Videos
Teams
About the City of Newark
Newark is the largest city in New Jersey, with over 270,000 residents. Newark’s Sustainability Office “supports policies and programs that improve public health and quality of life, drive down costs through better stewardship of resources, and expand green job and business opportunities for Newarkers” (www.newarknj.gov/departments/sustainability). This is the City of Newark’s fifth year participating with the Green Teams.
Deliverables
- Helped the City of Newark with tracking their sustainability progress and obtaining certifications.
- Focused on CDP-ICLEI and LEED for Cities and Communities.
- Identified areas of improvement for the City, such as its high land surface temperature and high area of impervious surfaces.
- Made recommendations for the City, including increasing Newark’s tree canopy by conducting tree mapping.
About the City of Jersey City
Jersey City, New Jersey is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse cities. The Office of Sustainability was established in 2018 to oversee the City’s sustainability efforts. “The Office coordinates across departments to improve the City’s sustainability practices, research and implement new community sustainability policies, develop action plans for meeting the City’s climate sustainability goals, and interface with the community to raise awareness of sustainable practices and sustainability resources” (jcmakeitgreen.org). This is Jersey City’s third year participating with the Green Teams.
Deliverables
- Collected, measured, and analyzed outdoor temperature-related data for the City of Jersey City.
- Examined three areas in their analysis: the variability between neighborhoods on the intra-heat island effect, the impact of vegetation on temperature variability, and the relationship between income and heat distribution.
- Created heat maps and other maps using ArcGIS to visualize the data.
- Made recommendations for the City to address environmental inequity issues, including the implementation of vegetation donation programs.
About Dr. O’Neil’s Lab (Montclair State University)
Dr. Glen O’Neil is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Montclair State University. Under his guidance and in alignment with his research in electrochemistry and chemical sensing, a Green Team was embedded in his lab to work on cutting edge and marketable hydrogen-related energy technology.
Deliverables
- Investigated membrane-less electrolysis cells for producing clean hydrogen for energy storage applications. The team’s deliverables focused on three aspects: engineering, chemistry, and marketing.
- For the engineering component, they performed iterative design of membrane-less electrolyzers using 3D printing including optimizing channel width, electrode size, electrode placement, and more.
- To complete their chemistry deliverable, they optimized catalyst loading for maximum device efficiency.
- Conducted market research and a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to determine the marketability of the membrane-less electrolyzer.
About Greens Do Good
Greens Do Good is a vertical farm located in Hackensack, New Jersey that is “transforming the way the local community sources healthy produce by providing the freshest ingredients in a sustainable and socially responsible way” (greensdogood.com).
Deliverables
- The Green Team serving Greens Do Good focused on four areas: expansion of production, energy audit, environmental assessment, and profitability.
- Assessed the environmental impact of a central aisle expansion by examining the energy and water usage and the current HVAC system.
- Quantified the energy usage within the vertical farm and compared this to the farm’s energy bills. The team came up with suggestions on how the farm can reduce its energy bill.
- Performed an environmental assessment on three areas: water consumption, harvest waste, and CO2e emissions.
- Examined the profitability of lighting and an expansion of production to help determine which projects were worth implementing.
About Hackensack Meridian Health
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization in New Jersey, that includes 17 hospitals and home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, ambulatory care, ambulance services, and outpatient centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has consistently been rated amongst the top performing health systems in New Jersey for clinical quality. This is Hackensack Meridian Health’s third year participating with the Green Teams.
Deliverables
- Utilized toolkits from Practice Greenhealth (PGH) to create greenhouse gas inventories for hospitals across the network.
- Calculated Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of ten hospitals for the years 2018-2020 which included purchased electricity, stationary combustion from natural gas and diesel, fleet vehicles, waste anesthetic gas, and refrigerants.
- Researched emission reduction strategies that would best suit the healthcare system. Among the suggestions were solar power, fleet electrification, natural refrigerants, and usage of anesthetic gases with a lower global warming potential.
About Newark Community Food System
Newark Community Food System is a non-partisan collective of deeply engaged community leaders working in conjunction with its members such as Newark Science and Sustainability, Inc. (Newark SAS) and Al-Munir LLC, both organizations contributing to the growth of community gardens in Newark.
Deliverables
- The Newark Community Food System Green Team focused on combating food insecurity in Newark with community gardens.
- Created two surveys to assess the impact of gardens on the larger community and to get a better understanding of the levels of food insecurity in the greater Newark community. This involved surveying the community gardeners themselves and finalizing a food security survey that the gardeners could distribute to community members.
- Helped community gardens quantify the amount of produce they harvest through the creation of tool-kits, which included scales, calculators, and clipboards, and the coordination of a community farmers’ social event.
- Created educational materials to aid farmers in digitally quantifying their produce and to teach them about local policies and programs in Newark.
About NJ TRANSIT
“NJ TRANSIT is New Jersey’s public transportation corporation. Covering a service area of 5,325 square miles, NJ TRANSIT is the nation’s third largest provider of bus, rail and light rail transit, linking major points in New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia” (www.njtransit.com). This is NJ TRANSIT’s second year participating with the Green Teams.
Deliverables
- Supported NJ TRANSIT’s efforts towards converting to more environmentally friendly energy sources.
- Conducted literature reviews on battery electric buses’ efficacy; performed a life-cycle assessment of battery electric buses, analyzing battery electric bus technology; and conducted a gap analysis.
- Highlighted the areas of largest environmental impact, factors worth considering when choosing the battery for electric buses, areas where additional data is needed, as well as recommendations based on their findings.
Final Presentation
About Prudential
“Prudential, the parent Fortune 500 company, has subsidiaries that provide a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, and investment management. Prudential ranks among the top 10 largest institutional asset managers in the world with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management” (www.prudential.com).
Deliverables
- The Green Team serving Prudential worked to compile best practices for employee-led sustainability initiatives in the corporate setting in the hopes of elevating Prudential’s own internal Green Teams.
- Researched and analyzed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reports of Fortune 500 companies to determine best practices and initiatives.
- Conducted focus groups with Prudential’s internal Green Team leads across seven different locations.
- Created and disseminated a survey to Fortune 500 companies to get a landscape analysis of best practices.
- Using their data analysis and research, the team made internal and executive tool-kits with recommendations for employee-led sustainability initiatives.
About PSEG
Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) is a diversified energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Established in 1903, the company has long had a key role in fueling New Jersey’s economy and supporting the state’s quality of life.This is PSEG’s sixth consecutive year participating with the Green Teams.
Deliverables
- The PSEG Green Team focused their research on three different areas: waste reduction, environmental justice, and European Union (EU) Taxonomy.
- Worked with PSE&G’s waste department to develop a statement of work, devising project plans that included creating a benchmark for landfilled and recovered waste and research that led to the recommendation of reusable plastic pallets and cable reels.
- Used GIS software to find overlaps in overburdened communities and climate vulnerability.
- Researched EU Taxonomy and the precedence it may set if the US government established a similar system.
About Solar Landscape
“Solar Landscape is the largest developer and owner of community solar projects in New Jersey. Founded in New Jersey in 2012, they have installed more than 110 high-quality commercial solar projects, removing approximately 6,000 tons of climate-altering carbon dioxide from our air” (www.solarlandscape.com).
Deliverables
- The Green Team serving Solar Landscape focused on reducing carbon emissions and air pollution by expanding the outreach of community solar programs.
- Created documents and presentations in both English and Spanish to share with potential partners.
- Designed social media campaigns to increase engagement.
- Researched necessary permits and logistics to plan a kickoff event.
- Identified potential non-profit partners.
- Created original designs for future promotional use.
- Included recommendations for the Solar Landscape website.
- Created an original animated video to educate community partners about community solar.
About Steven Winter Associates
“Steven Winter Associates, Inc. provides research, consulting, and advisory services to improve commercial, residential, and multifamily built environments for the private and public sector. They specialize in energy, sustainability, and accessibility consulting as well as certification, research, and development and compliance services” (www.swinter.com).
Deliverables
- The Steven Winter Associates Green Team’s deliverables focused on the solar potential of multifamily affordable housing buildings in New York City.
- Conducted a manual solar screening of over 1,500 affordable housing buildings and developed an automated process of screening for solar potential using LIDAR data and ArcGIS Pro.
- Created Helioscope solar array designs for the most ideal solar candidates on three different portfolios.
- Researched marketing strategies and produced pitch deck templates for solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and air to water heat pump technology.
- Completed an energy efficiency analysis to compare previously conducted automated and manual solar screenings.
About The Trust for Public Land
“The Trust for Public Land was founded in 1972 by a diverse coalition that believed all people need and deserve access to nature and the outdoors, close to home, in the cities and communities where they live, as a matter of health, equity, and justice. While many conservation organizations set aside wildlands for biodiversity or habitat restoration, The Trust for Public Land’s founders sought to bring the benefits of parks and nature to the places, people, and communities that needed them most” (www.tpl.org).
Deliverables
- The Green Team serving The Trust for Public Land was tasked with reducing run-off.
- Designed playgrounds and rain gardens.
- Provided an analysis of stormwater management of previously developed parks and playgrounds.
- Quantified the amount of stormwater The Trust for Public Land parks and playgrounds manage.
- Provided suggestions for modifications of current sites through the implementation of green infrastructure, including AutoCAD renderings demonstrating the recommended infrastructure placement.
