Students may have noticed some new features on New Hall. The Office of Sustainability recently installed solar panels, which they’d been looking to do for a long time.
Solar thermal panels concentrate the sun’s energy into thermal storage. The College estimates it will save 3,810 therms of natural gas through the use of these panels. When New Hall was being built, an opportunity finally arose to incorporate solar thermal into a building on campus.
Over D-Term the solar panels were installed to the roof of New Hall. With older buildings there may not be room for piping involved. “You need a building that uses a lot of hot water,” said Brittany Graham, the sustainability coordinator at North Central College.
Other projects that the Office of Sustainability is working on with New Hall expanded to the recyclables. According to Graham, putting a recyclable can by itself in a location isn’t good enough.
“It will end up becoming a garbage can,” she said. Instead, Graham can drill garbage and recyclable cans together so that they become one entity. When they are together, the recycling bin has a greater chance of being used.
Graham is looking to the science center for more sustainable opportunities, such as permable pavers which allow storm water to flow through them. Additionally there will be a rainwater cistern that captures water for the greenhouse. The windows and HVAC system will all be energy-efficient.
Graham said that science centers in particular tend to be energy hogs although the energy use at North Central’s science center will be minimalized.
“Fume hoods will be efficient and water fixtures will be low flow,” said Graham.
This winter, North Central has also installed L.E.D (light emitting diode) lights in Res/Rec. L.E.D. lights already exist on campus, though primarily in the Merner Field House. In the future, Graham hopes for the opportunity to add solar panels of the photo voltaic variety to the roofs of buildings. Photo voltaic panels would take the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity as opposed to thermal energy.
