General FAQ
(See also Eco-Project FAQ.)
Updated 1-18-07
General
Q: How is the winner of Green Cup determined?
A: While there will be several prizes to recognize achievement and effort, the overall winner will be calculated according to the formula found here. The house scores in energy and recycling will be determined from data provided by the Office of Physical Resources and Office of Recycling and Waste Management. The rankings for House and Yard Eco-Projects will be determined by a committee including students, faculty, and staff.
Q: Does Harvard compete against any other universities in a Green Cup-like competition?
A: From January 28th through April 7th, 2007,
we are also participating in a inter-college recycling competition, Recycle Mania. And
we traditionally compete against Yale in the Harvard-Yale
Recycling Challenge.
Energy
Q: How does Green Cup calculate energy use?
A: We are calculating these results from monthly meter readings representing usage from approximately September 20 to March 20. The Office of Physical Resources advises us how to normalize the data to account for renovations, variations in outdoor temperature, and other factors not under the control of student residents.
This year's results are compared to house performance in previous years, in order to measure improvement and account for the fact that building infrastructure presents more challenges in some Houses.
DeWolfe and Claverly are not included in these results.
Q: Why don't you include gas or water usage in Green Cup?
A: Gas is not included because it is used in large volumes by the House dining halls (which are also participating in a fiercely contested energy competition, the Green Skillet). Dining halls use gas both for cooking and for production of hot water, and their usage of gas is much larger than the usage of gas for domestic hot water in the dorms.
Water is not included because the metering is not reliable for purposes of comparisons with past years (many of the meters have been recently replaced, and read vastly differently from the old, inaccurate meters). Data reporting is also extremely delayed, precluding the possibility of reporting it with the electric and steam usage.
Q: I have a better idea for making these calculations OR I need a project for stats - can I use Green Cup data?
A: Please contact us!
Recycling
Q: What metrics are used to calculate House scores for Green Cup?
A: There are three metrics:
- Reduction in the rate of per capita trash generation
- Increase in the rate of paper recycling
- Increase in the rate of cans/bottles/containers recycling
Q: Where can I find out what new items I can recycle in order to help my house win?
A: Check out FMO’s Recycling specifications page . The Green Guide to Harvard has current answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
Q: Are masters' residences, common rooms, or anything besides student residences included?
A: Trash and recycling from all house areas is included, EXCEPT dining halls.
Q: How exactly are you measuring recycling rates this spring?
A: Rob Gogan, manager of FMO's Office of Recycling and Waste Management, makes the calculations. Here is the basic process:
From January 28th to April 7th, we are taking daily counts for the Recycle Mania competition. For this period, FMO drivers will record every bag set out for the 10 weeks of the competition, which coincides with Green Cup.
The drivers record the number of bags or barrels of picked up, for both paper and cans and bottles.
The number of bags/barrels can then be roughly converted into pounds of recyclables per day. This way a House would get more credit for recycling a bag of paper (estimated 10 lbs each) than for recycling a bag of cans & bottles (5 lbs).
The Green Cup recycling score for the spring will consider improvement in the ratio of recyclables to total waste, by weight, as well as improvement in per capita trash generation.
Q: How are you measuring trash rates this spring?
A: Trash rates are being measured through an audit during an unannounced period this spring. (We can't tell you when!)
Q: How do you include DeWolfe? Claverly?
A: Claverly is divided into Lowell and Adams.
DeWolfe is not included in Green Cup this year as it is a Harvard Real Estate Building, not an FAS Building, so the trash is not collected by FMO, and we do not have trash bag counts.
However, DeWolfe is included in Recycle Mania because we do have overall recycling results.
Q: How do you account for the different sizes of each House?
A: Neither large nor small houses are at an advantage because we look at the change in per capita trash generation and the change in recycling as a percentage of the total refuse weight.