the UW Sustainability blog
The UW Combined Fund Drive and UW Tower Green Team are partnering to host a monthly sustainability film series starting March 14. Each screening will feature a local environmental nonprofit who will lead a post-screening discussion. All screenings start at 12 p.m. in the UW Tower Auditorium and are free and open to all UW faculty, staff and students. Popcorn will be sold for $1 a bag to benefit the chosen nonprofit.
By Mishu Pham-Whipple
Investing in buildings to save energy and money has become the norm across institutional and residential domains. As part of an energy conservation effort, the University of Washington has retrofitted light fixtures across campus and measured significant energy and cost savings. What has yet to be measured, however, is how lighting retrofits improve occupant satisfaction and productivity.
Reducing water usage for a building the size of the UW Tower is no easy task. It took the Tower's operations staff nearly a year to replace every toilet and urinal in the tower with new, low-flush units, but it was well worth it. The project is estimated to save up to 37 million gallons of water over the next 15 years.