Mount Wachusett Community College 2006 Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Application
Category
Community college or other two-year institutions
Contact
Rob Rizzo
Director of Facilities Administration
Mount Wachusett Community College
Gardner, MA
(978) 630-9137
RRizzo@mwcc.mass.edu
Governance & Administration
Over the past several years, Mount Wachusett Community College has demonstrated its leadership in promoting renewable energy options both on campus and throughout the community. During this period of time, Dr. Daniel Asquino, President of Mount Wachusett Community College has directed College staff to aggressively pursue numerous initiatives and projects to decrease the College's dependence on foreign fuels and to educate our students and our community on the multitude of benefits associated with utilizing renewable energy options. The climate and tone established by President Asquino provides the staff the ability to undertake initiatives that has positioned the College to be a leader in implementing and demonstrating renewable and sustainable options for state agencies and large industrial users of energy. Executive Vice President Edward Terceiro has spearheaded the College's energy conservation and renewable energy projects and initiatives. As a mechanical engineer, Mr. Terceiro has the formal training and a life-time of engineering experience to guide and focus these efforts.
The College created the position of Director of Facilities Administration in 2005 to focus on creating a sustainable campus, provide outreach to the community and to integrate the College's renewable and sustainable projects into the classroom. Staff members have been instrumental in providing leadership in the "Northern Tier Renewable Energy Initiative" created by Congressman John Olver of Massachusetts to encourage and promote renewable energy as an economic stimulus for the region. In addition to this endeavor, staff members have been participating with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, on a regional endeavor to increase the use of renewable energy for a region of Massachusetts that geographically is outside the College's typical service area. In 2005, Dr. Daniel Asquino, the President of Mount Wachusett Community College declared that the College's goal is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 25% before 2010. To that end, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has announced that based upon the College's energy consumption reductions and numerous renewable and sustainable projects, we have reduced our carbon dioxide emissions in four years by 22.73%. The College has also publicly endorsed the 25x25 coalition which is a national attempt to increase our renewable energy usage by 25% by 2025. The College is also in our second year of partnering with Clean-Cool Planet, a not for profit, non partisan organization whose sole mission is to create partnerships in the Northeast to implement solutions to climate change and build constituencies for effective climate policies and actions. We have also been partnering with the National Wildlife Federation's, College Ecology Network to educate students, faculty, and staff on an innovative range of strategies for restoring habitat, shifting to clean energy, reducing waste, and fostering environmental literacy. We also serve as members of such groups or coalitions as the Massachusetts Wind Working Group, the Massachusetts Biomass Energy Working Group, the Coalition of Northeastern Governors; Regional Biomass Program, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sustainability Council, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Energy Council.
Operations
Mount Wachusett Community College has effectively reduced our CO2 emissions by 22.73% over four years. This was accomplished by converting our electrically heated campus to a biomass hydronic district heating system. The project has provided numerous positive benefits for the College community, and the Nation. In addition, this renewable energy project has had substantial affect on our local economy, drastically reduced GHG emissions, contributed to the elimination of woody biomass from the waste stream, lessened our dependence on foreign oil, addressed the nation's energy and homeland security policies, demonstrated the use of a sustainable and locally available feedstock, and provided unique educational opportunities for our students.
In addition, we have also undertaken numerous energy conservation measures which include:
- Energy efficient lighting in all fixtures;
- Low-flow water closets and aerators in faucets and showerheads;
- Energy efficient and environmentally friendly Hydroflorocarbon (HCFC) chillers;
- A heat pump for heating our swimming pool;
- Domestic hot water heated by a heat pump in summer and biomass in winter;
- Energy management including direct digital controls (DDC) for complete building automation with remote monitoring capabilities;
- Conversion of electric resistance classroom heating and direct expansion (DX) cooling to hydronic heating and cooling;
- Conversion of three pipe cooling system to an energy reducing two pipe system utilizing Variable Frequency Drives;
- Make-up air system that complies with the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRACE) standards for improved air quality, including replacing electric pre-heats with a hydronic pre-heat system for make-up air and replacement of a constant air volume to a variable air volume system that exceeds the state energy code;
- Conversion of all-electric resistance heated greenhouse to hydronic heating utilizing biomass;
- Variable frequency drives on motors, pumps and chillers;
- Four electric utility vehicles for grounds crew.
Cumulatively, we have offset over 16 million megawatt hours of electricity and have saved 9 million gallons of water through our projects.
We have a 5 kWe photovoltaic array supplying continuous power to the College's electrical grid. In addition, in April 2006, we submitted an application to the US Internal Revenue Service for a Clean Renewable Energy Bond (CLEB) to install an additional 100 kWe of photovoltaic panels on our roof.
The College has initiated a very active ongoing recycling campaign that includes the recycling of 1,100 tons of paper, cardboard and plastic annually and 24.5 tons of metal and electronics. We are currently working with an outside entity to undertake a complete recycling audit to measure performance, and increase recycling capabilities.
The College also utilizes green cleaning products classified as Environmentally Preferred Products (EPP).
We purchased and erected a sophisticated 50 meter wind meteorological tower to quantify our wind resource. To further increase our electrical generation from renewables, in the spring of 2006, we received a $1 million grant from the US Department of Energy to install a wind turbine on campus. We are currently raising the required 100% match funding for this $2 million project.
Curriculum & Research
With funding from the National Science Foundation, we now have three new renewable energy courses that are offered to our students. Our goal is to establish a full curriculum to prepare students for careers in the expanding renewable energy service technician field. In addition, students are now able to develop an independent study practicum in renewable energy to explore a concentrated area of interest. In addition to the above efforts, we have developed a team approach to disseminating energy conservation measures, sustainable options, and renewable choices to our students. Staff members have been partnering with faculty as guest lecturers in numerous and varied classes on projects undertaken at the College. We also continue to deliver presentations to faculty and staff through the College's professional development lecture series.
As a community college, our faculty is not required to undertake research projects. But both faculty and staff are working on various projects to promote the use of new and exciting technologies. As an example, we are under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to install and test a 50 kWe prototype woody biomass combined heat and power downdraft gasification system that will substantially contribute to this technology becoming a commercial product. This will be the first in the world application of producing electrical and thermal energy for heating, cooling and electricity from a downdraft biomass gasification system. This research and development project is in partnership with Community Power Corporation of Littleton Colorado.
In conjunction with our gasification project, we recently completed a research project with funding from the USDA Forest Service to briquette woody biomass to be used as feedstock for advanced biomass gasification technologies. The major objective of this research was to determine the economic feasibility of producing a feedstock to produce a cleaner producer gas for energy production.
Community Service and Outreach
College professional staff members have delivered lectures and presentations on renewable energy across the country and around the globe. Director of Facilities Administration, Rob Rizzo has delivered over twenty technical presentations in the last year in Finland, the United Kingdom, and at numerous institutions of higher learning such as Harvard University, the University of Delaware, West Virginia University, Smith College, and others. The College also supported numerous trips for staff to disseminate research results and deliver technical presentations at many national renewable and sustainable energy conferences.
In another initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, we are coordinating the efforts of eleven state energy offices that include Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine to encourage the use of biobased fuels and biobased products for large private and public users. Project partners include the Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG) Policy Research Center, the United Soybean Board, the National Biodiesel Board, Brookhaven National Energy Laboratory, and World Energy Alternatives.
The College celebrated Earth Day 2006 by hosting a speaker series on mitigating greenhouse gas production in the US. This project was in partnership with the Union of Concerned Scientists and Congressman John Olver of Massachusetts, a national leader in greenhouse gas reduction strategies.
The Massachusetts Legislature recently awarded the College $150,000 to promote biomass as an energy choice for other state institutions and agencies. The objective is to encourage others to replicate our success utilizing biomass as a feedstock for energy. This effort will create awareness of a locally produced energy source and will provide the necessary funding to conduct site specific feasibility analysis to install biomass heating and/or combined heat and power options.
