Inside This Issue - Plant Operations - University of Michigan

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PLANET BLUE Planet Blue Updates Reduction in consumption - Energy consumption has been reduced by an average of 11% in the original five pilot Planet Blue buildings. This is an increase from the 6% reported in Fall 2009. Over the past few months, the buildings saw a greater reduction in consumption due to ongoing energy conservation measures and recently completed projects, especially in the Fleming Administration Building. Savings figures by building are available in the Planet Blue news section of the website. Soon, Planet Blue will be releasing consumption information for the 30 FY 09 buildings. Check back for updates. Planet Blue in Lights - Planet Blue on TV – Planet Blue was a featured segment on the TV series Out of the Blue (www.ootb.tv) which airs on the Big Ten Network. The segment follows Planet Blue team members as they go through the building assessment, energy conservation planning and a Planet Blue open house with host Jimmy Rhoades. Also included in this segment are features on stadium recycling and overall sustainability efforts on the U-M campus. Check www.bigtennetwork.com for times. Earth Day 2010 - This year U-M will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day. U-M has a special connection to Earth Day: Morton S. Hilbert, cofounder of Earth Day, was a U-M professor emeritus at the School of Public Health. Planet Blue team members featured in the show “Out of the Blue” on the Big 10 Network. From March 8 to April 22, the campus will have a host of activities that explore environmental and energy issues. Look for Planet Blue at these events: • Earth Day Teach In @ Michigan League on March 25 from 9 am – Noon. • Green Building Tours @ Ross Business School on April 16 from 9 am – Noon. The Dana Building will also be having tours in the afternoon from 2-4pm. The University Record and Record Update will publish a calendar of activities. Look for more information as the date approaches on www.ur.umich.edu. Welcome Dan Rife by Kris Kolevar I am pleased to formally welcome Dan Rife to the Planet Blue project as a team leader! He will be working very closely with Libby Beall on Team 3, and is replacing Tim Kennedy, who recently returned to Facilities Maintenance to manage the BAS group. Many of you will recognize Dan from his previous role as an energy management engineer with Process Results, Inc. Dan has been involved with Planet Blue since its inception and brings a unique blend of skills to the team leader role. Dan holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from U-M. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer a LEED Accredited Professional. 10
PLANT BUILDING & GROUNDS RecycleMania 2010 by Conor Reynolds It’s that time of year again! 2010 marks the fifth year of U-M’s participation in RecycleMania, a recycling competition between universities from across the United States. The friendly competition, which runs 10 weeks from January 17th to March 27th, encourages students and university employees to reduce waste and increase the amount they recycle. Over 300 universities from 49 states (and Canada and Qatar) registered for the competition in 2010, and they are ranked based on their recycling rate, the amount recycled per person, total tonnage of recyclables produced, and waste reduction. Simultaneously, registered buildings on campus are taking part in the Recycling Champions competition to determine which building or department is the best at recycling. In the first weeks of RecycleMania, Michigan has performed great, leading the Big Ten over Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota! Our recycling rate of 28.94% after two weeks placed Michigan in the top third of all schools competing. On campus, Weill Hall is currently leading the competition, recycling a whopping 58% of its total waste. Even with all this success, Michigan still sent more than 440,000 pounds of waste to the landfill during the first two weeks of the competition. Waste reduction is our ultimate goal…so choose to reduce, there’s no excuse! To learn more about the RecycleMania competition, go to recyclemaniacs.org or recycle.umich.edu. The Grounds Work Plan- 13 Years Later by Kristin Brancheau Why isn’t the Grounds Department included in the Plant Ops Reorganization? Answer: our entire department collaborated on creating new work plans in 1997, a plan that continues to be a work in progress today. Our reorg included: evaluating our current work responsibilities, developing maintenance standards and department wide priority areas, developing an inventory of the physical campus, and combining the maintenance standards and physical inventory with industry accepted time standards. This four-fold process helped us to determine our work force needs and restructure our department to reflect the needs of the campus. This data has allowed us to be better financial stewards and create Service Level Agreements which are backed up with consistent data. Having estimated times associated with every task we perform enables us to “right size” our department and manage our time. As our duties have changed, we have modified the work plan to include or delete these tasks. We have estimates for everything from string trimming, picking up litter, blowing out irrigation lines, trimming trees and planting flowers. These are all derived from the best practice standards of the industry’s Professional Grounds Maintenance Society. The performance information is tracked in reports that are updated monthly. We compare, by zone each month, our estimated labor hours and expenditures to the actual labor hours. This allows us to know where we stand financially and has been a critical tool during the budget reduction process. Instead of randomly cutting money, we review the entire work plan and see where it will make the least impact. If you are interested in learning more about this comprehensive plan, please visit the link: http://www. plant.bf.umich.edu/grounds/service_levels/ 11
Page 1 and 2: Inside This Issue Director’s Mess
Page 3 and 4: A MESSAGE From the Executive Direct
Page 5 and 6: Welcome Brian Ventura, Our Newest P
Page 7 and 8: Chris Berry When I began my work wi
Page 9: RETIREMENT COMMITTEE A Retirement C

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