"Scarlet, Gray & Green"

Aparna Dial: On any given day, we have over 100,000 people on campus.

Niffy Ovuworie: We have so many different types of operations, from running a hospital, to athletic facilities.

AD: World-class research facilities, and laboratories that we need to keep the lights on 24/7 and that takes energy.

NO: We have a $58 million dollar energy budget each year.

AD: If you think about it in term of 10 or 15 years that's over a billion dollars, so just the scale and scope is amazing.

NO: Just because we have a large facility, doesn't mean it has to be energy inefficient, and that's how OSU is changing the picture.

AD: Our whole sustainability program for the campus is under the title of Scarlet, Gray, and Green.

NO: We're focusing on how much CO2 our school is contributing to pollution.

AD: There are a lot of opportunities to conserve energy here, and we use a three prong approach to that, the first step is metering our buildings, the second step is to be building energy audits. We go into the building, into the mechanical areas, these are areas that nobody goes into, sort of the belly of building, and we look at steam pipes. If it's uninsulated there's a lot of heat loss through the piping, so we replace that. We have steam traps to which steam is blowing through, so we replace that. Any kind of lighting that's inefficient then we retrofit it with T-8's, which if more efficient. The third step would be to implement the projects, and we've implemented 35 projects, and the net present value of just these projects is about $3.8 million over the last two years.

NO: The buses that we run are diesel powered, and instead of just using regular diesel fuel, Ohio State is committed to using B-20, bio-diesel fuel. Another program that we also have for transportation is the Zip-Car program, it's sort of a partnership in sharing in cars. Zip-Car allows student and faculty to have a car available for them when they need it. We use two-gallon per minute showerheads at the RPAC. By reducing those to 1.5 gallons per minute we're saving over $200,000 a year in the cost of water.

AD: Our Scarlet, Gray, and Green program extends beyond campus even into our community, and what better to way to unite everybody and teach everybody than Buckeye Football? With a lot of help from the Department of Athletics we started a recycling program in the tailgate lots and in our stadium. Last year we recycled 81 tons from the stadium, and 38 tons from our tailgate lots alone, and that's a huge environmental impact. Every new building has to have 5% of their budget dedicated to energy. The 4-H building is a terrific example of a green building. They have a geothermal heating and cooling system and we're tracking the consumption of this building closely because it gives you real life data and we think it will consume 30-40% of what a normal building would. Students, faculty, and staff want us to be a sustainable campus. President Gee wants us to be one of the greenest universities in our country if not around the world. The basic social institution is the human heart, it's the source from which social action derives its power and purpose. We are The Ohio State University, and if it doesn't work here, it's not going to work anywhere.

Walk around campus these days and you're increasingly likely to see evidence of the ways Ohio State is going green.

Parking spots are reserved for a car-sharing program for faculty and staff. The buses that circle campus run on biodiesel. The cans and bottles in and around the Shoe on football game days end up in recycling bins. And the buildings are increasingly energy efficient, thanks to Scarlet, Gray & Green energy initiatives.

"Just because you have a large facility doesn't mean that it has to be energy inefficient," says student Niffy Ovuworie. "And that's how OSU is changing the picture."

“President Gee wants us to be one of the greenest universities around the country, if not the world. ”
— Aparna Dial, Director of Energy Services and Sustainability

Aparna Dial, Ohio State's director of Energy Services and Sustainability, says the university is taking a "three-pronged approach" to greater energy efficiency.

First, Ohio State is metering building to determine how much energy is being used. Second, it's conducting energy audits during which the university replaces inefficient energy systems. Third, Ohio State implements environmentally friendly projects such as the football game day recycling program.

"Last year we recycled 81 tons from the stadium and 38 tons from our tailgate lots alone," Dial says. "That’s a huge environmental impact."

"Students, faculty, and staff want us to be a sustainable campus. President Gee wants us to be one of the greenest universities in our country if not around the world."