When students enter the newly-renovated Pray-Harrold, they notice a marked aesthetic improvement. The millions of dollars Eastern Michigan University spent on the building did much to update and improve the functionality and general appearance of the building. However, unbeknownst to many students is the extent to which the renovation focused on increasing the building’s energy efficiency.
In fact, many students would probably be surprised to hear, as of its completion, Pray-Harrold is being audited with the hope of achieving LEED Certification. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a subset of the U.S. Green Building Council, and awards recognition to buildings that meet certain energy and environmental requirements. Recognition comes in the form of a certification that follows a positive gradient from Certified, Silver, Gold to Platinum.
Pray-Harrold is being audited for a Silver Certificate.
Steven Moore II, Energy and Sustainability Manager at EMU, explained the renovations in Mark Jefferson are being made in hopes of qualifying it for LEED certification as well.
“The big construction projects on campus, Mark Jefferson and Pray-Harrold, are going for LEED certification,” said Moore. “They will be our first two buildings on campus that are LEED certified. To get that, you have to have an energy efficient system. We’re pretty excited for that. Pray-Harrold is basically done so that will be the first one we get certified. Then Mark-Jefferson will follow up when that’s finished next year.”
These renovations are part of a larger agenda to make campus as energy-efficient as possible. There are many auxiliary projects that gained little attention. For example, Sherzer was recently outfitted with a higher-efficiency HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system, and the new windows in the FYC are double-paned to increase energy efficiency during the winter.
Kaitlin Zies, a senior studying Aviation Management Technology at EMU, argued that investing in increased energy efficiency is financially prudent for the university, and expressed approval of the steps it has taken to do so.
“ I think, with the current budget deficit, it would be a wise choice on EMU’s part to becoming more energy efficient,” said Zies. “It may be a large cost upfront. However, in the long run, it could save the university large amounts of money. I’m very happy with the changes they are making. It’s slow, but I understand why it takes that long. So, overall, I am quite pleased with Eastern’s progress.”
Moore’s statements echoed the Zies’ logic.
“The greenest energy you can use is the energy you don’t use,” Moore said. “We’re really trying to make our operations more efficient everyday and save money that way.”
Moore gave a presentation to Dr. Ernest Behringer’s PHY 179 Global Energy Resources class on Monday. During his presentation, Moore explained an overview of the school’s energy consumption, where its energy comes from and what is being done to make the school more efficient. He also discussed the logistics behind potential installations of renewable energy.
Behringer was impressed with Moore’s presentation.
“I think the overall goal of all of these projects is really good,” Behringer said. “Every project that Mr. Moore showed us was an energy-savings and cost-savings project in the end. There’s nothing but good about that. As far as other projects go, it’s pretty clear that he’s thought about a lot of different ones. So I was impressed. They’re definitely thinking of things, and that’s good. Saving money and saving energy is a good strategy.”
Students in Dr. Behringer’s class inquired of Moore why EMU hasn’t invested more in renewable energy. With a matter-of-fact candor, he explained it just doesn’t make fiscal sense in the current energy market. The costs of renewable sources of energy relative to traditional carbon-based sources is simply too high, and the burden of those additional costs would be shouldered by students.
“To reduce our carbon footprint and be as green as possible, renewable energy obviously is a good choice,” Moore said. “We’ve looked into it as a department. It just costs more money than what we’re paying right now, and we haven’t been able to justify passing on increased costs to the students.”
Moore explained the school has come very close to installing a geothermal unit, but hasn’t reached the point where it is economically sensible. If prices change, and geothermal becomes more cost effective, it’s quite possible EMU will invest in it.
“We have tried to fit [geothermal] into a couple of projects and it’s getting really close to being break-even in terms of a conventional system versus a geothermal,” Moore said. “If you look at life cycle costs over a twenty or thirty year time period, it’s [close]. So if the prices come down on geothermal a little bit more, or the traditional prices go up a little bit or if we could find a grant, I think we could definitely look at geothermal on campus for a future project. We’d see how it works, see if we have any issues with it and hopefully keep expanding from there. It’s a good technology. It’s solid and proven, and it does save energy. So it would be great to have.”
Perhaps the most interesting idea the school had to generate renewable energy was by harnessing mechanical energy from the dam just south of campus to power hydroelectric generators. The City of Ypsilanti is looking to sell the dam, and EMU is the most obvious potential buyer, given its proximity and its constant demand for electricity.
As exciting as this project sounds, Moore explained chances are high it won’t happen.
“I met with the city officials as far back as a year and a half ago,” Moore said. “At this point [it’s unlikely], because of the money that potentially is needed just to keep the dam in good operating condition, the money that would be required to put energy generation in there and there is a move along the Huron River to get rid of the dams. People who use it for recreational boating are trying to work their way down the river and take out the dams so they can easily go along the river. I have a little bit of concern that they would get to that dam and want it removed.”
Andrew Havranek, a junior majoring in Physics Engineering at EMU, is a student in Dr. Behringer’s 179 class, and sympathized with Moore’s argument.
“I honestly feel like a lot of the renewables that you see up today are really more just for show,” Havranek said. “As far as actually being able to cut into a significant portion of the overall consumption that takes place on campus, I don’t think [it would happen]. It would be cool to see windmills somewhere, but I just don’t know if it would be money well-spent.”
Behringer explained, as ideal as a 100% sustainably powered campus would be, it’s not financially realistic at this time.
“If money were no object, it could happen,” Dr. Behringer said. “But money is an object. Clearly you have to have something that’s economical. It doesn’t seem, given the resources that we have right now, and given the economics right now, that we could run 100% off of renewables. Because what’s most likely to be useful would be wind, solar or geothermal. Mr. Moore thought about all of these things. It sounded like they came close to the geothermal and came close to a solar project. But, neither of those projects were large enough.”
Despite the lack of investment in renewable sources of energy, the school is clearly taking steps to become more energy-efficient. Furthermore, by seeking savings from increased efficiency, the school is becoming more environmentally friendly. A good example of this is EMU’s on-campus Heating Plant, which runs off of natural gas instead of coal or other inefficient fuels.
“We do use natural gas, which is a cleaner fuel than coal and a lot of other fuels that we can buy and the electricity generated by DTE,” Moore said.
Every year, a portion of the electricity consumed by EMU is generated by the plant. The plant’s generators burn natural gas to boil water. The resultant steam powers a turbine that generates electricity. In order to mitigate energy losses, excess steam is collected and utilized to heat certain buildings.
As Moore mentioned, this type of electricity generation decreases EMU’s environmental impact, because it reduces its consumption of electricity from DTE. More than half of the electricity from DTE is generated by burning coal. Coal generally has more impurities than natural gas and, by chemical structure, has significantly more carbon. Therefore, coal doesn’t burn as cleanly as natural gas, and it releases more carbon into the atmosphere.
Though, due to high natural gas prices, the plant produced less than 15% of EMU’s electricity from 2006 to 2009; in the 09-10 fiscal year, the plant produced 26.4% of EMU’s electricity. This year, the plant has produced 22.7%.
Environmentally apathetic students might struggle to find value in any of these numbers, but they ought to. According to Moore, approximately $500 of every student’s tuition goes towards EMU’s energy expenses. Moore explained he works hard to keep that number low.
“Our goal is to keep the buildings working well, and at the lowest cost possible,” Moore said. “That includes the energy that we buy. We work really hard to buy the cheapest electricity and natural gas that we can.”
Lydia Seale, a freshman studying Arts Management at EMU, is pleased with the Physical Plant’s work to make EMU a
more efficient school.
“It gives us more to be proud of,” Seale said. “Eastern Michigan has a reputation of being a really great school. I think it enhances our image. It also saves a lot more money and devotes it to things that are necessary.”
Commenting more broadly about the energy issues that face the world at large, Dr. Behringer stressed how important it is for all people to recognize the issue of modern civilization’s hyper consumption of energy, and the way it is taxing our planet.
“It’s not just a physics problem,” Behringer said. “It’s a values problem. It’s a social problem. There needs to be a consensus that we need to do with less. As far as we know, the earth is finite, and even if it was filled with fossil fuels, it’s a finite amount. If one values human civilization, and thinks that it should be sustained for a very long time, you have to think of a way to get off of that.
“The earth is like this beautiful oasis in the void of space, and we’re lucky enough to live on it. How awesome is that? And when you think of it as a spaceship…Usually spaceships are small. It’s very obvious that there are finite resources. The earth is a massive spaceship, but it’s still finite. It’s the same kind of thing. You don’t trash your spaceship.”
Dr. Behringer emphasized the transition from fossil fuels is inevitable, but our foresight in responding to their depletion will greatly affect our future prosperity. He argued, though renewable energy is currently very cost ineffective in the current market, it is so due largely to gross underestimation in the total costs of fossil fuels.
“Ultimately the current rate of using fossil fuels is not sustainable—not in the long run,” Behringer said. “Therefore, things have to change by force or by choice. Choice is nicer than force. You can plan. Presumably we’re a thinking species, and we can plan ahead. So my point there is that, with the existing technologies, we could make choices to start changing the system.
“The problem is that the economics aren’t good. But they’re partly not good because not all of the costs are counted properly. For example, health costs are not really incorporated into the kWh of coal that we get: respiratory illnesses from coal power plant emissions, or mining the coal, mercury contamination coming out of power plant stacks. That kind of stuff is not counted. Then the possibility of climate change is not counted. So at what level would it cost us?”
