The following was a school project reformatted to fit here. It is merely a mock-up and was not officially submitted. The original format was on Microsoft Word and is available upon request.
Small Steps for Big Changes
A Treatise on Source of Energy
This is a recommendation for the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee on how to use alternative sources of energy to help reduce costs, emissions, and lessen their carbon footprint. The plan can be used by other universities or businesses as well as private residences. The plan may discuss policies already implemented, but will hopefully provide ways to increase overall efficiency.
Introduction
This report is designed to help universities, businesses and private citizens conserve energy, manage costs and other resources. The report will discuss old, archaic methods still in use today. It will discuss why these methods ought to be changed. Current available options will be presented as ways to change old habits. The merits of all available options will be presented. Many of these changes have an initial, upfront cost to them, but savings can be had with small changes in the long run.
No matter which side of the political spectrum you belong to, all sides can agree saving money is a good thing. Regardless of your views on climate change, positives and/or negatives of renewable energy sources, these methods will save money over time. All sides can surely agree that is a good thing.
OLD METHODS
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. His basic design remains in use even today. Improvements have been made and many other options for lighting are currently available and the United States government has made plans to phase out Edison’s old design. However the basic resource sapping design persists.
Fossil fuels based on carbon are a widespread way of creating energy. A main positive aspect of these methods, including coal power plants, natural gas, oil and others is they are generally cheap. They are also relatively abundant. But they are finite. Our planet will eventually run out of these fuels. There is fuel gauge and it will eventually read empty. Additionally these finite resources are not exactly environmentally friendly.
We as a society have developed other ways to mass produce energy, mainly nuclear power plants. They do help solve a few major problems as far as emissions, sustainability and abundance. However they are far from perfect. There have been a few major disasters regarding the safety of this form of mass produced energy. The most recent is the Fukushima accident. An earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused a meltdown of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors (Acton J.M. & Hibbs M). Many studies will have to be done on the effects of disasters such as this. The dangers are real.
ALTERNATIVES
There are many alternative methods to creating energy. Many of these have been in development for decades. They have their downsides, but they present a method to help cut costs and lessen humanities’ impact on the environment. The most common methods currently in use or development are solar power and wind power. These methods rely on other technology to help mitigate their effects. This is mainly the storage of gathered energy, otherwise known as batteries. There are other ways to help reduce energy usage, such as motion sensors, rooftop gardens, and advances in light bulb technology.
Let’s start with the minor methods of saving power. Some of these practices are already in use at many universities. However if they are not, they are a low cost way to help reduce costs. Motion sensors can be installed in classrooms. These sensors are designed to turn the lights off if there is no movement in a room after a certain amount of time. This immediately helps lower power drain on whichever methods of energy production are in use. After all, a room needs no light if there is no one in it.
Another easy fix is the use of advanced light bulb technology. LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs are available now that greatly reduce the amount of energy they use while maintaining the amount of light they produce. In recent years the overall cost of LED bulbs has fallen dramatically. They started as a high cost alternative aimed at people who were mainly concerned with the impact on the environment. However, they have come way down in price, and while they are still more expensive than old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, they last longer and will cost less to use over their longer lifespan.
Here is a quick reference picture comparing the types of bulbs and their overall cost. The graphic is meant for residential users, but the saving would obviously scale up for users of larger facilities such as universities and businesses. The graphic was available in multiple sources, notably the City of Pasadena’s website suggesting they are already implementing LED bulbs in their energy saving policies.
ENERGY SOURCES
Next I would like to present some alternative ways to help generate energy as opposed to utilizing power companies and their grids. Many local power plants use some of the methods discussed earlier such as coal, natural gas, and nuclear power. There are a few alternative ways to generate power. The most commonly known are solar and wind. There are others, but I will concentrate on these two and then present a few other options to help reduce energy usage, such as high efficiency ceiling fans to help with heating and cooling.
Firstly I will discuss the most common type of renewable resource energy production: solar power. The most common way to utilize the sun’s massive energy is through solar panels. There are multiple ways to gather the sun’s photons (discrete light “packets” that can be collected) and there are many designs for solar panels.
A common method of collection of solar energy and using it to help lower energy usage are the old fashioned photo-voltaic solar panels. I actually have such a system installed on my private residence. The system utilizes four solar panels connected to two large hot water heater tanks. The panels gather the sun’s energy which heats up the water which can then be used in place of a standard hot water heater. The system is also connected to a hydronic heating system in the basement of the home. We all know heat rises, so on a cold, sunny day this system can be used to heat the basement and reduce the usage of standard forced air heating in the main level of the home.
This type of solar panel system could be installed on building roof tops and basically any southern facing exterior wall. It could then be used to help heat water for various uses in the building, either through a hydronic heating system or as simple as providing hot water for hand washing and other activities.
Other solar panel systems utilize a similar photon collection method but instead of transferring the energy into heat to warm water it is stored in batteries for later usage. Battery storage has come a long way in the past few decades. With new systems of storing energy on the horizon this type of system will only become more efficient as pointed out by a recent wired.com article (Barrett).
A small company in Sandpoint, Idaho called Solar Roadways Incorporated is designing a really exciting new type of solar panel. The solar panel is designed to replace current asphalt technology, mainly our roads and parking lots. Instead of standard asphalt the road or parking lot is lined by solar panels able to withstand the abuse asphalt undergoes. The panels can then utilize the sun’s light to either provide lighting for the roadway at night or the system can transfer the photon energy into heat to help clear snow and ice from the roadway or parking lot (solarroadways.com). Anyone who has shoveled snow before knows how awesome it would be if the parking lot could remove the snow itself.
The system of solar roadways could also be used in the future to help recharge electric cars thus mitigating the need for gasoline powered vehicles. Imagine a road system with all electric cars where the vehicles are charged by the very parking spot they occupy.
Solar energy is far from perfect. It has a fairly steep installation cost not to mention the sun is not shining all the time. Obviously the solar panel collectors will not be able to absorb photons when it is dark or cloudy. Some of the initial costs can be reduced by government tax credits. Additionally the savings will speak for itself when the overall need to pull power from the grid is reduced or even eliminated completely. As for those cloudy days, let us shift our focus to wind power.
Wind Turbines
Wind turbines use the natural motion of the air all around us to spin a large bladed “fan”. This motion is then converted into usable energy. The energy is then either used immediately or stored in a high capacity battery for later use. The bladed “fan” itself is adjustable, that is it can rotate to face any direction in order to utilize wind from all four corners of the compass.
Mankind has used the power of the wind for millennia. Sailors use the stream of air to propel their ships and boats. Farmers used to use giant windmills to help grind grain and other materials. The modern wind turbine is slightly different but is based on the same basic principle as ancient mills and sails. Even though man has used wind for such a long time, the system does have its downfalls.
Wind turbines are derided for their noise and conservationists have complained their blades are a predator for birds and other wildlife. But more birds are killed by cars and power lines than wind turbines (nationalgeographic.com). Still, a system could be devised to help steer birds away from dangerous turbines. Obviously the system could be powered by the turbine itself.
Installing turbines on the roofs of buildings would help alleviate the noise they produce. A major problem with turbines is the lack of predictable weather patterns provided by a fickle Mother Nature. Wind power obviously needs wind to work. A system using both solar power and wind power is therefore best.
All current old generation light bulbs should be replaced by LED light bulbs. This will have an initial cost associated with it, but the savings will pay for the upfront cost in a matter of months. A system of motion sensors should be installed to turn lights off when no one is in a room. “Smart” or “learning” thermostats, such as Nest, should be installed to help current heating and cooling systems run more efficiently (Gear Lab, Men’s Journal). Self-adjusting ceiling fans, similar to the Big Ass Fan Haiku with SenseME, should be installed to help heating and cooling in larger rooms or areas (Gear Lab, Men’s Journal).
A system of solar panels should be installed on rooftops or southern facing exterior walls. A sister system of wind turbines should be installed on rooftops to work in conjunction with the solar panels. Additionally the company Solar Roadways should be contacted and all future asphalt parking lots should utilize these solar panels. This could provide electricity for lighting the areas and to help clear snow and ice. This would diminish the need for expensive plow vehicles and lower the need for personnel to perform these duties. Additionally, getting in on the ground floor of an up and coming company such as Solar Roadways could help lower the costs associated with this new technology, not to mention boost the image of the university or company.
There are a few additional areas that could be investigated to help utilize available space as an alternative. The possibility of urban farming, greenhouses, and rooftop gardens or water retention systems could also be viable options.
Many of these cost and energy saving systems also have government programs, grants, and tax incentives to help lower their start up and installation costs. If these systems are installed, the effects will lower energy costs, help keep the environment sustainable and make for a healthy planet moving toward the future.