The Sustainability Science and Technology Center at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond not only educates students about new and exciting energy generation techniques, but it also demonstrates energy-saving technologies that result in saving money on monthly electric bills.
It helps the university itself save significant amounts of money on heating and cooling campus facilities. The center’s goal is to educate the campus and local community about promoting sustainability within their day-to-day activities.
A few months ago, I visited the Sustainability Center and met Alejandro Martinez, who serves as the physical plant's Sustainability Manager. He gave me an extensive tour of the facility.
It not only shows students and visitors how the new energy-savings systems work, it also informs them on how they can benefit from it in their own home. The center researches, implements and test various energy-saving systems, and then, if feasible, transitions to those systems at various locations across campus.
Director of the Physical Plant Services Byron Patterson and Manager of Grounds, Landscape and Recycling Carlos Doolittle helped create and promote the university’s Sustainability Center, turning it into an opportunity to educate visitors, businesses, students and others on energy conservation.
Starting with Landscaping
The landscaping plants surrounding the center are not only attractive looking, but many of them are edible. "Everything we do here is organic," said Martinez, mentioning the growing of plants in the community garden, a plot of ground which people from the community come to tend their own planting beds. "We let them use it for several months," he explained. Organic gardening is one of the key tenets of sustainability.
Hurricane Ida hit the Southeastern campus hard last year, causing significant damage to trees and buildings, and the Sustainability Center also took a hit. The lack of electricity to the hot houses was a major blow to the hydroponic and aquaponic systems. "The system was working well, but the hurricane set us back." Martinez said.
Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a food growing system that sustains plants in a hothouse, with tubes automatically feeding those plants water and nutrients on a regular basis. Aquaponics is a food growing system that combines a plant growing system with a fish growing system, with the waste water from the fish tank pumped to the plant tank where it provides nutrients to the plants. The plants, in turn, produce waste products that, when filtered, go back into the fish tank where it helps nourish the fish. So the end result is edible plants and edible fish as well.
The solar panels are always the star of the show. At the entrance to the center, there is a group of solar panels arranged in a unique "sunflower" array that supplies power to a Tesla battery storage unit. That, in turn, supplies power to an electric vehicle re-charging station. The "sunflower solar panel array" is visible from the east side entrances to the University Center, where all the big events take place on campus. The sunflower was built to be durable and withstood the winds of Hurricane Ida.
Recharging Electric Vehicles
Solar panel stations are being installed to help recharge electric vehicles on campus as they become more popular. While electric cars are in the news now, industry observers are beginning to think that hydrogen powered cars may be the actual wave of the future. California is already experimenting with hydrogen-fuel.
At this time the university is testing newly-available electric-powered lawn mowers, which, considering the amount of grass that needs to be regularly cut on campus, may be the solution for gasoline-powered lawn mowers. The durability and capabilities of the electric mowers are a concern, but the premise seems promising.
Thermal Panels
While there are many solar panel installations on the grounds, the center also uses several thermal panels. These, when aimed at the sun, warm up water circulating through their pipes, and that warm water goes into the adjacent buildings to be used where needed.
The Green Building
The "green building" is the demonstration center, so it has its own set of thermal panels, as well as a geo-thermal heating and cooling system. That geo-thermal system utilizes an underground pipe that goes from the building to a nearby water-retention pond, where the pipe is submerged at a depth where it can transfer heat to and from the water as needed. Then the temperature-moderated water is returned to the building by the other pipe.
It's a closed-loop system, where in winter the warmer water goes into the building and helps warm the building, and in summer, the cooler water helps cool the building. While the difference of a few degrees may not seem important, when you are talking about saving energy, any method to take the edge off the extreme heat and bitter cold of Louisiana seasons is bound to help. It's a heat exchanger on a large scale.
Rainfall keeps the retention pond full most of the time, but in times of little rainfall, there is a back up water well that tops it off and keeps the geo-thermal pipes covered with water.
A commercial building in Mandeville has adopted the geo-thermal system to help reduce its own energy costs after consulting with the Sustainability Center.
The green building is completely energy sufficient on its own, even to the point that during the day many of the interior lights are actually just skylights that use a system of mirrors to focus the sunlight into the rooms.
Inside the green building are a variety of exhibits, flow diagrams, and control panels for showing the effectiveness of the different kinds of energy-saving systems. The displays are designed to appeal to people of all learning types: visually, auditory, and interactive. Anyone visiting the green building leaves with a thorough understanding of what's available, what works and what doesn't work in the Louisiana climate. A visit to the green building inspires hope for the future of solar-supplied energy.
Wind Turbine On Display
While they do have a wind turbine mounted on a pole near the green building, it is more of a demonstration unit than something that, in Louisiana, can actually provide a cost-effective return. The wind turbine is something that has caught on bigtime in Texas and Oklahoma, however, as huge wind farms spread out across the landscape with the promise of free energy. However, a super cold winter a couple of years ago raised concerns about the usability of the windmills in cold climates.
Even the waste water coming of the green building is sorted out and the gray water is diverted to irrigation systems outside.
The Big Geo-Thermal Project
In 2019, a similar geo-thermal system was installed at the site of two newly-constructed residence dormitories. It uses a closed-loop system that runs a pipe into and out of hundreds of ground wells that were drilled just for the purpose of evening out the temperatures in the new structures.
The new housing complex built to the east side of Zachary Taylor Hall includes 560 beds. A number of wells were drilled down 300 feet below the complex in order to dissipate heat underground and operate the two new buildings off of one third the previous energy usage.
University officials were told that such a system would not work at the campus location, but investigation determined that the soil and water conditions were perfect for such a system.
Significant energy-cost savings have resulted from the network of water wells that circulate cooler water in the summer to help control the temperature of the building. It is a hybrid system that also uses a cooling tower and a boiler to fine tune the system on really hot days. The hybrid system offers a redundancy that backs up the energy-savings, and the system works so well it is already close to paying for itself in energy savings.
In an article about the Sustainability Center, Patterson revealed that the college's overall Physical Plant operates on about 37 percent of the energy of a standard system. Several solar thermal projects are on campus including the pool in the Kinesiology and Health Sciences building, which is heated by solar thermal hot water.
Documentation Is Important
A major part of this research and implementation of new systems is the intense documentation of the costs and benefits that result. That means computerized spreadsheets that show every variable, every result, and every developing trend over time. There are graphs and charts proving the cost-savings of each new system, and the documentation includes thermostat settings all over campus. Record keeping is key to proving the viability of these new systems, and those records also determine the "break-even" point of each system. If a particular system, as wonderful as it sounds, doesn't actually save money, then back it goes for more research and fine-tuning.
Location-Specific
As expected, energy sustainability is, in part, location-specific. Each geographic location has a unique combination of weather and terrain factors that determine the best methods to use for energy generation and savings. What works in Arizona doesn't necessarily work in Louisiana (and vice versa.)
If you live near a volcano, a couple of geo-thermal underground pipes collecting that volcanic heat can pipe it over to your house and help reduce your heating bills in the winter. Even roof slope angles play into usefulness of solar panels, and Louisiana with its flat roofs doesn't compare to northern states with their steep roofs that help reduce snow loads in the winter.
Buildings Benefit
There are 54 buildings on the Southeastern campus that are constantly monitored for temperature and humidity, and ways are sought to keep them as energy-efficient as possible. The physical plant operation is meticulously-monitored as part of the ongoing search for every possible energy savings.
The thermostat in each building is programmed to heat and cool according to the hourly needs for comfort. After classes are over for the day, the heating and cooling systems automatically adjust. At five a.m. the next morning, those systems kick on and start preparing the building for its next round of classes.
Room-sized Heating and Cooling
One building had a meeting room that was in almost constant use, from early in the morning til late at night, way pass the time when the rest of the building was emptied. The most cost-effective solution there turned out to be to go ahead and tune down the entire building at night to save energy, and just install a small heating and cooling system for that one meeting room that was in use most of the time.
Consideration is also given to the age of specific buildings, the amount of insulation they have, the amount of window glass that faces the sun at certain times of the day - just some of the factors that go into adjusting heating and cooling to keep the folks inside comfortable.
The Mold Problem Solved
When Hurricane Ida took out the electricity for two weeks, mold could have become a problem in certain buildings. but the physical plant department had previously installed "I-wave air ionizer" equipment. As soon as the power came back on, the unit kicked in and the mold and mildew literally disappeared from view within days. Oversized ionized air units saved the buildings from extensive (and expensive) restoration efforts. The equipment sanitized the walls, carpets and sensitive equipment and took care of the growth of mold and mildew. Martinez was so impressed, he went out and bought a similar unit for his own home.
Recycling
The sustainability center also promotes recycling services, with limits on what it can recycle. Various combinations of recycling have been tried, and with a campus the size of Southeastern, the challenge of recycling can be both rewarding and difficult at times. Working with local recycling companies varies according to fluctuating costs and benefits.
Glass recycling is a continuing question, a special challenge that area recycling companies have been trying to address, but its availability varies from area to area.
Expired food from the food bank and discarded grocery store packages, although a possible source of organic matter for composting, is sometimes more trouble than its worth to try to process and recycle.
Sometimes wood and other biomass can be possessed into gasification pellets.
Collecting electronic waste (computers mainly) is complicated by an ownership question. The center is not able to engage in electronic waste collection due to a number of legal hoops that have to be dealt with in handling the disposal of used computers.
Heliodon
The sustainability center also features a device that helps students (and prospective homebuilders) visualize how the orientation of a new house can improve its energy-savings through proper placement of solar panels. The device is called a heliodon, and it assists in calculating the proper north/south/east/west placement of a home to best capture available sunlight every month of the year.
In the heliodon, a small scale house model is surrounded by sliding circular tubes which allow for a light source substituting for the sun to be infinitely adjusted when set for different times of the year, different times of the day and at different latitudes. It helps suggest the best placement of porches, windows and rooflines to best suit energy-saving efforts.
While Louisiana is in a good location for capturing sunlight most of the year for solar panels, homeowners should also direct some attention to interior temperature moderation through proper window and porch placement as well as roof overhangs where shading will prevent direct sun where it's not wanted.
Houses should be built with proper compass-point orientation and design to maximize the possible benefits of sun exposure. Trees can also be planted in key locations to shade windows and walls in summer to reduce interior heat build-up, but lose their leaves in the winter to allow sunlight to provide warmth when desired.
SLU Gets Green Building Award
In July of 2016 The Louisiana chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council awarded its Operational Excellence Champion Award to the Southeastern Louisiana University Sustainability Center. Southeastern physical plant director Byron Patterson accepted the award on behalf of his team for its efforts to make the campus as energy efficient as possible.
In 2013 the St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce gave the University an award for its outstanding environmental stewardship work. The center has also won several state and national awards.
Tightening the Envelope
Much of the work in making the buildings on campus as energy-efficient as possible is the physical work of finding air leaks in the insulation envelope, caulking windows, and making sure doors close properly and snugly. Installing solar panels may be a good idea, but money saving begins with keeping the building well-insulated. Local electric companies sometimes offer homeowners energy-audits that measure heat and cooling loss through the windows, doors, and even the walls.
Water Bottle Refill Stations
Now with so many people carrying around water bottles all day to stay hydrated, refilling the bottles as needed, the upgrading of water fountains around campus was a major project. Filters were installed into the water fountains, all in an effort to have faculty and students refill their own bottles instead of using disposable plastic bottles.
Tree Preservation As Well
Taking measures to protect the oak trees on campus is another effort that falls under the umbrella of the Sustainability Center. Hurricane Ida decimated the trees on campus, and efforts continue to protect the soil around the remaining trees from contamination and pollution.
Part of the sustainability center is also the campus greenhouse, where plants of all shapes and sizes are grown to provide greenery where needed. That greenhouse also provides potted plants for temporary use at special events and gatherings. The watering of the greenhouse plants is done through a network of tubes fed by water from the retention pond outside, which is re-filled by rain, instead of using water pulled out of the ground through wells.
Earth-Sheltered Buildings
Earth-sheltered homes are not that common in the Florida Parishes, Martinez stated, and underground homes which offer temperature moderation year round are not well-suited to the flat topography. In Washington Parish and north Tangipahoa Parish the gently rolling hills may offer some opportunities for earth-sheltered homesites, but drainage and moisture-proofing walls against high water tables are the key challenges. There are a few earth-insulated buildings built above ground, and "bermed" with earth piled up on one or two sides to moderate interior temperatures.
Sustainability encompasses many efforts available to the community. Martinez said that in many ways, sustainability is just "common sense," seeing ways in which to identify sources of energy, store that energy, and direct it to where it's needed when it's needed.
This solar panel array is now permanently aimed at the optimum angle for solar energy, but in the beginning it was hand-cranked month-to-month to better align it with the path of the sun. Efforts to design an electric motor to automatically move the panel to "track" the sun day-to-day were set aside when it was found out the electricity needed to power the motor was not worth it.
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