Erifili Draklellis (Projects Intern)

• Share your favorite energy factoid.
  This past year, more than 70% of global investment in new energy generation was in renewable energy projects!
• What energy conservation campaign will you be eager to start in your office when we are no longer working from home?
  I haven’t been to the office yet, so I’m excited to see what kinds of energy conservation programs are already going on. I think something like Daylight Hour should be normalized to offices all over the world regularly.
• What are you currently reading?
  I am currently reading Malcom Gladwell’s “Blink” which is a psychological analysis of our instinctive reactions. It covers how we react to racial biases, consumer biases, etc., and it tackles strategies to address them.
• What are some ways you reduce your carbon footprint at home?
  I reduce my carbon footprint by buying second hand clothing. The textile industry is comparable to the automobile industry in emissions!

Noor ul Ain (Projects Intern)

• Share your favorite energy factoid.
  The first solar-powered satellite, Vanguard 1 launched in 1958, is still in orbit!
• What energy conservation campaign will you be eager to start in your office when we are no longer working from home?
  Switching off artificial lights! Unplugging from devices and utilizing daylight as much as possible.
• What are you currently reading?
  Ever since we started staying home, I have been re-reading some books for comfort like the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and just started Connectography by Parag Khanna
• What are some ways you reduce your carbon footprint at home?
  I am a vegetarian, and don’t really eat processed foods in general so don’t produce a lot of food waste, most of it is vegetable scraps etc. that are composted. I have also gotten in the habit of not ‘buying’ things, I cannot remember the last time I ordered something from Amazon, it must have been a book years ago. I try to reduce consumption as much as possible and if I am purchasing something, I like to know the history of it. I am also just always cold, so I turn off the air conditioning pretty much every chance I get – unintentionally reducing energy usage.

Sabrina Tenteromano (Programs Intern)

• Share your favorite energy factoid.
  Every minute enough sunlight reaches the Earth’s surface to power the world’s energy demands for a year and one wind turbine can produce enough electricity to power up to 300 homes. Now we just have to figure out how to harness and deliver all of this energy!
• What energy conservation campaign will you be eager to start in your office when we are no longer working from home?
  I get an office?! I would upgrade to energy efficient bulbs, use daylight controllers, and install shades. I love utilizing natural light and BE-Ex’s Daylight Hour efforts to spread awareness around just what one hour of turning off nonessential light can do to decrease energy costs and improve employee mood, health, and productivity represents how great of an impact letting natural light in can have. I would also campaign to open windows overnight when and where possible to let built up heat escape.I might also suggest working from home once a week to limit GHG emissions from transportation and other sources that inevitably are supported by commuting to a workplace. And I love the idea of hosting a vegan office lunch once a week!
• What are you currently reading?
  I always find myself rotating through a stack of reading material that dips across genres. Usually there’s something fiction or memoir-esque, something nonfiction, and a journal of short creative nonfiction. I just finished Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name and am now rotating between Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, an Environmental Policymaking textbook, Negotiating to Yes, and the Fall/Winter 2015 issue of Black Warrior Review. I also always keep my copy of The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele handy for review and reflection.
• What are some ways you reduce your carbon footprint at home?
  At home I hang dry most of my laundry, reuse food scraps for broths and “juices” (try using discard from a fresh pineapple to make pineapple water!), leave windows open so as to minimize air conditioning or fan usage, and I just started composting. My morning routine uses only cold water (better for your skin too!); I limit meat consumption and usage of disposable crockery. I grow some of my own vegetables, make an effort to buy locally grown and organic or sustainable produce, and unplug the toaster after every use (also for fear of electrocution—talk about energy factoids!)