St. Norbert Times

Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: Features

Solar PV electrical generating panels are a great idea, but the ability to produce cost-effective PV panels has not yet arrived. Practical solar PV technology has many different faces. It can be interesting arrays like those located at the Botanical Gardens next to the NWTC campus in Green Bay, to the small one-inch squares on tops of solar walkway lights you and I buy at a big box store. There are even PV roofing products made which can be used to replace an entire shingled roof, which can then be used to charge electric cars and personnel transporters. As the cost of PV systems comes down and the payback becomes more attractive, we will certainly consider their use for our campus.

Wind energy is something we are looking into. We are not to a point yet in our studies to identify whether it will be a small wind farm on the roof of our proposed renovated science building, larger wind turbines placed on some of our properties remote from campus, or something in between. We are currently conducting a couple of feasibility studies into the use of wind energy. We hope some day to have either working/teaching models or alternative renewable energy turbines to offset our carbon footprint.

One of the other interesting ideas we are considering is to collect our cooking waste oils, to then distill those oils into a product which we can mix with our diesel fuels, then use it to power our College diesel machinery (refuse trucks and lawn mowers).

And then one of my favorites…we are considering investing in a garbage-to-electricity machine. There is a proven system available which you can put all of your garbage (except glass and metals) in one end and electrical and heat energy comes out the other end, without polluting the air or ground water. St. Norbert College generates about 1.7 tons of refuse per day. This machine will take that 1.7 tons of waste which we currently haul to landfills and recycling stations and turn it into enough electricity and heat to provide the needs for the likes of Madelaine/Lorraine Hall, Bergstrom Hall, and Mary Minahan McCormick Hall combined-and have a little left over. These units are very expensive to purchase and install, but they possess that favorable payback or short return on investment.

These types of new ideas require a lot of research on our part. Just because something sounds like the "right thing to do," it sometimes is not. We are proceeding very carefully with our eyes wide open. We want and need to make the best choices. Our goal is to end up with systems that work efficiently well into the future and will favorably impact our quest toward becoming as carbon neutral as possible. We ask for your input and ideas and thank you for all of your support.



Editor's Note: Lewis Pullen is the Manager of Mechanical Systems/Facilities at St. Norbert College.

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