The Efficiency Review Work Group is rolling out several events and activities for Earth Week designed to reduce UCOP energy costs and our carbon footprint, and the group is also working to make meeting spaces at OP more user-friendly. In addition, the Efficiency Review website has been revamped to make it easier for OP staff to track progress on submitted ideas.

Earth Week – Getting “Greener” at UCOP

The Efficiency Review project team received a large number of suggestions for UCOP to become more energy efficient. In response, a volunteer-driven “Green Certification” pilot project is being implemented on the Franklin Seventh Floor. Staff will be encouraged to take a few simple steps each day, such as turning off their computers when they leave work and turning off lights in vacant meeting rooms. The program will begin with a survey to be completed by the seventh-floor residents to create baseline metrics for tracking energy savings. Once the pilot is completed, the program will be rolled out to the rest of the Franklin building, at 20^th Street and Kaiser Center locations, and at the UC Path Center in Riverside. Many thanks to Amy Lee, Carol Lake, Gemma Rieser, Karen Hsi, Tory Levine-Hall and Matthew St. Clair for developing the program through the Chief Financial Officer staff development initiative, and the Sustainability Focus Group for their recommendations and support.

Other activities planned for Earth Week include an office supplies “swap” in Lobby 2, where departments can recycle office equipment and supplies. See details about how to drop off and pick up unwanted supplies. UCOP is also holding the annual non-records paper purge this week, with bins placed by all elevators for recycling paper. Last year, this project eliminated enough filing cabinet space to save UCOP nearly $100,000 in avoided rented space by using the reclaimed storage areas to house newly hired staff.

Conference meeting room initiative

Have you ever been frustrated trying to reserve a meeting room and finding many of them booked? Or walking by a reserved room only to find it sitting empty? Well, help is on the way. In response to a large number of staff suggestions urging the ER work group to improve the efficiency of meeting room space, Steve Murray and Donna Collins convened a focus group and are working at implementing some positive changes. First, the focus group is reviewing software tools designed to free up meeting space that may have been initially reserved but later cancelled. The new centralized reservation system for Lobby 1 is complete, and is being considered as a model for other large popular meeting rooms. Additionally, some conference rooms have received upgrades such as improved wireless connectivity, flat panels and new furniture. Stay tuned for more meeting room improvements.

Revamped ER website

In response to feedback from staff for an easier way to see what’s happening with efficiency review suggestions, the ER working group modified the project website to give OP employees the ability to check the status of the 800+ suggestions that have been submitted, and to get regular updates on the projects that are being implemented. All ideas have been reviewed, and hundreds are in various stages of implementation or have already been completed. Check out the updated site and feel free to submit additional ideas: www.ucop.edu/efficiency/index.html. (Click on the “Updates” tab to review progress and “Ideas” to share a suggestion.)

Thanks to all the UCOP staff who’ve submitted suggestions for making the Office of the President a better and more efficient place to work. Please keep the ideas coming!

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