Logical energy options studied

The Sustainability Committee has taken steps over the years to make Contra Costa College more energy efficient.

What started out as the Energy Committee, which was run by former chairman  and former CCC professor James Duvall, was combined with the Recycling Committee headed by former Dean of Natural and Applied Sciences Carlos Murillo to create the Sustainability Committee.

Now run by its current chairperson, Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King, the group meets at 7 a.m. on the first Thursday of every month. Members of the committee brainstorm new ways the college can save money by conserving the large amounts of energy it uses.

“The committee is made up of classified staff, students, faculty and managers,” King said. “You can see how passionate they are about what they do to help not just the school, but the community and the Earth. They want do things that are good for sustainability.”

Chemistry professor Dr. Thuy Dang agreed.

“This is a committee that students can join,” Dr. Dang said. “It’s a place where their voice can be heard and they can contribute.”

Students from Middle College High School, a high school located on campus where students can take both high school and college courses, play a big part in organizing the events held at CCC such as Earth Day and Arbor Day.

Recently, the Sustainability Committee has come forth with ideas that they have been able to implement at CCC.

Such examples include the green bicycle lockers placed neared the Buildings and Grounds Office. King said many students use the bicycle racks, but many people on campus are not aware of the lockers so he plans to advertise them more around campus.

The committee has also been creating a relationship between automotive services and the culinary arts department through an oil exchange.

“We’re working out a way where the culinary arts can recycle the oil they use and give it to the automotive department,” Dang said. “That way those cars will be able to run on used oil.”

The committee does not have funding, but King said there are ways to work around it. Dang said the committee has relationships with companies like PG&E and Chevron who have donated motion sensors that have been installed throughout classrooms and offices in each building.

PG&E also donated motion sensor power strips to CCC that were installed by Technology Systems Manager James Eyestone who is in charge of the information technology area of the committee.

Eyestone said he thinks of himself as someone who is not only pro-green, but practices sustainability. He said information technology is where people look for sustainability.