Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series detailing the University’s campus sustainability efforts.
The University consumes more energy today than it did seven years ago.
At the same time, energy efficiency is at an all-time high.
Campus sucked up more than 2 million MMBTUs (Million British Thermal Units) of energy in 2011, enough for a couple billion loads of laundry, according to numbers submitted in an annual sustainability report.
However, nearly half that amount was self-produced by the two cogeneration plants on campus. There, natural gas fuels electricity-generating turbines, which give off steam as a byproduct.
“We’re always producing steam here,” said Associate Executive Director of Facility Services Dave Maharrey, describing how the hot vapor can either be used directly for heating purposes or indirectly for cooling purposes.
Massive spinners cool steam into chilled water, which is then used to air-condition more than 12 million square feet of building space on campus.
Since 2005, the University’s total square footage has increased by nearly 25 percent. Even though it uses about 12 percent more energy, production efficiency has gone up.
Water use has only increased 1.5 percent during that same time period, from about 758 million gallons in 2005 to 770 million in 2011.
“We still have a lot of water lines and steam lines we need to work on,” Maharrey said, although he felt encouraged by the relative percentage measures.
Pipes leak and lights burn out on a daily basis. But as things break, more efficient replacements take their place.
“We have an unfunded backlog of work throughout the infrastructure — that’s a known factor,” Maharrey said.
And until funding becomes available, which he said could take a while under the current budget crunch, drastic improvements won’t happen overnight.
For example, installing expensive computer-controlled irrigation systems would save money in the long run.
Currently, when watering times need adjustment, someone must go out to one of approximately 90 irrigation monitors on campus to make a manual adjustment, said Fred Fellner, assistant director of Landscape Services.
Recently, Fellner has made trips to the University of Alabama to look at its computerized wireless control system, which he hopes to install at LSU once funding becomes available.
“Every day we feel the weather as human beings to be a certain humidity and temperature, but the plants also have a certain feel for the weather on how much water there is to absorb. And many times, we’re not including that in our irrigation calculations,” he said.
The computers would.
“You may think you need to run it for 15 minutes, but maybe the ET [evapotranspiration] ratio is saying you only need 10,” he said.
Plans are in the works to put low-flow water systems in many campus buildings as well, said Denise Newell, campus sustainability manager.
“That costs a premium,” Newell said, referring to eco-friendly resource management systems in general. “And right now, we’re in a crunch to come up with those numbers.”
Another area looking to increase sustainability is the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation.
“We completely revamped [Tiger Trails] and required low-emission sulfur,” said Director Gary Graham, noting the addition of the TransLoc GPS service on the buses to increase ridership.
And it worked.
Graham directly attributed the increase in ridership to the helpful GPS service, which he believes also enhances campus safety.
Bike racks have also been installed to the front of each bus, and the addition of some dedicated bicycle lanes and shared roads signs during the Easy Streets II project this coming summer will both serve to encourage more bike riding.
“Our Flagship agenda includes sustainability,” Newell said, “and if that’s our mission, and it’s something we should be working toward, then sustainability should really be a part of everything we do.”
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series detailing the University’s campus sustainability efforts.
