The Brandeis Sustainability Fund microturbine proposal, one of five projects approved and implemented this past academic year, has been altered due to financial and environmental issues, according to Brandeis Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal '03, in an interview with the Justice.

The BSF is a "grant-making fund for Brandeis sustainability project supported by a $15 a year undergraduate student fee," according to the BSF Annual Report from 2010-2011. The 2010-2011 academic year marked the program's inaugural year for distributing grants.

The decision to change Dorian Williams' '13 original proposal from installing micro wind turbines to solar-power lights was made after further research into the actual implementation of the project, said Cohen-Rosenthal.

"The vendor didn't give enough information at the beginning stages [of discussing the project] of the real financial payback from the system," she explained. "We realized it wasn't a good choice."

The solar power is a "better fit for the campus," according to the Annual Report, and Cohen-Rosenthal said that it has also led to a "great partnership" between the BSF and Brandeis Facilities Services. "Brandeis wanted to replace the lighting poles around campus with more efficient ones, but the additional cost to do solar wasn't affordable," she said.

The two organizations joined together to cover the expense; facilities paid for the new poles and the BSF paid for the solar component. The seven solar-powered lights were installed along the entrance to campus over the summer.

As a result of the challenges that occurred during the implementation process, Cohen-Rosenthal said that changes have been made to the BSF Constitution. "There will be more steps in the process," she said. "For example, if a project involves an outside vendor, we want more firm information earlier in the process so that things … can be worked out before we allocate the money."

The Greener Residence Hall project, which centers around using worm composting, is "going great," according to Cohen-Rosenthal, although right now one set of the worms and one vermiculture bin is not in its intended location.

Due to Tropical Storm Irene, both sets are currently in Deroy Residence Hall on the community living floor.

Cohen-Rosenthal said that the set intended for Village B should be transported there by the end of the week.

This pilot green-living floor in Deroy was a "great result of the project," said Cohen-Rosenthal. The 20 students living on the hall are part of the Common Cause Community "Thinking Green," and as a part of which they are "committed to doing sustainability and environmental projects."

The Smart Meters project, proposed by Sam Porter '14, is intended to "monitor electricity consumption" in various buildings around campus in order to "curb consumption," according to the Annual Report.

They have been installed in all of the buildings in Massell Residence Quad, the Village and in the Shapiro Campus Center.

Although the dashboards were all functioning over the summer, Cohen-Rosenthal said that currently three are not working properly due to a "server error," but they will hopefully be operational by next week.

Cohen-Rosenthal explained that the concept for the project is built on the idea that information begets change. "It's been proven that when people have access to information, they change their behavior."

With the Smart Meters, students can track in realtime how much energy and electricity is being used in each of the buildings in which they have been installed.

The other two projects, DeisBikes 2.0 and Oh the Things We'll Grow!, both require "constant student involvement," said Cohen-Rosenthal, but have been going smoothly.