It is no secret that the University of New Hampshire is associated with the colors blue and white, but with the universities reputation for sustainability, it is only a matter of time before people start seeing how “green” this school really is.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gives out annual awards for a wide variety of sustainability projects. This year UNH’s EcoLine won Project of the Year.
“The project was the result of hard work by a lot of talented people and was based on the support of the USNH Board of Trustees,” said UNH Assistant Vice President for Energy and Campus Development Paul Chamberlin, who accepted the award on Jan. 10. “It was an honor to represent them in accepting the award.”
The EcoLine is a 12.7 mile-long pipeline that connects the Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprises to the five million square-foot UNH campus. The project takes the waste in the Rochester landfill and converts its landfill gas into UNH’s energy. The landfill gas provides up to 85 percent of the campus’ electricity and heat, which saves the university every year the amount of energy that would go into heating 18,700 homes for an entire year.
Steve Rivard is a senior Geography major with a Conservation minor. He also is one of the most experienced admission representatives. He has been a tour guide since the first semester of his sophomore year and has given over 150 tours to prospective students. He said that people are impressed throughout the tours, but once he starts talking about sustainability, people are left in disbelief.
“The most common response is ‘wow’ when I tell them that UNH is the first university in the nation to use landfill gas as a primary fuel source or any of the other facts about the EcoLine,” said Rivard. “UNH’s drive for sustainability attracted me to the university and I know mentioning projects like the EcoLine are selling points to potential incoming students.”
The process to create the pipeline was not an easy task. The idea was first proposed in 2004. In June 2007 Chamberlin and others presented a full project proposal to the University Systems of New Hampshire Board of Trustees for their consideration and ultimate approval, which they gave.
“Following Trustee approval, we started construction in three increments; a gas processing plant at the landfill, the pipeline between the landfill and the campus, and modifications to the existing co-generation plant and installation of a second turbine generator,” said Chamberlin.
The trash to treasure process was not an easy one to figure out. Chamberlin says that the challenge was centered on the sheer complexity of the project.
“Landfill gas is produced in a biological process that is affected by a variety of factors that can affect the quality and quantity of gas produced,” said Chamberlin. “On the other end of the system, we must provide fuel of a very stable quality and volume for the turbines.”
Chamberlin says dealing with a somewhat unpredictable landfill gas and transforming it into fuel that would have to meet the strict specifications of the turbines needed considerable engineering and sophisticated control systems had to be developed to manage the gas processing and quality control systems. The challenges were all overcome to produce an award winning final product. The EcoLine was completed in October making the endeavor a five year and $49 million project. Chamberlin expects that the EcoLine will pay for itself from all the money UNH does not have to spend on fossil fuels within the next 10 years. Chamberlin is pleased with the project, but still is not content with overall sustainability.
“We are very proud of what we have done in bring landfill gas to the campus to use as our primary source of energy,” said Chamberlin. “However, it is only a start and we have several initiatives to continue to reduce our energy consumption and move to more sustainable sources.”
John Carroll is a Natural Resources professor at UNH and has been at the university for 36 years. Carroll is pleased with how we have done as a university in the realm of sustainability when you compare us against others. However, he like Chamberlin, feels that we need to do much more.
The big problem on campus that Carroll sees is too many cars.
“The vehicles are normally only carrying one person, the driver,” Carroll said. “The cars emit a lot of carbon, waste a lot of energy and they are not sustainable.”
Carroll says that on our campus and globally people need to walk more, ride the bus more, and use their cars less. He feels that most people do not want to change their behavior even though it would better the environment.
Director of Media Relations Erika Mantz says the EcoLine project itself was a compilation of out of the box thinking from the Turnkey facility in Rochester, Waste Management, engineers, scientists, contractors, regulators and many others on campus and off. The final product of the EcoLine is only four months old and already has won Project of the Year. Whether it is a tour guide announcing it to his audience, or UNH’s President Mark W. Huddleston sharing news with alumni, the message is blue and white are exceptional at being green.
“This massive project, more than four years in the making, will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and stabilize our fuel source and costs,” says UNH President Mark W. Huddleston. “EcoLine showcases UNH’s fiscal and environmental responsibility and secures our leadership position in sustainability.”
Eco-ceptional
EcoLine wins EPA Project of the Year
Published: Thursday, February 4, 2010
Updated: Thursday, February 4, 2010
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