PARTNERSHIPS: COEJL on Campus

The Green Hillel at UC Davis & Sacramento State

Contact UC Davis Hillel: 530-756-3708; info@hillelhouse.org

Hillel students and staff at UC Davis and Sacramento State are committed to having a Green Hillel in the near future. They plan to go from this, Hillel’s current site:

Figure 1:
UC Davis and Sacramento State students in front of the current Hillel house

to this, a vision of the new, GREEN HILLEL:

Figure 2:
UC Davis Hillel Drawing

Students and staff are in the midst of a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign to make this vision a reality. Through their success, they will become the first LEED-certified GREEN HILLEL in America . Through their example, the UC Davis GREEN HILLEL will certainly not be the last. At the joint Hillel-COEJL conference in February 2005, UC Davis student Donnie Cohen-Cutler helped lead a workshop for Hillel students from across the country; Donnie presented the UC Davis and Sacramento State GREEN HILLEL project and was supported with great enthusiasm by all the students there.

To read an article about the excitement the new building has created, click here.

To see the specific environmental features of the building, click here.

With such an amazing building awaiting Jewish students at UC Davis and Sacramento State , the excitement has already begun. As Hillel students and staff begin a fundraising blitz for their upcoming GREEN HILLEL , the idea has already received some great press. The following is an article written in the UC Davis press about the new Hillel building.

GREEN HILLEL:
Eco-friendly building plans have roots in Jewish belief in stewardship
by Cory Golden at the University of California-Davis

When the expansion of Hillel House is finished at long last, the ner tamid, or eternal light, in its sanctuary will be solar-powered. That, said Rabbi Mona Alfi, Hillel's executive director, sums up the expansion plan's commitment to environmentalism and Jewish values. "What better eternal light is there than the sun?" Alfi said Wednesday.

Located at 328 A St., Hillel House is a nonprofit organization serving the campus Jewish communities of UC Davis and Cal State Sacramento.

Just over three years ago, in February 2002, the Davis City Council upheld an earlier Planning Commission decision to approve Hillel's plan to replace two small cottages with a larger facility. The approval came over the vocal objections by neighbors worried about a new building fitting in with nearby homes. Hillel continues to inch toward the new facility, with hopes of breaking ground now tied to May or June of 2006, said Raphael Moore, a past president of the Hillel board of directors who has long headed up the building project.

On Sunday at 4 p.m. Alfi will join Sierra Club President Larry Fahn, a UCD graduate, for "Judaism, the Environment and Our Future." The event will explore Jewish perspectives on environmental stewardship. It will also offer UCD alumni, students and parents a preview of what is being billed as the nation's first "green" Hillel house.

The event is scheduled to be held at a private home in Piedmont. Those who wish to attend should contact Marla Kolman at (510) 522-3026 or marlainpeace@yahoo.com.

Drawings of the new Hillel House, provided by Jerry Schroeder of s2Architects of Sacramento, show a building meant to reflect the Craftsman-style architecture of the neighborhood, with wide roof overhangs and simulated wood shingle siding, surrounded by many existing trees including a featured cork oak.

Two portions of the building, each with its own porch, jut forward an attempt by Schroeder to match the spacing and mass of nearby homes with the rest of the building connecting the two. A basement will be used to minimize the visual impact of the building above ground and to contain noise.

The building will measure about 9,300 square feet (about 4,000 underground), up from the 1,000 or so square feet of space Hillel current has, but considerably smaller than a three-story Mediterranean-style structure Hillel first proposed. That design, Moore agreed, was inappropriate for the neighborhood and was put forth before Schroeder, the project's third architect, came aboard and before the input of neighbors was included in the design.

What has changed over time are the number of eco-friendly features that have been added or improved since the design was OK'd. Among them are:

• Solar panels;
• A high-efficiency, split-zone heating and cooling system;
• Wood trim made from fast-growing, renewable resources;
• High-efficiency fluorescent lighting;
• Insulated windows with glass meant to block 80 percent of energy framed in wood to reduce heat loss;
• 10-inch roof insulation and 6-inch wall insulation;
• A white roof for heat reflection;
• Walkways made of a material that allows water to seep through instead of
  running off;
• Waterless urinals in men's bathrooms.

Moore and Schroeder said Hillel did not set out to meet the standards of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), a voluntary, consensus-based national created by the U.S. Green Building Council to define and promote so-called "green building." That's because LEED was a relatively new concept when Schroeder was enlisted some six years ago.

It became apparent over time, however, that Moore and Schroeder's own personal interest in environmentally friendly building fit well enough with LEED that a consultant, San Francisco architect Lynn Simon, has been brought in to help the design comply.

Moore said it was his hope that, in addition to being both a good investment, allowing for lower utility bills later, and "the right thing to do," meeting LEED standards will help attract donations from those interesting in promoting conservation, as well as Jewish donors.

The estimated cost of the project stands at more than $3.3 million. The need for more fund-raising has kept Hillel from breaking ground this spring.

Alfi joined Hillel as executive director about a year and a half ago. She immediately warmed to Schroeder's design.
"I couldn't have asked for anything more," she said. "He really got it intuitively. The style, the practicality and the respect for the environment, it's all stuff that I loved."

Alfi said the design fits well with a Jewish tradition of being stewards of the earth. The mandate to care for the planet is "very much there in the Old Testament," she said, though the tie between religion and the environment is "not a flashy thing" and has not been emphasized enough.

"(In Judaism) there's a principle called 'bal tashchit,' which means 'do not destroy,'" she said. "So I think that means doing things that respecting the environment as you build, like the type of wood you choose and using recycled products.

"These are all things that are part of Jewish law 'Shomrei adamah' means 'guardians.' God gave humanity the earth to be guardians or caretakers. It doesn't mean doing whatever you want to the earth, it means protecting it. "It's about how you live your life. When you're talking to students it's important to create an environment that exemplifies that."

Alfi said the college students she works with are "totally excited" about the earth-friendly features of the planned building. She said most grew up worshipping in California synagogues that emphasized social action and community service. Many did plantings or similar projects for Tu B'shevat, the holiday of the trees, or other Jewish holidays, most of which have some element of nature included in their meaning, she said.

Among the other features of the planned Hillel House: Yolo County's first kosher kitchen, allowing for the separate preparation of meat and dairy products, allowing Hillel guests to keep kosher without turning to Sacramento for catering. Having a separate sanctuary will keep students from having to pray and eat in the same pace, something students who are orthodox Jews are not allowed to do.

The building will have a room for overnight guests, but, as part of an agreement with neighbors, will not include student housing.

It will, for the first time, give Hillel room for storage, offices, a conference room and a real game room students currently use a converted garage.

Just as he wishes student housing was still part of the plan, Moore laments that the goal of completing a new building is now about a decade old. If city approval had come during the dot-com boom, fund-raising and the building would already be complete, he said.

Because time has passed, Hillel will have to resubmit its plans to the city for approval. Moore said he expected the process to be a smooth one, this time, because only minor internal details have been changed.

There also remains "a lot to do, from a fund-raising standpoint," to see the plans become reality. "But I know it's going to happen," Moore said. "I'm definitely looking forward to it."

For more information, contact UC Davis Hillel: 530-756-3708; info@hillelhouse.org

This GREEN HILLEL will be designed and built with every environmental consideration. The following is a list of the environmental features of the planned building.

GREEN HILLEL
Eco-friendly Specifications

At present, the following environmentally conscious specifications apply to the Hillel site:

• Photovoltaic panels on roof will generate electricity for the building, and depending on usage, may be sold back to PG&E
• High efficiency, split zone, HVAC units (i.e., high SEER) capable of separately operating in different areas of the building
• Waterless urinals in all men bathrooms
• T-8 lighting fixtures throughout (high efficiency fluorescents), and metal halide up-lights reflecting off of the ceiling in most places (for high efficiency)
• Hardwood trim, cabinets, etc. made from Liptus, or another fast growing renewable resource
• Extra wide eves around building to provide for higher shading value
• Wood framed windows, to reduces heat loss
• All exterior glass is insulated
• All exterior glass is Low-e 2, which excludes 80% of the energy coming in
• Exterior walls have 6” R-19 insulation
• Roof has 10” R-30 insulation
• Flat roof over Mechanical well is white PVC to provide for heat reflection
• Concrete walks in entry plaza are of specialized pervious concrete material, which lets water drain through into the ground and not run-off into the gutter
• The basement provides for extra efficient use of space, in light of lower heat loss there
• Usage of a solar powered Ner Tamid (Eternal Light)
• Proposed use of low VOC “eco-paint” for most interior painting
• Project has applied for PG&E energy program due to its unique qualities

For more information, contact UC Davis Hillel:
530-756-3708; info@hillelhouse.org