September 24, 2012
AASHE STARS
1536 Wyncoop St, Suite 100
Denver, CO 80202
To whom it may concern,
As part of our commitment to reducing and eventually eliminating our institution's carbon footprint, Chatham
installed solar thermal hot water systems on its two largest residence halls. The systems are scaled to provide
all the water for the halls during the spring, summer and fall, and augment our existing natural gas hot water
during the short days of winter.
The system is designed to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, reduce our carbon footprint from burning
natural gas, and insulate the university from fluctuating energy cost shocks. The collectors are made of a
100% aluminum alloy, with 70% recycled content and high efficiency glass, and are completely recyclable
once they reach their lifecycle of 25 or so years.
Our system is 1205 total square feet, making us about the 9th largest solar hot water installation in the U.S.
We are the largest installation in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest eastern states installations, according to
the US Department of Energy's Utility Solar Water Heating Initiative database.
The Chatham locations were chosen based on their size and occupancy rates, to take advantage of the high
effectiveness of the Solar Tomorrow technology. Fickes Hall is the largest residence, with 27 showers, 12
washrooms, and 4 laundry machines for 113 occupants, occupied year-round. Woodland Hall has 119 rooms,
plus a café, art gallery, and a large classroom. Woodland also houses information technology Help Desk
offices, Residence Life Offices and Student Lounge, and Chatham Bike Works. The entire Chatham system
includes eight racks on Woodland and six on Fickes, holding four panels each, for a total of 60 panels.
In order to educate others about sustainability - one of our core missions – a smaller-scale teaching system was
installed at ground level on the greenhouse, to allow students and visitors to see and touch the collectors. Signs
describe the basics of the technology and provide information about the project, and a computer display next to
the collectors shows live data from the system.
The greenhouse system is designed to be used as a teaching tool. Students will be able to experiment with a
fully functional system, changing parameters like flow rate of glycol, for example, as they learn about solar
thermal energy.
The project is a partnership between Chatham and Solar Tomorrow, Inc. of Ontario, Canada with additional
funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chatham has found this project to be an innovative way to
promote new sustainability technology, giving us the opportunity to be an early adopter of a cutting-edge
energy technology, even though we do not have our own technology R&D office. In addition to the energy
benefits, Chatham is able to promote new technology, and enjoy the benefits of continuous improvements to
the system.
This is an innovative project, from the technology itself, the scale of the installation for our region, the
incorporation of teaching and demonstration capabilities into a large-scale project, and the funding structure.
I would be glad to provide more details about the system or this project to anyone who is interested in learning
more about high-tech solar thermal hot water systems for universities.
Mary Whitney
University Sustainability Coordinator