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Spotlight
Technology for the Physical Plant: Building Smarts
7/5/2007
More than ever before, campuses are turning to technology to save money on energy and build better buildings.
LET’S FACE IT: Most people don’t need Al Gore to convince them that the Earth’s environment has been changing significantly in the last few years. Sure, the former vice president and presidential candidate educated everyone with his 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, but with Hurricane Katrina, rising temperatures, and shrinking snows atop Kilimanjaro, evidence of something climatically amiss is all around us. Some call these weird atmospheric events “global warming,” others a natural “Little Ice Age” cycle; but whatever you call it, the evidence of change is irrefutable. Compounding the situation, energy costs are higher than ever before. In some states, particularly those in the northeastern US, energy costs have doubled in the last three or four years. Does this spell disaster for institutions of higher education? Maybe not: Many colleges and universities are doing their part to react to these challenges without breaking the bank.
CATCHING SOME RAYS
TALK ABOUT YOUR EFFECTIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: In 2002, student groups at the University of California-Berkeley approved the first of several budget appropriations for the installation of photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. Not long after, an additional $270,000 in funding for the project was provided by the California Public Utilities Commission. The system was installed in the fall of 2003.
Today, the 5,000-square-foot PowerGuard installation from PowerLight is capable of generating 59 kilowatts of electricity, operating at peak times (sunny summer days) when demand for electricity is greatest. The system integrates the PV cells with R-19 insulated panels, in a modular system that allows for future expansion.
Looking forward, the school has plans to expand the rooftop array with an additional 60 panels, say school officials. Even without this expansion, PowerLight estimates that the system will save $390,000 in electrical utility charges over its lifetime. Considering that the cost of traditional energy sources continues to rise, the investment looks smarter every day.
For most, intelligent response involves technology. Schools such as Pennsylvania State University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Adelphi University (NY), Hamilton College (NY), and Fairfield University (CT) are turning to new technologies and tech products to cut down on energy usage, control HVAC systems, and save big bucks.
Still other schools, such as the University of California-Berkeley, have invested in renewable energy measures (see “Catching Some Rays,”).
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