Small Steps Add Up In Energy, Water Savings At University

By Carla M. Collado
Staff Writer

It is said that a little goes a long way — that’s the philosophy that California State University, Long Beach, is following when it comes to energy conservation and environmental causes. By making small changes throughout its campus, the university is saving millions of dollars in energy costs and helping the environment.

One of the first places where CSULB is trying to become more “green” is in its campus bathrooms.

The university has spent the last two years installing hands-free faucets, which reduce water usage by up to 70% versus standard water faucets, according to Rob Quirk, director of CSULB Facilities Management. About 250 hands-free faucets already have been installed, helping the school save about three million gallons of water annually, and another 500 are scheduled to be installed by the end of the summer (saving an extra six million gallons of water annually), he said.

In addition to new faucets, the school’s custodial manager has been switching bathroom soaps to certified-green, biodegradable foam soaps, and is looking into installing automatic soap dispensers (which release less soap), Quirk said.

Male students will be seeing more waterless urinals at CSULB as well. There are about 30 on campus, and the school is in the process of installing another 30 waterless or low-flow urinals, according to Quirk.

The university’s water saving measures continue with its new automated system (the Rain Master Central Irrigation System) that controls irrigation on campus. Irrigation controls connect wirelessly with a central system that can be accessed online — if the irrigation system malfunctions, it can be shut down remotely to help conserve water, Quirk explained. The school is now installing the system, which also includes building a campus weather station that connects wirelessly with the irrigation controls.

Tree trimmings on campus also help conserve water. They’re recycled into chips and compost and are then used in plant beds. Quirk said the cover provides a very good base to retain moisture in the soil and helps keep weeds from growing. (Note: the recycled tree trimmings are a good example of how the campus keeps waste from heading to landfills. In fact, 65% of the waste produced on-campus gets diverted rather than taken to landfills, according to Quirk.)

Sidewalk sweepers and lawn mowers on campus do their part in being environmentally friendly as well. The sidewalk sweepers recycle and reuse the water, and the lawn mowers double-cut the grass and return it to the ground as mulch.

But CSULB’s biggest energy savings come from its larger projects: lighting retrofits, its central heating and cooling plant, its co-generation plant and solar panel installations.

Over the last 15 years, the university has spent about $20 million on energy conservation efforts, according to Scott Charmack, associate vice president of CSULB Physical Planning and Facilities Management. Over the last decade, those efforts have resulted in nearly 13 million kilowatt hours of avoided electrical consumption that would have resulted in more than $1.5 million per year in energy costs to the campus, said Tim Ball, associate director of CSULB Facilities Management.

As part of ongoing lighting retrofits, the university has replaced about 95% of the lighting inside its buildings and switched to fluorescent light bulbs. The school now is experimenting with more energy efficient LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lamps in some of its parking structures, according to Quirk.

The university’s central HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) plant consolidated about a dozen mini-plants throughout campus when it was built in the mid-’90s. It makes ice at night — during off-peak hours when electricity is cheaper — and uses it to cool campus buildings during the day, allowing the school to turn the large chillers off during peak hours and save energy, Quirk explained.

CSULB also has a small co-generation plant (installed about 20 years ago) that uses natural gas to produce electricity and also uses the waste heat to generate additional power, Charmack said. It creates 200 kilowatts of power and uses its heat to heat the university’s outdoor pools, he said.

The university is increasingly using solar power as well. Last August, 800 photovoltaic solar power panels — each about four feet by eight feet and weighing 107 pounds — were installed on the roof of the Brotman Hall administration building. Another 384 panels were installed in December on the canopies of covered parking spaces in the Facilities Management parking lot to help charge CSULB’s service fleet.

The service fleet consists of about 250 vehicles, which the university gradually has been converting to run on alternative fuels, according to Quirk. Most of them are electric vehicles and are charged by solar panels, thus reducing emissions and saving costs on gasoline, he said.

As for campus buildings, Charmack said all CSULB buildings are built well beyond state energy codes. He said new buildings scheduled to be constructed such as the new Student and Recreation Wellness Center and a new science building should both obtain a silver rating through the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system.

“We feel it’s important to make a commitment to renewable energy,” Charmack said.