Stanford Signs Deal to Manage Electronic Waste

Stanford University signed a contract with Electronic Recyclers, California's largest recycler of electronic waste, to manage and recycle all electronic waste materials collected on the campus. John Shegerian, the president of the firm, noted that electronic waste "is still a very serious problem." The company "de-manufactures," recycles and crushes cathode ray tubes at the rate of 1,500 units per hour. The facility is capable of processing up to 10 million pounds of this sort of waste per month and provides central California with a facility for dropping off unwanted televisions and computer monitors free of charge....

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West Virginia U. Signs Major Energy Performance Contract

West Virginia University signed an energy savings performance contract to help significantly reduce the annual energy and water usage at its Morgantown, WV campus. The project, which will be managed by Siemens Building Technologies Inc., is being administered by making energy-efficient capital improvements financed by savings generated from avoided energy costs over a 10-year period.

The improvements will include purchasing energy-saving lighting, building automation controls and programming, chillers, steam traps, process water conversion and side stream filtration, weatherization, and other energy and water savings improvements to WVU's buildings.

Part of the plan calls for broken-down computer equipment to be eliminated, while routine maintenance required to keep old computers running will be reduced, allowing staff to focus on other work. The effect will be to free up otherwise overly burdened capital budgets, said university officials, enabling it to address other, more pressing infrastructure needs.

"We have been challenged over the years to try and upgrade, improve and maintain equipment that doesn't meet modern-day energy efficient standards," said Narvel Weese, WVU's vice president for administration and finance. He said he thought the project would "go a long way toward meeting that challenge and build on other campus efficiency projects."...

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