I think it would be very good to highlight use of local materials in addition to coverage via LEED notices. For instance, when a new fence is built around a shed on the athletic fields, I'm guessing there isn't really LEED certification for a fence, but there IS the availabilty of using local lumber. Similarly, as minor repairs or minor construction projects are undertaken, they may not be of large enough scale to warrant use of LEED system, but a reminder that we can use local materials for these sorts of projects would be good.

Most of the emphasis seems to be on reduction of energy usage/losses, etc. This is critically important and should be the first priority. I would also encourage SLU to look at ways to reduce/eliminate the environmental impact of the energy that it unavoidably must use for heat and electricity. What would be the costs and benefits of investing in solar pv and geothermal/heat pump technologies? Perhaps these and other non-fossil-fuel dependent sources of energy could be investigated.

We should have signs in new buildings similar to those in the field station to teach ourselves more about green construction. If that energy audit is written in jargon-free, plain old English, it would be cool to post it to this site for us to read and refer to. Many people, like myself, don't know how bad things are, and what an energy audit actually is in detail, so that would be educational, and hopefully help build a groundswell of campus support for greener buildings. I also think that doing research on "best practices" at other schools around the country and around the world and highlighting them one at a time serially on our site, and then archiving them, would be educational. It would help those of us who think concretely rather than theoretically to read about things that worked at other places.

Now that the science center and field station's have been built, it should not be much of a question that at least the big new projects will follow this trend.

Focus should move for a commitemnet ot fix the problems in the other 90% of the buildings on campus.
Example: Townhouse doors. exterior doors are not aligned properly, they often fail to latch and blow open during the winter unless someone slams them closed- which of course knocks them further out of alignment.

Because I serve on the Americans with Disabilities Compliance Planning Committee, I'm aware that we are trying to make all of our exisitng buildings etc. accessible. This may never become an issue, but we might want to note that we encourage any such renocvations (elevators, etc.) to be done with energy efficency and green design principles in mind.
--Neal burdick

just an edit note first - there is no actual year listed for the audit on the old buildings.

could you add more specific details as to how the old buildings are inefficient, how this could be addressed by ways other than remodelling (if there are any) and what are some specific ways that remodels could impact the inefficiency?

could there be stuff that is as simple as caulking the windows that would be cheap but effective?

I believe that an energy audit has already been completed and think that the opportunities section should concentrate on the importance of following up on the recommendations made in the report.

A couple thoughts here: 1) We can point out that one can quickly get some education on sustainabile buildings by touring the Wachtmeister Field Station, which includes very good, professioanl signage explaining the green features of the building.

Perhaps we should make mention of the "solar homes tour" that happens every fall - the W field station has been a regular part of the tour for the last 3 years and the JHS should become a part in the fall.

I'd like to see more specific mention encouraging the use of locally produced building products when possible in campus building plans - less transport of materials over great distances, opportunity to support local economy, opportunity to support "green forestry" in the local area.

here it is, in case you want to incorporate it. http://www.usgbc.org/