Under a backdrop of shifting presidential priorities with regard to climate change, Santa Rosa Junior College continues efforts to reduce its environmental impact.
The Board of Trustees recently granted $32 million, with help from Measure H funding, to be used toward sustainability projects on SRJC’s various campuses.
David Liebman, an administrator in sustainable facilities operations, described five main projects the college hopes to complete within the next few years, as well as some long term projects.
Liebman hopes to install solar panels in the parking areas for the Petaluma and Santa Rosa campuses to help power the schools. While the Petaluma campus uses the least power, it has the most space for panels. Space issues at the Santa Rosa campus will present challenges for installation.
In December 2016, the Integrated Environmental Planning Committee (IEPC) discussed some of the projects, including the installation of devices on all campuses that measure the amount of energy, water and natural gas being used in each building. Liebman says students and faculty would then be able to access the measurements on a cloud server once the installation was complete.
One project has already been implemented into the Bertolini Student Center on the Santa Rosa campus. The building is heated by a ground source heat pump, a sustainable temperature regulating system that uses the constant temperature of the Earth to heat and cool a building.
Liebman explained that if the building is too hot, the energy can be pushed back into the ground and extracted later when needed.
Because the ground source heat pump does not require natural gas, it has less impact on the environment. Liebman said that these pumps last a long time and require less maintenance. The ground source heat pump will also be installed in Pioneer, Burbank, Garcia, Forsyth and Analy halls on the Santa Rosa campus.
Replacing an outdated energy plant is another project on Leibman’s list. This natural gas plant is located near Maggini and Tauzer Hall on the Santa Rosa campus, and its waste energy was used to heat the pool. Liebman said that there were challenges surrounding this generator and that a study is being done to determine the best option for replacing the energy plant and using fewer fossil fuels.
In addition, the school’s lights will be replaced with energy efficient LEDs. The LED lights have occupancy sensors and a dimmers, and classroom lights in front and behind projectors may get separate dimmers, allowing for an upgraded teaching environment. The lights in the childcare center have already been fully replaced.
Also the Santa Rosa campus garage is equipped with LED lights that turn on when there is movement in the building which not only increases energy efficiency, but also safety at night.
“We’re moving pretty quickly on these projects,” Liebman said. “The solar project has been moving forward pretty aggressively.”
Liebman expects to replace the generation plant in the next two to three years. The LED project should be done in the next two years for all SRJC campuses. The parking garage on the Santa Rosa campus is now lit with LED lights that turn on when there is movement in the building which not only increases energy efficiency, but also safety at night.
Liebman also works on student transportation issues. He hopes to find a way to help students get to school and decrease the school’s carbon footprint. He wants the school to find ways to encourage students to take public transportation that would cost less.
In order to make students and faculty more aware of the progress on sustainability issues, Liebman said he would like to publish a report that “will show the data on where the college stands.”
Students are also welcome to present project proposals to the IEPC if they have any ideas for ways to increase the college’s energy efficiency. “The more students the merrier,” Liebman said.
For more information on SRJC’s future sustainability plans, students are encouraged to visit the SRJC Sustainability Summit on March 10 in the Pepperwood Preserve.
