Campus Wind Turbine and Other Sustainable Activities

Written by Amanda Damon

Campus Wind Turbine- 

Many Alfred State students may not have noticed the wind turbine located at the top of campus. Installed in 2013, this 100-kilowatt grid-tied wind turbine was an effort to increase green, sustainable energy and decrease power costs for the campus. Recently, however, the turbine has been turned off. There should

normally be systems in place to keep it from producing too much stray voltage, though an issue with the systems created a flood of power, causing the connected breaker to trip. This caused two campus-wide power outages, prompting the school to turn the turbine off until it can be fixed. Power Grid Partners is scheduled to check the faulty power sources. This wind turbine is an effective sustainable energy source as it offsets the costs of powering the sports fields and other parts of campus. Originally paid for by the institution and grants, the wind turbine is an effective source of renewable energy and will soon be up and running once more. 

Photo provided by Joseph Greenthal

Sustainable Efforts on Campus- 

Efforts to move toward increased sustainability and renewable energy resources are on the minds of top Alfred State officers. In an article posted to the Alfred State website upon installation of the wind turbine, a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) was cited. While this position no longer exists at Alfred State, there are continuing sustainability efforts happening around the campus. Joseph Greenthal, Chief Financial Officer for Alfred State, has taken the lead for many of these projects, as a balance between costs and savings needs to be determined before implementation. In 2017, a full-scale Energy Master Plan with $8.5 million worth of projects was created. Consisting of three phases, the first of which was finished in 2019, this plan took a broad look at all of the inefficiencies around campus and looked for ways to improve, by implementing green initiatives. This EMP has the potential to create $500,000 worth of energy savings annually. While CSO is no longer a position at Alfred State, the school is exploring the idea of having one person in charge of these types of efforts for five or so nearby campuses.  

Building Roof Efficiency- 

A large focus for the campus right now is replacing the roofing on all of the buildings to update them and keep them as heat efficient as possible. The roofing needs to meet certain ratings and energy costs and recent thermal imaging has shown that some buildings are not currently heat-efficient. This is especially true for the Agriculture Science building, which will have work done soon to increase the heat efficiency and insulation capabilities. The building is currently drawing much more energy than is needed. Along with this building, Parish, PHS, CDH, and the Administration building will have their roofs and insulation replaced and upgraded.  

Heating and Air Control- 

Another project that is currently underway is the replacement of the boilers for the building around campus. The new boilers have high efficiency and lose much less heat than the old ones. More control for the new boiler system means that they are now 95-99% efficient. The kitchens in CDH are also getting updates with their variable frequency drives, which are devices used to control an electric motor. The drives now have sensors for heat, giving them the ability to turn on and off as they sense a need rather than being kept on constantly. The gym in Orvis will also have sensors to give more control to the air handler units that have regulated and circulated air. CO sensors now give the school better control over the air in the gym, which has been an especially important concern since Covid-19. This focus on more system controls is estimated to provide Alfred State with about $93,000 in annual savings.  

The HVAC systems around campus are being monitored for better control and servicing. The HVAC system in the Pioneer Center is not enough for the eatery that is being planned to move into the downstairs space. When this system is replaced and updated, the Pizza Pioneer eatery will be able to begin to be moved into this space.  

Infrastructure Changes- 

There are infrastructure changes coming to campus along with sustainability changes. The main loop road will be replaced over the next three summers, widening the road and replacing the curbs. The current water lines will be changed, and another water tower and treatment center will be added. The water is very hard, so it has been eroding the water lines that are in place now. There have been several water main breaks over the past few years with increasing frequency, and 60,000 gallons of water are lost per day each time. Replacing the water lines will increase efficiency and eliminate continual breaks.  

Solar Energy- 

There are investigations into implementing a 2–4-megawatt solar field in Wellsville. While not cost-effective for the main campus, this may be a sustainable energy alternative for the Wellsville campus. The campus is utilizing geothermal energy as well, as there are geothermal systems under the parking lot of SLC and under the basketball courts to offset the energy usage of the SLC and PHS. 

Switch to LED- 

Other continuing actions around campus include changing the building lights to LED bulbs. Just by replacing the streetlights around the loop, the campus was able to save an annual $16,000.  

While these projects are initially expensive, they reduce the school’s carbon footprint and eventually lower the roughly $4million annual utility costs. These savings will eventually get passed on to students. Gas and electric costs are getting reduced and reallocated, with the savings going to support new programs across the campus.