The Brandeis Sustainability Fund board accepted five student proposals that will use $46,996 of the BSF money, according to a Nov. 23 press release.The proposals include an energy and water monitoring system, an expansion of the 'DeisBikes program, a wind turbine, cold frames to increase the utility of the campus garden and a vermiculture bin.

The Brandeis Sustainability Fund was approved last semester and adds $15 per year to the Student Activities Fee to fund student projects to improve sustainability at Brandeis.

"SmartMeters," a $26,000 proposal submitted by Samuel Porter '14, will install a system called the Building Dashboard Network to monitor energy consumption and water use in five dorms. Students will be able to access this information online. Four meters will be installed in Massell Quad dorms and one in the Village, Porter said.

The proposal also includes a $6,000 touch screen kiosk for students to view the SmartMeters information. The location has not been finalized but Porter hopes it will be in the Shapiro Campus Center.

According to a Building Dashboard Network price estimate, each SmartMeter system after the initial one costs $4,000. The Office of Facilities Services has agreed to pay a yearly maintenance fee of $4,000, Porter said.

The meters will be installed in the spring and will be ready for use by next fall, according to BSF board member Susan Paykin '11.

Jessie Stettin '13 proposed "DeisBikes 2.0: Semester-Long Bike Rentals for Brandeis Students," a $12,175 initiative that will offer semester-long bike rentals for a fee of $50 in order to reduce students' use of "fossil-fuel dependent modes of transportation," as well as create a student-run bike shop, according to the proposal. Registration for these bike rentals will open over winter break, and the bikes will be distributed at the beginning of next semester.

The fund covers the purchase of 45 new Trek bikes, 50 helmets, 50 cable locks and 50 bike lights, as well as stickers to label the bikes as 'DeisBikes. Stettin could not be reached for comment by press time.

The BSF board also accepted an $8,000 proposal, submitted by Dorian Williams '13, which will install a microturbine to generate wind energy. Williams said that the microturbine will replace a broken light in South Residence Hall that needs to be replaced. Williams said that the university will receive a rebate of about $6,000 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts because the state encourages the use of renewable energy. This money will fund future BSF projects, she said.

The microturbine will produce about 3,000 kilowatts of energy per year, according to Williams.

Linda Li '13 proposed "Oh The Things We'll Grow!" for $550 to build cold frames embedded in the ground to trap heat that will allow students to grow herbs and vegetables during the winter, according to Li. The garden, an initiative started by last year's "Greening the Ivory Tower" class, is located behind Massell Quad. "We hope to work with Dining Services to maybe incorporate some of the herbs we grow into the soups that they make or the pizza sauce they make," Li said.

The final accepted proposal, submitted by Cecilia Watkins '11 for $271, involves the installation of a vermiculture, or worm composting, bin on a Massell Quad residence hall floor. "Worm composting is the fastest way to compost," Watkins wrote in her proposal. An additional goal is to create a future hall program based on this project, according to the proposal. Watkins could not be reached for comment by press time.

"The projects were really thought through and are exactly what BSF was designed to support," Paykin said.