Memorandum Date: February 5, 2008 The Session I attended a Focus the Nation session on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 from 4-5 PM, and the topic discussed pertained to energy conservation. The presentation began with William Durgin, a provost at the university. He described the need to expand the circle of sustainability by informing students on issues of pollution and declining resources so they can take action and make decisions for the future. The more students know about the problem, the better suited they would be to implement solutions for campus operation. He even discussed the possibility of studies in sustainability and energy conservation. On the topic of energy conservation, Dennis Elliot took the stage. As a Cal Poly graduate working as an Energy Manager, he had plans for what to do. He outlined the goals of Cal Poly in reducing total energy usage and air pollution. It was the university's hope that they reduce energy consumption by 15% every year. The first year, the university nearly achieved that goal with a 13.1% reduction in consumption. He also showed statistics of the total energy usage on campus, 60% being from general academic buildings and 24% from housing. Greenhouse gas production was another topic he was concerned about, showing that 30% of greenhouse gasses were produced from heating, 24% from electricity production, and a total of 36% from commuters, both students and staff. He addressed this problem by suggesting solutions such as housing closer to campus or the use of public transportation. However, on a brighter note, he shared with us the technologies available in helping with energy consumption and pollution reduction. There were projects such as the retrofitting of lights, which could save a total of 4.2 million kilowatt, the implementation of HVAC systems that turn off lights and air conditioning during the day to promote the use of natural lighting and cooling, and the solar cell projects which were put on top of the new engineering building on campus. His hope for the future was that Cal Poly could be, if not the leader, one of the leading universities in conserving and finding new ways to harness energy, as well as reducing pollution. To end the presentation, we had one of our very own students, Chad Worth, who delivered a compelling slideshow of the world today and the future, if we let things go as they are now. Using such statistics as Ô1 gallon of gas burnt in a car results in 20 pounds of CO2' and how if everyone in the United States changed Ô5 light bulbs to fluorescent light bulbs, we could shut down the 21 coal plants in America', the audience had an awakening, understanding now how much pollution and energy could be saved daily. He outlined various groups and projects on campus that students can get involved in and definitely emphasized that, as students of this generation, this is our problem. The Connection Pollution arises from problems of energy sources and energy consumption. Computer science has many applications which can assist in solving either of these issues. In terms of energy sources, solar cells and photovoltaic technology is on the rise. Research on this leans more towards mechanical engineers, but computer scientists can create models or programs to manage the energy. For instance, in the directional parabola-shaped solar cell system, computers use programs that measure the amount of light the cells are receiving and adjust their position based on where there is most light. Programs are also used by people who make models of the photovoltaic cells themselves, and test whether hypothetical scenarios will work or not. Computer science, though only a small part, still plays a role in harnessing new energy sources. However, it plays a large part in energy consumption management. Energy conservation is a huge problem for everyone. Computer science and programming can make conserving energy so much easier. There are several companies that apply programming to their energy management systems. These programs can do a variety of tasks, from allowing remote energy management and control to creating lights that turn on and off when people enter or leave a room. The sensors used in school buildings and on top of soda machines that turn them off in the absence of people need to be programmed to do so. If programmers wrote code to make energy management easier, less energy would have to be produced and wasted, resulting in less pollution. Ethics Ethics determine how a person acts and responds and the consequences of their subsequent actions. Every person defines ethics and morals differently. For instance, my ethics are very different from some people that I know. My personal ethics, especially, differ from others on many levels. I not only adhere to the ÔGolden Rule', it has become a way of life. I have developed a martyr complex as a result, hoping that others would do the same for me. I don't care if others lie to me, so long as I don't do it to those that are honest. As of now, I consider loyalty as the most important thing in terms of ethics because with the corruption, greed, and evil in society today, all people have for each other in the end is loyalty. Before, I held caring and respect for others as my highest regards, but that changed because of how society has treated those who care for others. While I do care about others, and I am respectful and polite, social ethics has been something I have found to very controversial. This comes largely in part because of how laws, rights, and especially justice are defined. When it comes to cases of a human life versus a resource or utility, a human life definitely has more weight, but society constantly forgets that. Also, the law can be manipulated in so many ways that honest and innocent people are imprisoned or sued. There was a case where an old lady fell onto the train tracks and a young man saved her. When she got to the hospital and realized how much the operation would cost, she blamed the young man, saying that he broke her leg when he was saving her. The old woman won the case, the young man had to pay over 40k dollars. Taking that into mind, I have to consider how people, as a whole, think today as shrewd, selfish, and wrong, a sharp contrast to the ideals of Mother Teresa. My social ethics differ greatly from that of the general public; they overlap with my personal ethics. In my belief, if ethics for conservation were anything like social ethics, or the ethics of society, then our resources would be wiped out in a matter of years, pollution would encompass the globe, resulting ultimately in a decrepit planet unfit for any living thing, save the cockroach. Constantly, with conservation, we have to think, not of the present, but of the past and the future. How were things before? What went wrong? How can we prevent that in the future? Those are questions people need to be asking. Conservation is important in that Ôif we save some now, we'll have more later.' While the best case scenario has everyone caring about these issues, the social ethics being to conserve, reality has shown the matter to rest in the hands of each person's own personal ethics. Some care about the environment, about wildlife and the ecosystem, realizing that we are Ôroom-mates'. I like to consider myself one of those people. |