Managing UBC’s water, roads, waste, and energy.
On the third floor of UBC’s Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), four offices hold water management plans, road and transit maps, energy efficiently plans, and images of campus recycling stations.
These offices belong to Doug Doyle, Krista Falkner, Ralph Wells, and Bud Fraser, four Campus and Community Planning staff members who are part of the Sustainability and Engineering team.
The Sustainability and Engineering team, under the leadership of John Madden, works closely with other units and departments across campus to support UBC’s sustainability goals by developing policies, programs, and plans, and reports.
Doug Doyle, Associate Director, Municipal Engineer works with campus staff to manage projects and the ongoing development of the outdoor areas of campus. “With all the construction that happens on the campus, I work on making all the new bits fit with the old bits.” This includes planning projects that manage the rainwater that falls on campus, as well as work on improving campus street lighting. Doug also chairs the Street and Landscape Committee and authorises work permits for campus streets.
As UBC’s Transportation Engineer, Krista Falkner is involved in the planning of how everything moves on campus.
“I look at the campus as a space where folks walk, bike, access transit, and drive,” says Krista. “I manage things on the surface like roads, pathways, cycling infrastructure, and traffic lights.” Krista’s work includes everything from planning and design to working with construction crews to keep the campus community informed and ongoing operations.
Ralph Wells is the Community Energy Manager. He is responsible for developing programs to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions in campus residential neighbourhoods. “I work to make homes more energy efficient,” explains Ralph, “and reduce climate change causing pollution while helping families save money and be more comfortable at home.” He is helping develop a road map for improved energy performance and reduced emissions through the Residential Environmental Assessment Program (REAP) and the Green Building Plan.
Bud Fraser is the Planning and Sustainability Engineer. “I enjoy tackling tricky problems,” says Bud, “and taking advantage of the university’s research capacity to help solve some of those problems.” Bud works with different groups across campus to help them develop plans and strategies that make the campus more sustainable. In particular, Bud spends much of his time helping implement and track progress on UBC’s Zero Waste Action Plan, which aims to increase waste diversion by 80 per cent by 2020, supporting the Climate Action Plan with the goal of significantly decreasing UBC’s greenhouse gas emissions, and now working on completing the Water Action Plan. He is also involved in the Sustainability Revolving Fund, which loans money to projects that reduce overall consumption or energy and water resources on campus.