Energy Conservation Club!!

And_over · Tar Sands Joined: May 30, 2006 Posts: 45

Alright, I'm mostly back.

pea-jay wrote: Those are good justifications and motivating factors. But be sure to get faculty, administration and technical advice as well. It may sound corny but the best person who knows about the kitchen processes is someone who, well works there. Consult with them before charting a course. Get their participation. Someone who is involved is less like to oppose. Can't say that enough.

I've convinced the Dean of Students, probably the third most important person on campus, to serve as the clubs academic advisor. I really can't emphasize how big this is. It's probably the biggest coup I've ever pulled. I'm also on friendly terms with the vice-principal, so I have friends in the halls of power.

I've also talked with the physical plant and they are open to ideas and have been very helpful. Most importantly, their is an institutional call for change. The administration has really started looking into ways to reduced energy consumption. The reason may only be that their energy costs rose 40% last year, but the top people are behind me.
I can't contact the cafeteria people, the computer people, etc because everyone has left for the summer. Even the phys plant right now is only the three assistents, so I have to hold off. Fortunately, in early July Andover apparently has an academic summer program. They bring back most of the staff for that. That means I can start collaborating with the people on the ground.

pea-jay wrote: Get email contacts with anyone interested and collaborate. Do your own homework and draft. SOunds like you are doing that anyway, though.

Homework is what I'm doing right now. I think we've got a pretty good list here, and probably in the next few days, when I'm fully recovered, I'm going to really start digging and making concrete plans. Right now I'm the only person I know whose willing to do this stuff over the summer, so I'm on my own really until school starts. That is unless I can get some help from the faculty and staff come July.

pea-jay wrote: I'd be pissed if I couldnt turn the light off too! Take your phys plant staff's word. Light pipes probably make good economic sense if one assumes a long enough time period.

Good that's the big thing. I've mapped out the math, science, language, cafeteria, and a few office buildings as possible beneficiaries of lightpipes. You seem to know a lot about these things. Do you either some ballpark figures on how much these things would cost and how long they take to install, or do you know of someone who does?

pea-jay wrote: The compost part is easy. Find a method or methods and use them. Find local farmers willing to accept the materials in exchange for some of the crops grown in it. Thats how informal arrangements can lead into formalized contracts.

Biogas generation is trickier. You are actually using a contraption to generate and harvest methane. Undoubtedly some of it will have to be stored, so compression is also required. Those are no small tasks to undertake.

Good, this is going to be really easy to do. I'll probably be able to get this up and running by the end of the first month of school. My stepmom knows a lot about composting from her gardening, but this is on a commercial scale.
What I think will happen is this. The cafeteria food will get sorted immediantly. Compostable material is bagged and sent off to the farm or theoritical greenhouse and gets composted there.
The biogas generator will be a lot tricker. It sounds like the generator requires a lot of money to purchase, and space and people to operate in. The first two could be definite problems. Also, I'm not 100% sure how this could be used by the school.
I think that anything we do with the cafeteria food is going to have to include running vehicles from the waste. If the biogas generator can provide for that, I think it will happen; otherwise, I have my doubts.

pea-jay wrote: Water is a big problem for us out west. Since your rain is pretty constant year round and your biggest demands occur when the supply is at its highest, water is unlikly to be a concern as much as it is to a Californian. Anything water related has to have a pretty quick payback or real low costs to make much sense.

Agreed. I'm putting this as a later priority. I found that Andover's average rainfall is 3.5-4.5 inches per month. I don't know if thats enough. My chats with the phys plant people (PPP?) have raised a couple of concerns:
1. How big are these thing?
2. Where are we going to put them?
3. How much will we save?
4. How much is it going to cost?
5. How are we going to connect these things to the plumbing?
I don't expect an answer from you on any of these. I would imaginer only someone who knows and installs cisterns would have the answer. Fortunately for me, one of my mom's closest friends is starting a business installing cisterns. I'm going to start working with him and maybe even be a company co-founder.

pea-jay: What about laundry? A residential school is undoubtedly going to have huge laundry requirements. There is no way any plan should ignore this task. How does your school launder?

Really good idea. My school does laundry two ways. Either you pay to use the dorm's commercial laundry machines or you pay more for a company to come pick it up and do it for you. If I can find an energy efficent, cheap commercial laundry machine, then I can probably get the administration to phase them in over time.

pea-jay: Lets brainstorm now.

We know you have these issues so far to address:

Sustenance
-Food- locally grown, biogas and compost
-Water- cisterns Can anyone think of anything else on this issue
-meal preparation and cooking- buy energy efficent equipment
-refridgeration and storage- buy energy efficent equipment

Shelter
-Heat- increased insulation
-Hot water- energy efficent heaters, solar water heating, (This is one of our biggest energy wasters)
-cooling (does not require AC, just discussion of strategies) We don't have cooling, no AC, nothing
-light- lighttubes. CFL, LEDs, clearer windows?

Transportation
-on campus vehicles- more energy efficent vehicles phased in slowly
-off campus vehicles- we use school buses I don't know what could be done.
-fuel sources for both types- My advisor wants to get these running of cafeteria waste

Comfort
-laundry (recently added)

Thats what I have identified and classified from your posts. To this, i'd add

1. Laundry- energy efficent washers/dryers for school and the company
2. IT Infrastructure and operational needs (Can't ignore the energy consumption of a school's worth of PCs, servers, printers et al will require.
We have a lot of computers. I've heard that Apple recently rolled out an extremely energy efficent mac. I could talk to the tec department about phasing these in once they're back in July
3. Entertainment. Find efficiencies here if possible.- The primary energy intensive sources of entertainment on campus are tvs and computers. A lot of computers are student owned, and we can't do anything abut that, but the tvs are school owned, and they could do with some new, more energy efficent tv sets
4. Groundskeeping and general maintenance. how are those accomplished? Golf cart-like lawn movers and snow movers. I don't think that there is anything we can do. They have such a large area of land to care for and I've never heard of any energy efficent, commercial scale lawn mowers.

pea-jay wrote: Probably could think of some more, but you already got a lot on your plate.

Please, any suggestions at all are appreciated. Even if I can't act on some of them for awhile, I still want to create a "list" of ideas for the school and so I'll have a base to work from. I want to get all the ideas out in the open so we can assess which ones are good, which ones are easy, and finalize the initial planning.

I've gone to the Energy Star website to find energy efficent equipment, but I'm also want to start a bunch of threads (dishwashing thread, washing machine thread, vacuum cleaner thread, insulation thread, to go alongside the refrigerator thread). That way people can point out even more energy efficent devices avaiblable that haven't been recognized by Energy Star. If you give the go ahead, I'll do this.

WisJim
Thanks for the articles. Those schools sound interesting. I think that maybe we could put in a wind generator here. I found out on the internet that Andover has wind speed averages of 14.5 mph year round. That's more than enough for a turbine.
My question to the board though is how much does a big turbine cost?

And_over · Tar Sands Joined: May 30, 2006 Posts: 45

Okay, I'm about to send an email off to the Head of School, Dean of Students, Dean of Faculty, the physical plant, and a few other people about energy ideas. I'm including a copy of the letter below. I based it off of pea-jay's last post and filled in the blanks. If anyone has any comments then PLEASE POST THEM NOW.
Thanks you Ms. Edwards,
I thought that I'd also give you a list of possible areas where Andover can improve its energy efficiency and ways it can be done. I looked at this problem from three different angles:
1. How to make Andover an environmentally friendly, energy efficient, sustainable community
2. How to differentiate Andover from other top boarding schools.
3. How to do all of this while saving money.
I consulted with several contractors, suppliers, energy experts, searched the web, and used my own knowledge to find areas where Andover can possibly improve its energy usage. Also, I searched for products that have a short return on investment. Many of the products and devices I discovered will return the cost of the initial investment in the form of energy savings in as little as 6 months. Below is a list of all the areas and ways that Andover can save on energy. This list is a brief overview of what we can do. If you want to know more about a particular item, please contact me. I have products, specifications, prices, comparisons, incentives, contractors, and suppliers for most of this ideas. Even if the school starts out small, there are many ways that the school can significantly reduce its energy use.

Sustenance
Food
Purchase locally grown agricultural products, not produce shipped thousands of miles across the country.
Compost Commons food to give to local farmers for fertilizer in exchange for a possible discount.
Purchase equipment to produce biogas from non-compostable materials to heat buildings on campus and equipment to produce biodiesel from waste vegetable oil to fuel Andover's cars and buses.
-Water-
Install water cisterns to collect rain water from rooftops for use as potable water. This is actually one of the cleanest and most immediate sources of water available to us and can drastically reduce the water bill.
Meal preparation and cooking-
Purchase energy efficient refrigerators, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, microwaves, cleaning products, etc. I've made a small list of the energy efficient domestic (for the dorms) and commercial (for Commons) refrigerators, and I hope to have a similar list for these other products soon. I'm looking for the best combination of energy efficiency, cost, and return on investment.
-refrigeration and storage-
Use Massachusetts's own cold climate to help freeze perishables in winter.

Lodging
-Heat-
Increased insulation in the walls, floors, and ceilings, energy efficient doors and windows, installing geothermal heat pumps to provide warmth for buildings. I've begun researching prices from several contractors and will have more to report in this area soon. This is the area where Andover can most improve.
-Hot water-
Purchase energy efficient water heaters and tanks, possibly purchase solar water heaters for dorms. Water heating is one of the biggest energy wasters at any large institution, and solar water heating is the most efficient and cost-effective uses of solar energy. I've contacted several solar panel providers about prices, installation and maintenance costs, possible discounts, and I have found several federal, state, and possibly local tax breaks for institutions installing solar heating that can significantly lower the price.
-light-
Replace any standard light bulb with a CFL, LED, or full spectrum light bulb (full spectrum lighting has been scientifically documented to improve health and happiness). Possibly install lightpipes into major academic and administrative buildings. These essentially concentrate and use sunlight to brighten the top floors of large buildings.

Transportation
-on campus vehicles-
Have PAPS phase in new vehicles that can use the biodiesel produced by the cafeteria
-off campus vehicles-
Our school buses are already diesel run and can easily be converted to use biodiesel from the cafeteria.

Comfort
-laundry-
Phase in newer, more energy efficient, commercial washing and drying machines in all Phillips Academy dorms. Work with E&R to improve their washing machine and drying machine's energy efficiency.
- IT Infrastructure and operational needs-
This is a major source of energy consumption. Andover needs to set all current computers to use their 'sleep' mode. As well, the school should phase in newer, energy efficient computer models as the older computers wear out. I've heard that Apple recently rolled out an extremely energy efficient Mac. I could talk to the tech department about other methods of reducing energy consumption.
- Entertainment-
The primary energy intensive sources of entertainment on campus are tvs and computers. A lot of computers are student owned, and we can't do anything abut that, but the tvs are school owned, and the school could purchase new, more energy efficient tv sets
- Groundskeeping and general maintenance-
While I am sure that there are ways to improve efficiency in this area, I do not yet have the expertise nor the research to recommend any course of action at this time.

Power- Andover can also improve it's energy effect by switching over to renewable energy sources.
- Purchase green energy-
Andover could purchase clean energy from solar, wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, or tidal power plants instead of natural gas or coal; however, this plan would likely increase the energy bill.
- Install solar panels-
The school could buy and install solar cells on top of dorms, administrative, and academic buildings. Again, this is likely to be very expensive and Andover's northern location would make the campus a bad location for electricity generating solar cells (but not cells for water heating)
- Construct a wind turbine-
Andover could purchase a wind turbine either located on campus or off campus and have the power sent directly to the school. This plan has a large initial cost, but wind turbines pay for themselves within a few years. A several wind turbines could easily meet the school's energy needs. Even supplying additional power to sell to the utility company. Andover has a great location atop a hill and more than sufficient average wind speeds to justify this project.

This is an initial list of how Andover can save energy. I have much more information about each area listed and am ready to help in any way I can. Many of these improvements have relatively low initial costs and quickly return their expense in energy savings. Even the larger, more expensive projects will save Andover a significant amount of both money and energy in the mid and long term.

pea-jay · Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:16 am Post subject: Re: Energy Conservation Club!!

Andover:
You've done some good work here. You know your dean better than I do, so if she likes details and organization, your letter is good. If she likes seeing the "big picture" then you'll probably want to add some discussion on the deeper reasons for doing this.

Now to your points (I am only focusing in on certain things so if I dont mention anything, just go with it):

And_over · Tar Sands Joined: May 30, 2006 Posts: 45

Alright, I sent the letter in a few days ago. I'm assuming that they ignored it over the weekend, but hopefully the Dean perused it a bit, or maybe she sent it to someone else. I'm going to wait until Wednesday and then send off an email to inquire what they think about it.

WisJim · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:27 pm Post subject: Re: Energy Conservation Club!!

And_over · Tar Sands Joined: May 30, 2006 Posts: 45

We have a huge sports area with multiple soccer, baseball, football, track, and tennis courts near the top of a hill. No one really lives that close to it, and it's the best spot on in town for a turbine, so I'm guessing it would probably go there. That would take care of any theoritical sound issues.

And_over · Tar Sands Joined: May 30, 2006 Posts: 45

Okay, sent an email yesterday, but apparently the Dean is in the hospital or something, but she should be coming back tomorrow or Monday.

pea-jay · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:41 am Post subject: Re: Energy Conservation Club!!

Well, I'll alter my opinion of wind turbines then...
Personally, I think a lot more R&D needs to be done on those things to make models even more visually appealing and useful, esp in areas with variable wind origins.

Hopefully you get some positive results on your efforts, Andover
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