Trying to create more vertical refilling stations around campus has been an interesting and eye opening experience to the many logistical elements that go into a project like this. Our group has been trying to get the funding to not only purchase the units to convert the water fountains but the labor to do so. We have made good progress and are hoping that the units will be installed by December. Since all of the freshmen have been given water bottles we don’t have to worry as much about getting water bottles into the hands of the students. What we need to do is just getting the message out to students that there are going to be these vertical water bottle refill stations and that they should try and use them to lower the environmental impact Occidental has on the world, especially plastic water bottle consumption
On another interesting note, in the public restrooms in Range View the lights turn on by motion sensors. I thought this was really good considering I haven’t seen this implemented in any other public restrooms around campus. Having lights that turn on by motion sensors is a great way to conserve electricity.
I am also wondering why Occidental does not have more solar panels on buildings. I think Occidental will need to highly invest in solar energy even past the solar array. What do you think?
-Alex Forster
I know what you mean about the logistical issues that come up in projects such as this. I had no idea the ammount of people you need to talk to in order to get anything done in an institution like Oxy. Its good to hear that you guys think you will be able to get at least some of the units installed by December. I really think that this is one of the projects where the results will be very tangible.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of Solar panels my feelings are mixed. I do think that we could use solar panels for many fixtures on our campus (such as outdoor lighting in the quad). However, I do think that we need to be more educated in the solar arrays we are choosing for various projects around the campus. I really thought we could of made more of an effort to find higher efficiency solar arrays for the fiji project. Institutions such as Cal-Tech are installing similar solar arrays for at a lesser cost, and with higher efficiency.
I definitely would prefer our project over nothing at all!
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping to use high efficiency panels on the array but they are more expensive so it depends on the price we can negotiate. We can install another 100kw of solar on campus before it triggers having to upgrade an expensive electronic substation. We may try to get a 50% renewable energy goal adopted by the college.
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