Project 1: TRIPLE THREAT – Saving Energy, Money, and Time
Problem Statement: How can we solve the inefficiencies that occur everyday with students living off of campus.
Demographic information:
Target group: for the time, energy, and money saved video
Cal Poly students
Age: 18 – 22
| Financial Aid Applicants | 11,370 (61.4%) of undergraduates |
|---|---|
| Found to Have Financial Need | 7,767 (41.9%) of applicants |
| Received Financial Aid | 7,490 (96.4%) of applicants with financial need |
Plan of Action:
Our plan of action is to provide a video that will show that a few changes in behavior can result in the saving of time, energy, and money.
(I.E. Buying locally grown produce instead of imported goods, shop once a week to get food instead of eating out all the time, bike ride to school, turn off appliances when not in use. Everyday items like printers and phone chargers and then maybe refrigerators when gone for an extended period.
We will record our daily habits – good and bad. Then we will have a comparison of good habits that save money and energy, and the bad habits doing the opposite. We will conclude the video with a chart showing the calculations of each good and bad energy usage habits and some statistics to educate our target group. By showing and sharing the short energy awareness video to college students and their spheres of influence. The tips mentioned in the video can help college students save money over a period of time, and can help lower their energy usages.
We hope to see more and more college students who decided to move out of campus can follow the tips that we provided to save money and save energy.
Link to Triple Threat Video:
https://youtu.be/itPHBr9gndQ
Category 1: Details on how to save getting to school:
Typical drive to Cal Poly campus 1 mile:
Amount of money saved per week: Driving to and from campus with an mpg of 22 – $1.52 per week (assuming $3.34 per gallon)(Not assuming buying a car)
Amount of time saved per week: Avg. drive to campus 7 min. Avg walk from parking lot: 7 min. Total Time spent driving to campus, finding parking and arriving at class – 18 min. Bike riding to class. avg of 8 min. Total time saved 10 min
Amount of energy saved per week: For every 1 gallon of petroleum used, 10 kg of CO2 released into atmosphere. If .45 gallons is used per week to drive to class, 4.5kg of CO2 is released every week.
Category 2: Details on how to save getting your food
Amount of money saved per week by shopping your food :
Eating out twice a day every day for a week averaging 10 dollars per meal: $140 per week
Amount spent driving to pick up food everyday for a week if avg food place is 1.2 miles per day: $5.10
Amount spent by shopping for all your goods at the grocery store: $45
Amount spent driving to pick up groceries: $.36
Amount saved: $99.74 per week
Amount of time saved:
Time spent shopping and food prepping: 4.5 hours
Time spent driving and eating out: 7 hours
Time saved: 2.5 hours
Amount of energy saved:
Varies depending on if you buy imported groceries. So shop local!
Also save the energy it takes to drive to restaurants.
Category 3: Details on how to save with your electricity
Amount of money saved per week: $0.31
If you used a incandescent light bulb for 6 hours a day: $0.056
For 1 incandescent light bulb $.39 per week amount spent in a school year: $10
For 1 LED $.04 per week amount spent in a school year: $1.26
Amount saved per school year: $8.74
Amount of time saved (weekly): N/A
Amount of energy saved (weekly): 2.646 kwh/week for incandescent light bulb – 0.126 kwh/week for LED light = 2.1 kwh/week. Saved 0.7 kg Co2
Project pt 2: Energy Savings in Correctional Facilities
Target group:
Prison inmates in the California correctional facilities
CA correctional facilities (3/1/2017) Population: 117,749 inmates. Men: 114,190 Women: 3,559
Correctional facilities put limits on individual energy use.
Most of the correctional facilities’ energy consumption goes to Security and Safety.
Residential and public services in prisons/correctional facilities have high energy use intensity compared to meeting halls, hospitals, and senior centers. Source EUI: (169Kbtu/ft2) Site EUI: 93kBtu/ft2)
Suggested solutions:
Greening of Correctional Facilities
-State energy offices should partner with the correctional systems to develop energy-saving projects.
https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/05/f15/tap_corrections_presentation.pdf
http://static.nicic.gov/Library/024914.pdf
- install solar panels
- use materials that are local, renewable, and recyclable to build
solar panels installed in one of the correctional facilities in US
-The correctional facilities can make good use of the lands by growing organic vegetables and fruits for the inmates and by the inmates.
- use gray water or/and capture rainwater to water the plants
- sustainable farming
- use animal/human/food waste as fertilizers
- low energy/resource consumption
 |
| correctional facility farms/garden |
-Correctional facilities should partner up with local grocery stores and farms – help lower the carbon emission and provide agricultural skills to help inmates find jobs upon release.
Being Implemented:
Partnered with CA utility companies helps reduce carbon emissions
Try not to import banana:
- bananas are often packed in plastic packaging – bad for the environment (burning plastic releases harmful chemicals)
- bananas are required to grow in tropical climate – US is not suitable to grow bananas, so the imports of banana are increasing carbon footprints
Biographies:
Mark Sasser – 4th year business major with a minor in Environmental Studies. Interested in sports and how we can keep our planet more sustainable
Ean -3rd year biochemistry major. Fascinated with creating new technologies that reduce environmental impact while benefiting the economy. Interested in changing habits to protect the environment.
Matt – 4th year Liberal Studies Major concentrating in Science. Interested in entrepreneurship and enjoy people. I am interested in living an environmental lifestyle to save money, energy, and time.
Michelle Huang – 3rd year City and Regional Planning major with a minor in Real Property Development. Enjoy traveling and explore the differences in cities.