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Conversations with Gardner Who’s gone green?
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John Gardner, associate vice president of Energy Research Policy and Sustainability, filled his reusable water bottle and slipped on his gold-rimmed aviators as he prepared for our conversational walk across campus. We left the Math/Geosciences Building and entered the crowded pathway toward the library. Gardner pointed down to the sidewalk and said, “The other day after it snowed I could see condensation from the steam pipes running underground.”
Directly under our feet a systematic maze of pipes carries steam from the central heating plant to buildings across campus. As Gardner described the cities of the underworld, he raised his hands with a finger extended pointing to the central heating plant towering next to the Liberal Arts Building. Scanning from the Administration Building to the Morrison Center, Gardner followed the pipeline path through campus. Natural gas burned in the central heating plant provides heat to 60 percent of BSU buildings by pumping steam through underground pipes.
The system keeps university facilities warm in chilly winter months while contributing to 16 percent of BSU’s annual green house gas emissions of approximately 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Putting a fundamental twist on BSU’s heating system, Gardner sees the potential to retrofit the central heating plant using cogeneration, otherwise known as combined heat and power.
Gardner lifted his head up to explain how cogeneration at BSU would work.
“The turbine is a lot like an airplane engine underground,” he said. “The exhaust released is extremely hot and the excess heat can be used to produce electricity. We can replace our boiler with an electric generator plant and use the exhaust from the plant to generate the steam used to heat the buildings. While this does not eliminate emissions, we get double duty from the electricity we already use out of the deal.”
In an attempt to produce energy more efficiently, University of Idaho converted their central boiler to a wood chip burner. This burner generates 85 percent of heat consumption on its campus.
“The system used at U of I still puts the carbon dioxide into the air, but it’s a part of the natural cycle and reuses wood scraps from lumber industries.” Gardner nodded in approval while walking past the library steps. “Due to air quality issues, the wood burning system is not a feasible option for Boise State. However, implementing cogeneration can make us more responsible energy consumers.”
Oberlin College in Ohio, Evergreen State College in Washington and Harvard University in Massachusetts often receive national attention for sustainable efforts. But purchasing green energy credits, installing large compost bins and decorating roofs with solar paneling does not make a campus green. These steps allow schools to advertise themselves as sustainable, yet high amounts of greenhouse gases released from large campuses offset attempts to reduce carbon footprints.
“Oberlin College built the largest solar array in the state,” he said. “I grew up in Ohio and it is really cloudy there so I’m not sure how well that works!”
The cloudy days could be what contributed to Oberlin College’s high 16.8 MTCDE per student. One student at Oberlin College produces seven times the amount of carbon emissions a student at Boise State does. Boise State’s emissions are relatively low, producing only 2.3 MTCDE per student. This is partially due to campus size, a mild climate and programs implemented to reduce annual carbon emissions.
As Boise State continues to expand, the increasing trends in greenhouse emissions rise by 3 percent yearly.
To learn more about Boise State’s sustainable future, continue this conversation with Gardner in next week’s column. For further information and a complete review of the Greenhouse Gas Inventory visit boisestate.edu/sustain.
KC Driscoll
Arbiter Columnist