Sustainability

Scripps' Leadership in Sustainability and Climate Change

UC San Diego has long been a leader in helping preserve the earth's resources for the future, devoting its considerable interdisciplinary strengths to balance society's needs with preserving ecosystems and habitats on the planet. Scripps Institution of Oceanography is a part of UC San Diego and as such, we share a commitment to sustainability with the entire campus. Many of the sustainability activities in which Scripps is engaged occur across the university's campus.

Sustainable Campus Operations

UC San Diego has a strong history of investing in energy projects to improve efficiency and reduce purchased utility costs. These investments span a variety of technologies, including commodity management, onsite generation, transmission and distribution improvements, building equipment upgrades and networked control systems (both of which generate substantial energy savings), and renewable energy projects. UC San Diego is also leveraging available incentives and rebates for renewable energy, enabling the campus to generate onsite renewable energy at costs equivalent to or lower than grid prices. For more information on campus activities, please visit the sustainability website.

At Scripps we are doing our part to conserve resources and reduce our carbon footprint:

• Education in Climate Change and Sustainability
• Energy Efficiency/Conservation
• Landscape
• Lighting
• New Construction Practices
• Personal Efforts
• Recycling
• Research in Climate Change and Sustainability
• Research Vessels
• Futue Projects

Education in Climate Change and Sustainability

As a top-tier research and educational institution, Scripps offers numerous classes and research opportunities with a sustainability focus. Scripps offers over 45 undergraduate courses covering a wide breadth of earth and marine sciences providing a broad interdisciplinary perspective with an applied environmental focus. The graduate program has students concentrate in one of three program areas: Climate-Ocean-Atmosphere; Geosciences of the Earth, Oceans, and Planets; or Ocean Biosciences. Scripps offers excellent graduate instruction and graduate students perform or assist with a significant portion of Scripps research. And with more than 300 research programs currently underway, students have many opportunities to connect their education to sustainability initiatives.

In addition to formal coursework, Scripps is proud to have a nationally recognized aquarium - Birch Aquarium at Scripps. With more than 400,000 people visiting annually, including 45,000 school children, Birch Aquarium brings Scripps science to a wide audience. One current exhibit, Feeling the Heat: the Climate Challenge, presents the science of global warming and helps convey to visitors the dramatic climate changes taking place locally and globally through a dynamic multimedia experience. Through stunning images and interactive displays, visitors discover the forces driving dramatic environmental changes and learn solutions to slow the trend. The impact of Feeling the Heat extends far beyond aquarium walls. Birch Aquarium educators incorporate the exhibit and its science into programs for teachers and thousands of local schoolchildren.

Energy Efficiency/Conservation

• Scripps maximizes centralized computer server facilities, reducing energy needed to cool the systems.
• Many other sensitive instruments necessary for research that require climate-controlled facilities are housed in two buildings, allowing Scripps to avoid the duplication of the necessary climate control equipment.
• As renovations occur, dual-glazed, low-emissivity (Low-E) glass is installed to significantly reduce the amount of energy required to cool/head these spaces.
• When funds permit, modifications are made to HVAC systems, increasing efficiency and reducing energy consumption.

Future Projects

Unfortunately, when burdened with an aging infrastructure, as Scripps is, sustainable practices can often only be implemented with an infusion of capital. Real-time energy use monitoring is not available for a number of our buildings, many of our HVAC systems are inefficient because of their age, and the very nature of much of our research is energy intensive. However, our commitment is strong, and as funds become available, here are just a few projects Scripps will implement to create a greener campus:

• Connecting buildings in close proximity into a looped system for chilled and hot water to create redundancy and efficiency. Currently, the new Scripps Seaside Forum and Ritter, Vaughan, and Sverdrup Halls are in a looped system and we would like to add the Scripps Administration building. IGPP Munk Laboratory, Hubbs Hall and the Scripps Library are connected, and with additional funds we would add IGPP Revelle Laboratories.
• Implement an integrated energy management system on our east campus, looping the Keck Center, Spiess and Nierenberg Halls.
• Modernize our seawater pumping system with more efficient filtration and lower energy consumption so it is no longer a large energy sink. With over 700,000 gallons a day pumped through this system, an upgrade could result in significant energy savings.
• Equip our Nimitz Marine Facility (MarFac) with photovoltaic power generation.
• Implement plans for retrofitting research vessels with new engines allowing for lower emissions and better fuel efficiency.

Landscape

Scripps campus features native vegetation and drought tolerant plants, reducing watering needs. As new areas are landscaped, smart sprinklers are installed. This irrigation system uses weather station data to ensure over-watering does not occur.

Lighting

• All Scripps interior lighting is being switched to energy efficient T-8 bulbs.
• Birch Aquarium at Scripps partners with SDG&E and the City of San Diego to offer free compact fluorescent light bulbs to local visitors who trade in incandescent bulbs. In its first two years, more than 1,500 new bulbs were distributed, preventing more than 61,000 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year.

New Construction Practices

All UC San Diego projects over $5 million are required to target the achievement of Silver or Silver-equivalent rating in the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. In addition, all new projects use integrated design tailored to the function of the building to maximize efficiency. Measures include:

• Reducing energy consumption needs by minimizing spaces requiring A/C; incorporating operable windows to allow natural ventilation; minimizing heat gain by using Low-E glass; incorporating trellises and overhangs to reduce heat gain; installing better insulation; using low energy need florescent fixtures.
• Using soil from the site for grading and compaction of the construction site, significantly reducing soil export and saving hundreds of gallons of fuel and the resultant air pollution.
• Using recycled materials whenever possible: steel, concrete, carpet, wall materials, insulation, cabinetry, countertops.
• Applying non-toxic paints, glues, and sealants (low VOC - Volatile Organic Compound).
• Using sustainably grown wood.
• Planting native California and other drought tolerant plants.

Personal Efforts

Scripps researchers, students and staff not only share a commitment to understanding the environment on a professional level, but are compelled to help preserve it on a personal level. At Scripps, individuals are encouraged to make informed choices that have a direct effect on our local and global environments. We support:

• Using energy saving settings for personal computers.
• Conducting environmentally preferable purchasing.
• Monitoring room temperature settings.
• Switching off lights and unplugging unused pieces of equipment; and
• Taking public transit (UC San Diego offers bus passes to students and staff).

In 2008 Scripps graduate students engaged in an energy competition to raise awareness and reduce energy usage. Two of our research buildings were installed with advanced real-time metering systems and a baseline was taken. Then, over the next quarter, the students vied to see who could reduce consumption in their building by the largest margin. It was a very successful event and indicative of Scripps' commitment to good stewardship of the environment.

Recycling

Receptacles are located all across campus, and business offices are encouraged to purchase partial, or 100%, recycled paper products.

Research in Climate Change and Sustainability

Research at Scripps is not only describing the changes ahead, but is producing useful information for resource managers, decision makers, and the public. Scripps is partnering with agencies, industries, and others who can make a difference by putting science to work for society. A few critical activities Scripps is engaged in:

• Climate prediction and modeling
• Algae for biofuels and CO₂ abatement
• Wildfire prediction
• Impacts of aerosols on the climate model
• Climate prediction for energy use
• Snowpack monitoring and implications for water distribution and storage
• Sea level rise (and impacts to coastlines)
• Marine ecosystem resource management
• Declining fish populations

Research Vessels

The hull of our largest research vessel, the Revelle, has been covered with a special paint designed to decrease drag and generate up to a 20% increase in fuel efficiency. If we realize significant fuel efficiency, we will apply it to all our vessels.