Hello and welcome to the Providence College podcast. I'm your host, Louis CK, and I'm joined by producer Chris Judge of the Class of 2005 here in the Providence College podcast. We bring you interesting stories from the Frier family.

For the last year and a half, supporting, teaching and learning through the Covid pandemic has been the main priority for Providence College. Despite the challenges presented by Covid, however, the college has made some progress on environmental goals during this time as well.

Here to tell us about these projects is Jill Parate, PC director of Environmental Health and Safety. Jill, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

So, Joe, even for a small college like Providence, we need a lot of electricity to keep the lights on, literally. So the college's solar farms are really good news. Can you tell us a little about this project?

Yeah. So PC is basically invested in solar farms in Warren, Rhode Island, not to supply our power directly, but as kind of an offset. People may have heard of that since greenhouse gases are a global they impact us globally.

Investing in renewable energy is often helpful rather than to take those steps to cut out that much on your own space. So this way, we're helping, you know, the larger picture as we make improvements here to increase our energy efficiency.

I mean, because we're never going to be able to reduce our energy use 100 percent. Right. We're always going to need some something to power.

Yeah, of course. I mean, we don't have the space here for large scale renewables. You know, we dipping our toe into rooftop units here and there was solar, but we just don't have the space. So this way, you know, we can continue to make the improvements we're making.

We're doing, you know, efficiency projects all over campus. But eventually will be offsetting almost 50 percent of our annual power use with these solar farms. And that would be that would be next to impossible for us to do here at the campus.

And so right now, when did those farms when did the first has already come online, right?

Yes, the first came on January 1st of this year, 2021. There's two more planned. I believe the schedule is for the end of 2022. So when we get into calendar year 2023, that's when we'll have all three online.

And the end estimate for offset is forty five percent of our use here on campus.

That is really phenomenal. Yes. Good news, right? Definitely. And so at this point, though, without those two farms, it's I think you had mentioned it's about a quarter of our energy use that's been.

Yes. Yeah, I think it's 26 percent. And I mean, that's estimated based on, you know, average, you know, sunny days and such. But it does seem after the first four months that we're on track to just about get about 26 percent this year.

That's right. One of the challenges for solar in the New England area are rainy days and snowy weather. Yes.

Yes, exactly. But when you look at it over a larger, you know, maybe 10 year cycle, it tends to even out so great.

So we don't have to feel as guilty about the cool temperatures in our offices, because at least we have a little bit of some of that offset.

Yes. Yes.

So, Jill, there's also something new and exciting happening behind the scenes with food waste at Raimund Dining Hall.

Oh, yes. We're super excited to be running a pilot composting program starting now. We're just getting the logistics underway. Partnering with Sodexho. So they're very supportive of sustainable measures throughout our dining halls. So there is a local place called the compost plant.

I believe their facilities in Johnston, they process waste from various businesses and institutions like colleges into compost for local farms. And they also produce their own energy that it requires to make compost. It's not completely hands off. So they have a on site anaerobic digester as well.

So I believe our waste is destined for the digester, but for the greater goal of of composting and going back to the earth. So we're super excited.

Definitely ENSO. But this is all going to be behind the scenes, right? It's not students clearing their plates. Yeah.

Yeah. So this is really a first step. I mean, composting, as wonderful as it is on a larger scale, sometimes on the smaller scale can have challenges. Contamination, which we see a lot with recycling anyway, you know, pests.

So this way we're going to do Sodexho. Employees back of the house are going to be collecting all their waste from. Scraps of veggies and meats, that sort of thing, it will have daily pickups by the compost plant, and we're hoping that it's pretty seamless

and they're going to be all the zedek. So workers are going to be trained in the processes. So they'll follow these rules

to the letter. Yes, yes. And as we're in the last, you know, week of summer, we're busy getting those underway. There was a huge renovation project. I think the first phase was the summer. So there's a lot going on at REI.

So we'll hopefully get everybody up to speed next week and get the logistics settled.

I think students and families will have a lot to look forward to when they see the new spaces on campus that have been refurbished and redone. And it seems like all of this renovation gives the college a lot of opportunity to make environmental progress also.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, anyone that's been here knows that we have some some aging buildings that need renovation. So it gives us a chance to evaluate potentials for increasing efficiency or using more sustainably sourced products for the REI cafeteria, for example.

You know, we have energy efficient appliances and coolers. They've made improvements to ventilation, which in REI and in the Almagor renovation that's going on right now. So they can use up more demand flow rather than just a constant high flow.

So that'll help with our vassy energy use, which is substantial. You know, using efficient lights. They have variable frequency drives on all their pumps so that it's not, you know, similar to the exhaust. It's not just one high speed, you know, the lighting I mentioned, but also the occupancy sensors that we have all over campus.

You know, those are going in in these new spaces as well. So it gives us a chance to see what the end goal is, but also see where we can fit in some more sustainably minded aspects of the project.

Well, it's good to hear that there'll be new efficient appliances going into. Those are probably the largest refrigerators on campus.

Oh, yes. There's big industrial, you know, coolers and ovens. It's it's quite an operation over there.

And so with variable speed, like exhaust, instead of having like high, medium and low settings, it'll adjust based on the type of.

Yeah. It'll be, you know, more demand based rather than, you know, it's on or it's off. And we'll see the same type situation with the fume hoods in the laboratories and almog.

Excellent. So those Almagor innovations are going to be amazing. Albertus Magnus was constructed in the 40s. I think it might have been the second building built on campus after Parkins. And I know there have been some changes, but not many.

So that's going to be a huge bonus for campus for sure. Yeah.

Yeah, it's a it's a it's a huge job. Oftentimes when they set up, you know, utilities at the time that Albertus Magnus was constructed, it doesn't necessarily meet, you know, codes now or standards or best practices. So, I mean, this summer, it's the first summer that I've been around for a renovation.

But I think this one was probably the most disruptive because it was really a huge gutting of all the utilities in the building.

So Garita, a Joe with the composting pilot, I think you had mentioned that students were involved in getting that set up, right?

Oh, yes, I think so. We at Providence College don't have a position like many larger colleges have, you know, a director of sustainability. We have a committee who all has, you know, other occupational responsibilities. I really feel like we're a campus where things are best received when students get involved.

I think it it is easier to you know, it's one thing if you're each person is pushing for something, but getting students involved with their time and effort and their their voices has been critical and in the composting for sure.

And, you know, we've seen it through, you know, recycling improvements and other projects around campus. So we definitely need the students. This year is my first year as the advisor to the Eco PC Club. My previous advisor retired, so I took over.

I'm looking like super forward to a more a better communication, you know, more in-person stuff. I'm really excited to start working with them on that.

So some students, when they return to campus, may also notice the banner on Slavin announcing that Providence College is part of the ASFA pesticide free PVD campaign through the city's Office of Sustainability. Can you tell us how that came together?

Yeah, it was based on, you know, networking that we've done as part of the both the state and the Providence Area Green Infrastructure Council. I think for four years, Providence College has been a showpiece for green infrastructure, which is, you know, stormwater management.

It's, you know, draining roofs and permeable areas to bio swales rather than just straight to the combined sewer. So we've you know, we're managing a lot of ways of wastewater onsite where, you know, have beautiful gardens that are actually functional for that purpose.

So anyway, we've been working with Providence closely on that. And their Office of Sustainability reached out and said, hey, we're pushing this campaign this year, pesticide free PVD. We're looking for institutional partners. And it fit really well with the discussions that I'd been having with our landscaping company and our grounds crew here about trying to use as

little pesticide as possible, trying to more, you know, if we we have a beautiful green campus. And that's very important to everyone here. And it's also but it's also very, very highly used. You know, there's always people sitting on the lawn and playing games.

So if we need to use pesticides, we use, you know, the pesticides of least impact and we use them in the most targeted way possible rather than, you know, oh, this whole lawn is going to get sprayed. You know, it's this plant is you know, we're going to spray and then pull to kill the roots kind of

thing. So, yeah, it was a really good fit for us. And it also gave us an opportunity to to publicize it a bit for the city. They're looking to have homeowners involved as well and renters. So, yeah, it's been kind of a cool way to to get to know people at the city and to move something along

at a time when there wasn't all that much moving here on campus.

Well, and it's it's interesting to note, you know, the progress the colleges made on stormwater management and it's been honored, you know, by the state for the work you diverting water from the bay, you know, in terms of of that.

So as students and families come back to campus, they can enjoy the pretty gardens and the biospheres in the center of campus that are used for both that are that are, you know, certainly decorative and a joy to be around, but a great home for pollinators.

But they serve that great purpose, right, for.

Yes. Yeah, they're very highly designed to be functional. And they have the bonus of being a esthetically pleasing as well. And, you know, just walking around this summer when things are quiet, the amount of pollinators and monarch monarch butterflies I've seen here and you know, the middle of Providence has been really, really gratifying.

Absolutely. So we're all getting back and hopefully things. I know you've been focused in environmental health and safety with the pandemic more than anything else, but you know what's in store in the future. You know what are kind of grander plans that we can hope for.

Yeah. So, as I mentioned before, we have a sustainability committee which has been quiet during the pandemic. You know, a lot of people not on campus and looking forward to kicking things off with them. Again, as far as you know, I've been trying to focus while I can on things that are easy for my office of two

to kind of get moving ourselves, to get people to get the word out that, you know, sustainability is important here. We've done the big move out donation collection. We'll continue that in the future. But I was really proud of that this year.

We got quite a lot of food and clothing for local charities, so that will continue. So, you know, all the small stuff or the smaller stuff, it was quite a lot of effort, but it was only two of us that'll continue.

And then hopefully, you know, we're getting we're getting in front of projects in the, you know, the very earliest of planning so we can try to tie in larger, perhaps more, I don't know, more aspirational type sustainability measures.

So, yeah, it's hard to talk about specifics, I suppose, at this time. But I'm just happy to to start meeting and. And get some ideas from students and from the committee.

Joe, could you tell us about your 30 days to Earth Day campaign and how that went this year?

Oh, sure. So being so new, that was really my first, you know, HS outreach. I think we you know, I had a a student worker and we put our heads together. We created a calendar that were, you know, an environmentally conscious activity every day leading up to Earth Day.

I think it was great. It wasn't a huge turnout, but it was a weird year. We got about 50 students and about 50 faculty staff involved. I also got it was really I don't know. And it ended up working out well for me because it created connections with people that are interested in this type of activity.

I got suggestions, I got questions. I was able to, you know, refer people to other environmental organizations in the area. I think there were five or six different people that told me that they did that based on, you know, the 30 days Earth Day.

They reached out and did local cleanups, which is super exciting. I'd like to do more of it in the future. I probably did it a little last minute. Maybe it can be a little bigger next year. But really, it kind of introduces me to the campus and really hopefully publicizes that, you know, the best ideas don't come

from me or necessarily the committee. They come from students that are interested. They come from, you know, faculty that have friends somewhere else that, you know, they did this and it worked well. Yeah. I just I don't know.

I want everyone to know most of all that that the ideas and involvement are super welcome.

And what were some of the activities that were part of the 30 day countdown? You mentioned there

was, you know, media related ones where it was, you know, watching an environmental documentary. There were donator volunteer with a local organization. And then, you know, very small scale things like reusable water bottle, bring your own utensils. So, yeah, we tried to make it larger and community based, but also some very small, like household related things.

And I sent out periodic emails with with some resources for people, I think. Yeah, it seemed like people received it. Well, I was super happy to make those connections and to put those resources out there. And I don't know, maybe next year we'll do something a little bigger

until it's been a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much for joining us.

Oh, of course. My pleasure. Thank you.

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And go friars.