Cold Temps, High Use Alter Carbon Plans

By The Fordham Ram on February 12, 2014 • ( 0 )

By KATIE MEYER
NEWS EDITOR

Valera said that solar panels could be installed on the parking garage roof by summer 2015, depending on whether the university would be able to obtain a grant. (JULIAN WONG/THE RAM)

In 2007, Fordham drafted a plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 percent within 10 years. This move was a response to former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative, a call to universities to reduce carbon emissions.

Now, seven years and many renovations later, the university has managed to decrease its emissions by nearly 20 percent, according to Vice President for Facilities Management Marco Valera.

These decreases were the result of a number of successful sustainability projects that have taken place since 2007, including the construction of energy-efficient buildings like Campbell and Salice-Conley Halls, the renovation of Hughes Hall, the installation of solar panels on top of Walsh Library and the conversion of many of Fordham’s gasoline-run vehicles to electric.

The plan is still incomplete, however, and Valera said that with just 10 percent of emissions still left to cut in order to meet the goals set in the original plan, progress is becoming more difficult.

“It’s going to be tough for the last 10 percent,” Valera said. “It’s not just the funds, it’s just also time. To reach those goals we have to do major renovations. Our student population has grown, so that increases your demand for electricity. And then, things like a cold winter could increase, or has increased our use of electricity — interestingly enough not so much in the fuel, but electricity. Everybody’s plugging in heaters, and they’re staying in their rooms, they’re not going out.”

So how will the last 10 percent decrease happen? Valera says a plan is in the works.

“We conducted a survey of all university buildings that was completed at the end of last year, and from that we’re developing a series of steps to continue our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases,” Valera said.

One of the first steps will beconverting all lighting on campus to LED. The first beneficiary of this project will be the library, which is set to be converted this year. However, Valera says that this particular project may extend even beyond the 2017 end of the PlaNYC initiative.

“When you do something like that, the LED, you’re dropping your lighting [cost] by more than five-fold,” Valera said. “It’s a real significant savings, and we hope to do that on every building, but this will be a five-plus year project.”

For this year at least, the board of trustees has approved $750,000 for use in environment-friendly renovations. Much of this, Valera says, will be used on the library.

“The payback for the library we expect to be under five years, so we’ll make that money back. The life of your average LED bulb goes around 10 years, so it’s a really good project overall,” Valera said.

Not all of the proposed projects, however, have been so well received.

Another plan that has been on the table for a few years is the installation of solar panels on the roof of the parking garage.

A similar solar array was installed on the Walsh Library roof several years ago using grant funds. It has served as a test to see if parking garage panels would be cost efficient. Based on energy collected by the library panels, facilities decided that they were not.

One of the problems with the panels, Valera said, was that the Bronx is not ideally located to collect solar energy efficiently.

“From an engineering perspective, unfortunately because of where we are and the amount of hours of sunlight we receive…it’s not viable for us to put in a solar array,” Valera said. “There’s no return, there’s no real financial incentive and the amount of energy produced is not as great as we would want it to be.”

Essentially, it would take over 20 years for the panels to pay for themselves in saved energy costs, and they only last for about half of that time. However, Valera is hopeful that new technology might help to make the project more feasible.

Newer model solar panel have been projected to last much longer, around 20 years, a change that could make them a more worthwhile investment.

Another deciding factor will be grants; if they become available, Valera said, the project may be able to proceed in the very near future.

“We’re very cautious about that, but we’re hopeful that we can put in an array in a year or two if the government grant is available,” he said.

If that does happen, there will be quite a few steps to take in order to get the panels installed.

First, they have to redo their analysis, taking any new grant funding into account. Then they need to prepare an official design, which will have to be submitted to the grant-givers for approval. Once they secure the grant, they will receive bids from installers and award the project to one of them. That company will put in the panels, and if all goes well, the system will be operating by next summer.

“But that’s fast track,” Valera said. “In New York City, everything takes three times longer and costs three times more than most places.”

Although it has involved a lot of work, Fordham’s approach to the reduction of emissions is a source of pride for Valera, as it is different from that of many other universities and organizations.

“We’re actually showing real decreases in CO2 emissions,” he said. “We’re not buying offsets…like NYU suddenly declared they [reduced emissions] but just bought credits. But, the credit market on carbon dioxide is, to me, not reliable…its sketchy. Its just like somebody selling you something like, ‘I have a great forest over here in Moscow, and I’ll give you credit for not cutting those trees down…’ But we did it the old fashioned way, just with technology.”

Other recent initiatives have included the conversion of much of the Ram Van fleet to biodiesel, cutting down on waste by providing Goodwill drop boxes for student use, composting fallen leaves from campus in the Botanical Gardens, and installing of a tree farm at Fordham’s Calder Center in Armonk, N.Y. that grows endangered American Elms and supplies some of the trees that are planted on the Rose Hill grounds.

These initiatives have been generally well-received among students, though, as Ani Esenyan, FCRH ’14, said, many are not aware of their extent.

“Although many Fordham students are unaware of these efforts, I think the university is making great progress,” Esenyan said. However, there is always more to be done, but that comes with time, a group of people to facilitate and implement change and a support system so that everything moves forward efficiently. I think an immediate step would be to advertise what is happening on campus. It is important for our student body to be aware that our university is conscious of the need for a more sustainable campus, and it is important that the student body acknowledges that the university is making strides in its goal.”

Esenyan also strongly supports programs that allow students to play an important role in the reduction of emissions. Specifically, she would like there to be greater emphasis placed on recycling among students.

“Placing more recycling bins around campus in high traffic areas such as around Eddies, by both gyms, McGinley, Cosi, the library, within residence halls and academic buildings [will allow students] to participate in sustainability efforts,” she said. “More than just having the bins, however, it is important for students to understand the recycling system. Realistically, it is hard to tell what can and cannot be recycled and I believe the university could provide informative posters above the bins. Although posters like this are in place, we could improve the information, size and appearance.”

In general, however, Esenyan is very happy with the progress she has seen Fordham make in the years that she has been a student.

“Overall, I think the efforts of the university are great,” she said. “Nothing can change overnight, and the fact that all of this is already in place is an incredible start to transforming campus.”