April 22 marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the designated day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment, according to the official Earth Day Web site at www.earthday.org.
In celebration of Earth Day and energy conservation, Chris Grande, communications management coordinator in the Marketing Group, said Sinclair Community College will be holding an Earth Day event on May 13 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Several companies will be setting up in the plaza in front of Building 10 to promote awareness and give information on how to conserve energy at school and home.
“The event is going to be pretty awesome,” Grande said. “We are still working out some details but there might be some surprise announcements coming soon about the event that students should really like.”
Grande said DP&L, Rumpke, Vectron and possibly the Greater Dayton RTA are scheduled to be appear and emphasize mass transit, recycling and drinking tap water to reduce the amount of plastic bottles being used.
Also, the event will be the launch of “Sustainability @ Sinclair,” a new page on Sinclair’s Web site that will inform students about energy consumption and keep them updated on things the school is doing to conserve energy.
Sir Ira Froggington III, the official green spokesman for Sinclair, will be making his first live appearance at the event along side Sinclair’s own Tartan Lion. You can find more information about Ira on the sustainability Web site at www.sinclair.edu/about/sustainability/. The event will have a designated area where art students will be making a “green” collage on the sidewalk with chalk and all students will be allowed to participate in it.
Sinclair taking action
Woody Woodruff Jr., director of Facilities Management said the school has taken a strong initiative to conserve energy in compliance with Ohio House Bill 251 and they are getting results from it. Making biodiesel fuel to run lawn equipment, timing lights to go out when people are not around and changing the entire lighting system to be more energy efficient are just a few of the things that Sinclair Community College has been doing to conserve and sustain energy, according to Woodruff.
“We are very aggressive and very mindful about our energy consumption and what we can do to mitigate that,” Woodruff said. “We have proposed an energy consultant to come on campus to measure our results so far against House Bill 251 and we are somewhere in between 5 percent to 10 percent less energy than in 2004.”
HB 251 is an advanced energy law that requires Sinclair to measure the energy consumption from 2004 and use it as a baseline. Sinclair is required to reduce their energy consumption from that baseline by 20 percent in 2014.
Woodruff said Sinclair has several projects going on including being the only school in Ohio to produce its own biodiesel fuel and use it to lower their energy usage and costs. The college also has a system that includes stagger start handlers that help maintain the demand of heating and air conditioning throughout Sinclair.
Woodruff said Aramark, the food service contractor for Sinclair, has agreed to change out the existing vending machines for more energy efficient ones that will turn off when no one is around them for a certain amount of time. Aramark will change 15 machines out every year for the next four years. He also said that they are looking at using other resources and technologies in the future such as geothermal energy, solar panels and wind turbines to reduce energy consumption.
“Right now when we pump the water out of the ground to keep our basements dry, we pump that right back into the river with no return on the investment. We are just paying the bill for the electricity used,” he said. “If we could find some way to harness that energy — and there is a way we can do that — we just need to get the equipment designed. It’s an expensive venture but we can get the payback on the investment.”
Woodruff said the students could start helping out now by doing small things that will be significant in years to come.
“Doing little things like not using the elevator if you don’t need to, opening doors manually and using recycling containers make a small impact that really helps out,” he said. “This isn’t just some passing fad or something. It’s important for students to understand that once those resources are gone we don’t get them back.”