Energy: Top ways to reduce emissions

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Set sleep mode on my computer and monitor.
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Setting your computer to sleep mode takes only a few seconds, but can reduce electricity use by 87% compared to leaving it on (desktop computer). Modern computers are not damaged by frequent start up and shut down, and the surge of energy to start up the computer is very small relative to the energy used by leaving the computer on.
Adjust thermostats at home.
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According to the DOE, the heating and cooling load of your home could decrease by 2-3%, if all residents adjusted their thermostats by even just a few degrees (down in winter and up in summer).
Turn off the lights and unplug chargers.
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To dispel one common myth, it does NOT require more energy to turn the light back on—always best to turn it off if you leave!
Use compact fluorescent bulbs.
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According to the ENERGYSTAR calculator, if every student, staff, and faculty at Harvard replaced just one 60 watt incandescent bulb with a 15 watt CFL, we would reduce electricity use by an estimated 2,310,000 kWh per year, equivalent to the usage of 190 average homes in a year! And each bulb will last for 5 years, as opposed to 6 months with a regular bulb!
Wash clothes in cold or warm water.
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About 90% of the energy used by clothes washing machines is for heating the water. And according to the US Dept of Energy, washing clothes on cold or warm is usually sufficient, and simply using warm instead of hot can cut energy use for that load in half!
Walk, bike, or take the T.
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Our commuting to work/school accounts for 7% of Harvard's greenhouse gas emissions: 19,000 metric tones of CO2 equivalents in 2005! This is equivalent to one of the following: taking 4,113 cars off the road for 1 year, saving over 2 million gallons of gasoline or 44,000 barrels of oil, or preserving 156 acres of forest from deforestation.
Take the stairs.
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Regular exercise, including simple measures like walking up stairs, can reduce the risks of many serious diseases. The average person burns 10 calories per minute taking the stairs, a difference in weight of 8 lbs over 10 years! Taking the stairs is great for your health, and reduces building energy use!
Labs: Close fume hood sashes.
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1) Individual fume hoods use a tremendous amount of energy, comparable to the amount of energy used by entire houses. It costs over $6,000 extra in energy to keep a variable volume fume hood sash fully open for a year than it does to keep it closed for a year. Whenever you walk away, don’t forget to shut the sash.
Labs: Share our information on resource efficient lab supplies with your lab manager or supply purchaser.
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Many lab equipment vendors are starting to install power save modes, efficient motors, and other strategies for reducing energy use of plug load lab equipment. Visit the Harvard Green Labs website to download a short list of products we have identified, and the next time you are purchasing new equipment ask for the most energy efficient model!
Labs: Turn off non-essential lab equipment when not in use (confirm with lab manager if necessary).
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If it's ok to turn it off, do it! This will reduce energy use, energy costs, environmental impacts, and often increase the life of the equipment. Contact the Green Campus to get "It's OK to turn me off" stickers for your lab.
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Taken together, the habits, the attitudes, and the creativity of every one of us have the potential to make a great difference, not just for Harvard in the here and now, but for the larger world and its future well-being...What is at stake is nothing less than a change in the culture of how we work and live. ”

July 8, 2008

- Drew G. Faust

Food

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Choose local, seasonal produce.
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In the U.S., produce travels an average of 1500 miles from its origin before it lands on your plate (USDA) Buying local reduces "food miles" which adds up to large reductions in fossil fuel needed for transport. Attend a local farmers' market. Reserve a Community Supported Agriculture share for next year. Read labels at the grocery store that report a food's origin. Stick to what's in season. Try putting 50% of your produce expenditures into local sources.
Buy organic.
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Make a change for a healthier you, healthier farmers, and a healthier planet! Growing food and raising livestock organically limits the chemicals being put into our bodies and our planet. Organic methods protect water quality, maintain soil fertility, and enhance biodiversity. Buying organic in and around Cambridge also supports farmers who choose to safeguard the health of their families by avoiding toxins in their fields.
Eat less meat.
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When it comes to energy, how you choose to fill your plate is just as important as how you fill your gas tank. The difference in energy needed to produce a vegetarian diet versus the average American diet is equivalent to the difference between driving a sedan versus an SUV! Even simply reducing your meat consumption will have a positive environmental impact of high magnitude. There are many other benefits to eating less meat as well.
Reduce food waste in the dining hall.
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Take what you want, but eat what you take! Food scraps rank third in their contribution to solid waste in the U.S., accounting for 17.5% of our garbage. It only takes a minute to think before you order or fill your plate in the dining hall. By doing so you can take control of a large proportion of the waste you produce.

Water

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Drink tap water, not bottled.
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According to a NY Times article, Americans will throw out over 30 billion single serving bottles of water this year! If you are concerned about your tap water, use a filter on the faucet—a much more eco-friendly way of ensuring pure water.
Don't leave the tap running.
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Turn off the water faucet when brushing your teeth, washing your face, or shaving. The average faucet uses between 2 and 3 gallons per minute! Leaving the water running for just 2 minutes every day would waste up to 2190 gallons of water each year.
Take shorter showers.
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A standard shower head uses about 5-7 gallons of water per minute (gpm)—so even a 5-minute shower can consume 35 gallons! Better yet, install a low-flow showerhead, which use 1.5-2.5 gpm—it's an easy way to cut your water use by 50-80%! You may be able to get a free low-flow showerhead from the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority.

Waste

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Use a reusable mug and dishes.
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Harvard has over 42,000 students, fellows, faculty, and staff. If each person were to buy one coffee a day, every day, Harvard would send over 15 million coffee cups to the landfill every year. Now imagine if those people had two coffees a day!
Buy recycled paper.
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Close the recycling loop. We know you recycle your paper already, but what happens to that recycled paper? It gets made into high quality paper, so support the market for recycled paper and buy recycled paper! Of course you already knew that buying recycled paper saves trees, energy, water, resources like bleach, and landfill space, and it costs the same as non-recycled paper.
Double-side all copies and print jobs.
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1 ream (500 sheets) uses 6% of a tree (and those add up quickly!) At least 38.9% of the U.S. waste stream is paper. One person uses two pine trees worth of paper products every year.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
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The EPA estimates that 75 percent of what Americans throw in the trash could actually be recycled. The aluminum can is 100 percent recyclable and can be used to make new beverage cans indefinitely.
Labs: Recycle plastic pipette tip boxes.
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As long as things are not contaminated, it's safe to recycle them in the Lab Plastics bins.
Labs: Donate unwanted lab equipment to Seeding Labs.
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Don't let your old lab equipment sit in a closet or end up in a landfill- give it a second life by donating it to labs in developing countries who desperately need basic science equipment to continue their work. Visit the Seeding Labs (http://www.seedinglabs.org) for a list of items needed, or email info@seedinglabs.org if you have equipment to donate.
Labs: Find less toxic chemical alternatives for your research.
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Visit MITs Green Alternatives Wizard to bone up on less toxic lab techniques.
Labs: Contact the Office for Sustainability to schedule a green lab brainstorm and/or get my lab started on pursuing Green Labs Certification (FAS campus only)
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The Green Lab Certification program exists to recognize labs that are making improvements to their practices to become more sustainable. We start the process by setting up a brief brainstorming meeting in which researchers passionate about sustainability visit and share ideas from other labs with you.
Labs: Take one additional step to green my lab practices (write it in the "Your Ideas" section)
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Since researchers are constantly identifying clever ways to reduce waste, we are doing our best to compile best practices from labs to share as a resource. Help us out with your idea!
Labs: Sign up to stay in the loop with our monthly lab best practices sharing listservs
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The Greener-benches listservs provide monthly tips about how to green your lab, generated by researchers from other labs at Harvard. There is a list for FAS researchers and another for Longwood area researchers.

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