In 2013, the Humboldt Energy Independence Fund (HEIF) allocated a little over $5,000 to fund HEIF Art (HArt) Day. The primary goal of HArt Day was to generate awareness about issues that HEIF values and to suggest alternative behavior changes that will assist the sustainability development of our campus as well as our planet.

In 2013, a two-year pilot of Zimride at Cal Poly Humboldt (Humboldt) was proposed. Zimride is a private university carpooling network for students, staff, faculty, and alumni. The program is designed to be a user-friendly ridesharing system for both daily commutes and long-distance travel.After the two year pilot program, the program was deemed successful. Parking and Commuter Services took over the management of this program. It is anticipated as of December 2020 the vendor will discontinue the service. 

In Spring 2013, the Humboldt Energy Independence Fund (HEIF) allocated $4,500 in funds to conduct a pilot project through monitoring of Siemen’s Hall to evaluate the effectiveness of a spreadsheet tool to achieve energy savings through the replacement of light switches with sensor controls on campus. The tool provided recommendations that optimize energy savings while still meeting the room’s use. By assessing the feasibility of installation, and by measuring the energy consumption of the circuits before and after, this tool was tested for effectiveness.

This project provides funding for Humboldt campus departments/areas/offices that have completed a Green Workplace Assessment with the student group Green campus. Money is intended to fund energy efficient equipment that Green Campus identifies as being outdated or in need of replacement in order to achieve energy savings and energy efficiency. This project was defunded in 2024 because no projects were ever identified as being appropriate for this match funding.

In 2014, the Humboldt Energy Independence Fund allocated $60,777 to fund a retrofit of the Experimental Greenhouse located by Science D on the Humboldt campus, which had not been retrofitted since its original construction in the 1960s. The proposed retrofit included upgrades to the boiler system, water piping system, fans, and gas meter, will increase building use and decrease natural gas usage over a 20year lifespan. This project was defunded by the Committee in 2024.

This project identified overlighting along the walkway on Harpst St. The development team recommended removing every other lamppost (which would total 13) and upgrading the lamps in the remaining posts to LEDs. The ultimate decision made by Facilities Management was to delamp each lightpost instead of fully removing them which would decrease the energy use while mitigating the high cost of resurfacing sidewalks/cement platforms and electrical removal.

In 2014, the HEIF committee allocated approximately $2,500 to the Cold Water Laundering Program which aimed to decrease hot water laundering among student residents by 50%. This initiative included surveying campus residents on their laundering habits, creating and installing signage in the resident laundry rooms to promote sustainable laundering habits, and converting some resident washing machines to cold water only.

This is a continuation of the 2009 Hand Dryers project, which aimed to reduce the amount of paper towels consumed by Cal Poly Humboldt by installing Dyson Airblade dB hand dryers in some of the high traffic restrooms on campus. This project was defunded by the Committee in 2024.  

This project provides LED lamps, autoswitching power strips, and socket timers to individual offices as a part of the Green Campus Green Workplace Assessment process, in order for the campus to gain actual kWh/year savings. This project was defunded in 2024 because small widgets such as LED desk lamps, power strips, and socket timers have not been used in many years and no longer align with campus needs and systems. 

This lighting LED retrofit in the Art Quad replaced all exterior canopy and wall pack light fixtures with LEDs in order to increase safety, lighting efficiency, and energy savings. The following buildings were included in this retrofit:Music A, Music B, Art A, Art B, Theater Arts, Siemens Hall