–articles for the Spring edition of GLRPPR’s LINK newsletter are due April 23.  Photos need to be at least 300 dpi.  Submit all articles and any questions you may have to Wayne Duke.