Going Green on NWACC Campus
Instructor: Melody J Thomas
PHYS 1024
By:
Ryan Penn
Jason Wade
Sam Ledbetter
Va Vang
Jeremy Clark
Sara Lawhorn
As a group, we researched new ways for Northwest Arkansas Community College
and the local community to save energy, while cutting cost, by becoming more ecofriendly. We researched many different options on how to reduce energy consumption
that could be implemented on the NWACC campus such as LED lighting, water-free
urinals, renewable energy, and numerous ways of recycling. We’ve researched the energy
consumption at NWACC and have made estimates on how much money could be saved
by making a few eco-friendly changes within the college. In this report, you will find
how we can become more environmentally friendly while cutting cost and eventually
lowering the tuition fees.
LED lighting is a great way to illustrate the benefits in energy savings,
maintenance costs, and the environmental impacts by going green at NWACC. Light
Emitting Diode bulbs have been estimated to use 48 % less energy then the bulbs used in
our classrooms. Most typical LED’s are designed to operate with no more than 30-60
milli-watts of electrical power. One of the key advantages of LED-based lighting is its
high efficiency, as measured by its light output per unit power input. LED’s produce
more light per watt then incandescent bulbs; which is very valuable to saving energy.
LED’s are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike
fluorescent lamps that burn out much quicker when cycled on and off. Currently,
Northwest Arkansas Community College spends about $456, 737 a year on electricity. As
a group, we feel the college can make vast improvements on saving money by switching
to LED lighting for the classrooms. A recent study was done by Cree Inc., a manufacturer
of LED lighting components, showed the total savings from using a CC vivid 2 watt LED
light bulb over an incandescent 60 watt light bulb. After 60,000 hours of use, the total
cost from an incandescent 60 watt light bulb was $400.20, compared to the $46.95 of
total cost from using the LED light bulb. Cree Inc’s study has shown a difference in price
of 88 % over 60,000 hours of use. Though it is hard to estimate how much NWACC
would save by converting to LED lights, it’s not hard to see that the savings would be
crucial.
Another way to help cut costs, while being more environmentally friendly, is to
implement renewable energy. Dell Computer’s 2.1 million-square-foot headquarters in
Round Rock, Texas is powered entirely on renewable energy. Sixty percent of the energy
is supplied by wind power and the remaining forty percent is from Waste Management’s
landfill gas-to-energy plant. Dell President, Paul Bell, challenged others to follow the
new energy future, “It’s time for our industry to take the lead role in creating a clean
energy future. We challenge every technology company to work with their suppliers and
partners in integrating green power and energy-efficient strategies into their operations.”
Bell also said “We’re using green technology to drive operating expenses down.” But
Dell is not alone. Such big corporations such as Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club have also
implemented renewable energy operations to help lower energy cost while being more
eco-friendly. An example is the Wal-Mart located in Lowell, AR; they have installed
wind power turbines that are responsible for energy needed to light up the entire parking
lot. We believe this would be a great idea for NWACC to consider for its parking deck,
which costs $40,386 a year to run. While it is easier for big corporations to make vast
improvements in energy saving strategies, it can also be done by others. St. Thomas
Episcopal Church, located in Springdale off I-540, has also become more energy efficient
by installing three wind turbines to generate electricity. The three turbines will generate
about 500 kilowatt hours of electricity each month, which is about 15 percent of the
church's current energy needs. Not only do the turbines help with costs but it will also
keep about 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere
each year.
Another great example of how “going green” can save money is water-free
urinals. “An average of 40,000 gallons per urinal, per year, is saved with water-free
urinals.” Besides saving water, greenhouse gases are reduced. On average, every billion
gallons of water saved avoids the generation of 18 million pounds of C02. Also,
Rainwater harvesting is the practice of collecting and using rainwater, most commonly
from roofs. The use of collected rainwater can provide NWACC with high-quality soft
water for irrigation and potable uses, reduce pressure on water-treatment plants, and
reduce storm water runoff and flooding. Of course, to use as potable water, filtration and
purification are necessary. Presently, NWACC spends $68,946 a year on water, which is
a stifling amount. With the help of water free urinals and rainwater harvesting, we feel
these cost can be drastically reduced.
The lifestyle of your typical college student can generate a lot of garbage/waste
and we wanted to know what other colleges are doing to be more environmentally
friendly all the while saving money? “Seattle University is fertilizing flowers on campus,
by using pineapple heads, watermelon rinds, and lettuce, instead of being thrown in the
trash.” Warren Wilson College, in North Carolina, built an “EcoDorm” on its campus
with “solar fuel that converts sunlight into electricity and heat and installed composting
toilets and water-free urinals.” While some colleges are making bold steps on going
green, others are taking smaller steps. Some colleges are buying inexpensive dishes,
instead of buying disposable plates and cups, and washing them with filtrated rainwater.
Through this project, we as a group have developed better interpersonal skills. By
dividing up some of the responsibilities and project research, it showed how important
these intrapersonal skills are to having a functional group. Working as a group has helped
in gaining knowledge from others on the different aspects of how to present our project
as a whole. We as a group, have used many different ways of research for this project.
Some did a vast amount of research at our NWACC EAST lab and campus library, while
others went out into the community to see how others were “going green”. For any future
EAST project groups, that would like to research on how “going green” can save money,
we suggest expanding on our research by providing more detailed numbers of the costs
affiliated with building wind power turbines and installing LED lights and water free
urinals. Not to mention, how many years it would take NWACC to turn “going green”
into a money saving investment.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/34251/print
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007
http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/news/64141/