I don’t know about everyone else, but, I do love this time of the year, with the colors, sights, smells and food (too much of this of course). On the other hand I do not appre-ciate the cold and solid water stuff that comes around though, but, I guess if I want one I am going to get the other.

The same thought applies to work. I am so looking forward to what AiM, our new maintenance man-agement system, and what it can do for us. But, as some know it is a lot of work! I really want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to get us where we are with

AiM. There is a lot to do and if you have not yet been ―touched‖ …you will be, and I thank you a head of time also.

I want everyone to know that we are running ahead of last year’s budget. While not all bad, it does cause us some concern as we near the half-way point of our fiscal year. By now I am sure your super-visor’s have provided you with new credit card tracking forms and a renewed interest in be-ing fiscally conservative to a point. Thanks for your sup-port in these efforts.

For now though, enjoy this

time of year with friends and

family!

Message from the Executive Director

2010 Governor’s Conference on Energy

Virginia Commonwealth University JUNE 2010

Physical Plant Newsletter

Message from the Ex-ecutive Director

1

2010 Energy Con-ference

1

Sustainability 2

Sustainability 3

Recognition 4

PPD News 5

Inside this issue:

Mission Statement

The Physical Plant

Department is

dedicated to pro-

viding timely,

quality workman-

ship and service

delivered in a cost

effective manner

to support the

University’s mis-

sion

December 2010

Governor Bob McDonnell hosted Vir-ginia’s first ever Governor’s Conference on Energy, October 12-14 in Rich-mond. This conference brought to-gether leaders in the energy industry to discuss all aspects of the energy busi-ness in Virginia, to include; how the energy sector operates in Virginia, state and federal regulatory activity, alterna-tive energy projects and energy research at the state’s universities. Above: from left: Governor Bob McDonnell and Texan

Oilman T. Boone Pickens, who was the ―Keynote Speaker‖.

Ed Bennett

Page 2 Newsletter T i t le Volume 1, I ssue 1

Sustainability Page 2

VCU Receives A– National Green Report Card

VCU Celebrates First Annual Sustainability Day

Virginia Commonwealth University received an A- in the national ―Green Report Card‖ — an independent evaluation of sustainability in campus operations and en-dowment practices. VCU was the only college in Virginia to receive a grade in the A range.

The College Sustainability Report 2011 assessed 322 colleges and universities, repre-senting all 50 U.S. states and eight Canadian provinces, in nine categories, ranging from Climate Change & Energy to Green Building to Investment Priorities. The re-port provides detailed school profiles and grades. Of the total number assessed, seven institutions received an A and 45 institutions received an A-.

Today’s ranking by VCU in the top 16 percent of colleges and universities graded by the College Sustainability Report Card 2011 attests to the success of the commit-ment to sustainability made by VCU,‖ said Jacek Ghosh, VCU’s Director of Sustain-ability. ―The successful advancement of the university’s climate commitment is due in equal part to the efforts and commitment of faculty, staff, and, importantly, stu-dents.‖

Article provided by : VCU News/Anne Buckley

The Virginia Commonwealth University community celebrated green initia-tives on campus during the first VCU Campus Sustainability Day – an event involving students, faculty and staff taking action against waste and exchanging ideas toward a more sustainable environment.

More than 30 vendors and exhibitors promoting green initiatives and high-lighting environmental efforts filled the University Student Commons Plaza.

―This event signifies that VCU is moving toward a positive direction,‖ said VCU student Vinita Phonseya. ―It’s also a sign that students are on board with sus-tainability.‖

Other highlights included Segway tours, composting demonstrations; free or-ganic and locally grown food served with100 percent biodegradable plates, napkins and utensils; and the presence of Green Unity 4 VCU – a student envi-ronmental group, which provided seed bombs for fall planting. In addition, computers and other electronic devices were collected for recycling.

Article provided by : VCU News/Dawn Lyons

Page 3 Newsletter T i t le Volume 1, I ssue 1

Sustainability Page 3

America Recycles Day

America Recycles Day was held on November 15th and is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling programs in the U.S. One day to inform and educate. One day to make recycling bigger and better 365 days a year. VCU is already recycling more than 25 percent of the items the VCU community discards daily. The city of Richmond works with CVWMA to coordinate single-stream pick-ups throughout various neighborhoods. We would like to encourage people to use these resources.

Other Sustainability News VCU has been taking steps to limit its footprint in environmental waste. Facilities management now uses two Vantage Electric TruckAll trucks, which reduce gas house emissions by 99 percent compared to diesel-powered trucks.

A new Rain Garden is being developed for a storm water management sys-tem

17 trash collectors called "Big Bellies" recently were added on the Monroe Park and MCV Campuses. Completely self-powered, Big Bellies compact garbage using solar energy, allowing the bins to hold up to five times the amount of waste than that of a regular trash bin

VCU Sustainability Committee and Subcommittees continue to meet and implement more ways for VCU to be GREEN

Anaerobic Digester feasibility study is complete

EZH2O Bottle Refilling Station & Cooler in PPD Admid Building was installed

Green Map and Energy Dashboard are in development

Upcoming RecycleMania Tournament–January 23– April 2, 2011

Upcoming Earth Day– April 22, 2011

Above: Greek Recyclable Sculpture Contest in Park Plaza Below: Jacek Ghosh, Director of Sustainability

Recognition Awards & Letter of Appreciation

Page 4

Extraordinary Award

to all of the Facilities Personnel who came out to support the VCU Child Development Center Halloween event.

Dear Ed,

On Sunday evening, October 3rd, the day before we hosted visitors reviewing the Department of Forensic Science for accreditation, our DI water system overflowed and flooded

much of three teaching laboratories and part of the hallway in Oliver North.

After calling in the problem to the central number and having to run to a meeting, by the time I returned two hours later, your staff had identified the problem, stopped the water,

and were hard at work cleaning up the water.

By the time I arrived back at 9:00 AM the following morning with the accreditation site visit team, unless I had been there the previous evening and seen all the water, I would never

have known or believed that there had been massive flood. Your staff cleaned up the water so completely, that when VA water systems arrived later in the day, they questioned

whether there had been a flood and billed me for an erroneous visit (that has since been cleared up).

I did not catch the names of your staff that responded to our emergency, but I wanted to write to you to let you know what a great job they did and how much I appreciate the

rapid response and excellent work getting the rooms ready for classes Monday morning and for inspection by our site visitors.

Thank you and best wishes,

Bill Eggleston- Chair, Department of Forensic Science

(Thanks to Jody Wilson from Zone 200 & Jean from GCA for a job well done)

Outstanding Achievement Award

Jimmy Moore

Joseph Landry

James Farinia

Above: PPD team members from Zone 200, Zone 500 & Administrative Staff

Michael Mayhew

Paul Johnston

PPD & VCU News

Page 5

December 11– Last Day of classes for fall semester

December 11– December Commencement

December 13-17– Final exams– MCV Campus

December 13– 21– Final exams– MP Campus

December 24– January 2– University Closed

December 27– January 9– Intersession classes

January 17– University Closed

January 18– Spring Classes begin

March 13-20– Spring Break

VCU Upcoming Dates & Events

Snow Removal Plan for FY10/FY11 is complete and on the K:Drive/PPD Shared folder

Service Awards were given out October 12th & 14th

CVC Campaign was extended thru December 10th

VCU conducts emergency preparedness exercises Oct. 15, 2010, on its Monroe Park Campus, integrating emergency plans with the local community and FBI, Virginia response organizations, and the Richmond po-lice and fire departments

West Grace Housing & Parking project is underway

AiM Software testing in progress. You can visit the website to test it out; www.efacilities.vcu.edu

New Key Control Policy was implemented. If you have any questions direct those to Ray Gholson

Have a safe and happy holiday season

Any newsletter contributions can be sent to Melissa Parrish;

maparrish@vcu.edu

Above: Steve Heinitz, Environmental Conservation