LAWRENCE: Sustainability student reflects on lessons

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Sweden may be in the forefront of the sustainability movement, but there are some concepts that Swedish student Oscar Koohler is taking back with him to share with the sponsors of his three-week visit to Lawrence Township.
Mr. Koohler, who returned to Sweden last week, was impressed by the farm-to-table movement; a state-approved method of financing energy conservation measures for government entities; and a special technique that speeds up the composting process.
Bringing back those "best practices" is exactly what Mr. Koohler set out to do when he arrived in Lawrence on Aug. 7. His visit, which ended Aug. 28, was sponsored by the Swedish-American Green Alliance.
The alliance is a joint effort between the American embassy in Stockholm and the Sustainable Sweden Association, which — like its counterparts, Sustainable Lawrence and Sustainable Jersey — promotes sustainability, or not using more natural resources than can be replaced.
Mr. Koohler is enrolled in a five-year program in sustainable energy engineering in Lulea University of Technology in Sweden. That is where he learned about the Swedish-American Green Alliance’s program, which sends five Swedish students to cooperating American communities for three weeks to study "best practices" in sustainability.
During his three-week visit, Mr. Koohler spent time with Sustainable Jersey representatives, looking at the certification program for municipalities and a new one for schools. Municipalities can be certified at two levels — bronze or silver — depending on the actions that they take and the number of points they accrue, based on those actions.
"I got a peek behind the curtain for the certification program for school boards and schools," Mr. Koohler said before he left Lawrence Township last week, adding that the standards that apply for school certification are similar to the ones for municipalities.
Mr. Koohler was also impressed by the Energy Savings Improvement Plan, which was approved by the State Legislature in 2009 as an alternate method for government entities to pay for the construction and implementation of energy conservation measures.
Simply put, the Energy Savings Improvement Plan is designed to allow school boards, counties, municipalities, housing authorities and other public authorities to enter into contracts for up to 15 years to finance energy improvements so that the annual payments are lower than the energy savings.
"The first thing I learned is, if one thing affects taxes, it is harder to implement. Public opinion will be against it. But the Energy Savings Improvement Plan is a really great tool to help government and schools make (energy efficiency) changes without incurring costs," Mr. Koohler said.
"The Energy Savings Improvement Plan could be a really good way to try to save energy and money in the long run, but not affect taxes. It is an elegant way to ‘incentivize’ the government to spend money on energy savings improvements," he said, adding that it is not necessary to take out a loan.
Mr. Koohler said he would "definitely" bring the concept of the Energy Savings Improvement Plan back to Sweden. He said that in general, it is not necessary in Sweden to justify spending money on energy improvements — but he would pitch the concept to Swedish authorities, if he is given a chance to do so.
One of the other "best practices" that left an impression on Mr. Koohler is the farm-to-table movement. He spent some time with Zone 7, a business operated by Mikey Azzara that supplies restaurants, grocers and institutions with locally grown produce for its menus.
"I never heard of the concept of ‘farm-to-table’ in Sweden," he said. "The notion of locally produced food appeals to me. There is work to be done in Sweden for farm-to-table and (getting) locally grown food to the (grocery) store."
Mr. Koohler also visited AgriArk, which is attempting to turn food waste into compost more quickly by using an experimental rapid fermentation process. Sweden already separates food waste from other household waste, he said.
But the process used by AgriArk and its founder, Rob Wisniewski, which would more quickly break down food waste into compost, may be a technology that would work in Sweden, he said. It is something that he is taking back to Sweden, he added.
Reflecting on his three-week stay in Lawrence Township, Mr. Koohler said there are "big challenges" facing the United States, such as public transportation. He said he favored the "Complete Streets" concept, which creates bicycle lanes on roads. It is typically implemented when streets are repaved.
He was also impressed by the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, which is a 20-plus-mile bicycle and pedestrian path that connects the two townships. This shows "a real interest in bicycling," he said. It is easy to ride a bicycle to the store to buy milk or other small items, he said.
"There is obviously an interest in bicycles," he said, but people choose not to ride their bicycles because it is dangerous. In Sweden, there are many bicycle lanes and the average motorist is more aware of bicycles on the roadway, he added.
Mr. Koohler also commented on the concept of individualism in the United States. Everyone is supposed to have his or her own car. It’s going to be challenging to change the mind-set that everyone needs a car and that there is no need to travel by train or bus, he said.
"I took the bus (from Lawrence) to Princeton. It was not full, but it was not empty. There is some demand for public transportation," he said.
He also pointed to the numerous solar panels — mostly installed on PSE&G utility poles. Solar panels are more common in the United States than in Sweden, but there is more wind power in Sweden than in this country, he said. The Swedish government subsidizes wind power.
"People are doing really good stuff here," Mr. Koohler said. "I was impressed. Hopefully, you can make some policy changes in the United States. There are enough people doing good stuff. The government has to make some changes. Obviously, a lot of people are doing good things."
"Some folks are really driven. (The Swedes) think everyone in the United States is minding their own business, and they don’t care about what other people are doing," he said.
"But people like Mikey Azzara (of Zone 7) and Rob Wisniewski (of AgriArk) are passionate and engaged. They are interested in the good of mankind," Mr. Koohler said.