Friday, March 13, 1998
Program saves money, conserves environment
RESOURCES: Campus utilities’ needs met in Earth-friendly
fashion
By Marisa Wong
Daily Bruin Contributor
As students sit in class, drink from water fountains or walk
home, joules and cents are being saved by the minute.
With a co-generator to provide the campus with electricity (and
other initiatives to save resources), the school joins many other
colleges nationwide in the effort to conserve both money and the
environment.
In a report released by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF),
college campuses are engaging in many cost-effective
environmental-improvement projects.
Of the 15 universities and colleges the NWF profiled, an average
of $728,500 per campus was saved through conservation
initiatives.
Although UCLA was not highlighted in this report, Assistant Vice
Chancellor Jack Powazek said the school has probably saved more
than the national average through numerous energy conservation
projects.
Because UCLA has its own power plant, electricity does not have
to be bought through other companies — a very cost-effective
measure which will serve to be greatly beneficial in the long run,
Powazek said.
The plant uses both natural gas and landfill gas to fuel the
campus with electricity. The landfill gas would otherwise be
destroyed if it were not consumed by the plant.
In addition, the heat by-product from this process is used to
generate the steam which provides the school with cooling, heating
and more electricity.
"The power plant is extremely energy efficient," said David
Johnson, Director of Energy Services. "And whenever we have any
money, our goal is to try and have the cost level below the funding
level."
Powazek estimates that $40 million in replacement costs have
been saved because of the power plant which began generating in
1994.
The original chillers were no longer able to generate their own
cold water, and so a water transport system from the plant was
designed so new chillers would not have to be installed. Sixty
chillers were saved, along with millions of dollars, because the
plant was able to provide the cold water needed.
The energy department is also working to replace the lighting
system with more energy efficient light bulbs.
Lights in all public spacing on campus, which includes hallways,
outdoor lighting and general-assignment classrooms, are in the
process of converting from florescent lights to a more energy
efficient system.
Powazek said they have reduced electrical energy consumption in
public spaces by approximately 25 percent, and they hope to expand
the project to departmental space.
The energy department has also saved billions of gallons of
water by reusing consumable water which would otherwise be drained
out.
In the 1990 fiscal year, UCLA consumed 1 billion gallons of
water, compared to 1996 when the school only used 665.7 million
gallons – a 36 percent reduction due to the reuse of water. A water
bill reduction of about 20 percent is saved campus wide, Johnson
said. UCLA’s water bill is annually from $2 million to $3
million.
The school captures water that was used for cooling equipment in
many of the science buildings and reuses it in the co-generator; 60
percent of the water used for operations is water already used
elsewhere.
Reduction valves have also been installed in campus toilets and
urinals to save the amount of water consumed in each flush, and 60
aspirators (equipment used to create vacuums) have been purchased
that do not require the water the old ones needed.
"The campus effort is not only to be an example of what can be
done to help conserve the environment, but to also save money,"
Johnson said. "We try to be cost efficient as well as
environmentally conscience."