The Elizabethtown College is an independent residence college with over one
hundred years of service to its students and to the community of Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania. There are 1,748 full-time students currently attending the
college. The college provides 40 undergraduate majors in traditional programs
such as art, history, political science, and philosophy, and pre-professional
fields such as accounting, business, communications, engineering, music therapy,
occupational therapy, and social work. The campus covers over one hundred acres
with over one million square feet of residential and instructional space.
“Educate for Service”, the motto for the Elizabethtown College, is
demonstrated beyond academic subjects which includes student personal growth and
service to the community. Elizabethtown College believes in using the values of
its past to embrace and challenge the future.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Drought plagued South Central Pennsylvania from 1999 until this spring as the
Lancaster County region experienced severe lack of rainfall.
Isolated areas of the state saw water reserves dwindle or dry-up, and some
communities were forced to purchase water. A desire to participate in the
reduction of water use, the need to make the most efficient use of financial
resources, and a concern for our environment prompted Elizabethtown College to
embark on an action plan to use water more efficiently.
The goals of this program included saving money, preserving this valuable
resource, and being good stewards of our environment. For the plan to be
successful it had to provide ways for the entire campus community to participate
in water conservation and developing and sharing ideas for additional areas of
conservation. Initial targeted areas for reduction in water use were:
Replacing antiquated plumbing with state of the art equipment
Changing from top load to front-load laundry washers
Effective lawn and athletic fields’ irrigation
Encouraging campus community water conservation by participation,
education and reminders
ACTION PLAN
Once the goals were established Elizabethtown College implemented the
following water conservation plan:
During the summer of 2001 the Elizabethtown College changed all the
antiquated toilets, urinals, and associated flush valves to low-flow or 1.6
gallon/flush fixtures. Every building on campus and off-campus houses were
retrofitted. This project replaced four hundred forty-four (444) toilets and
seventy (70) urinals. The total cost of this “change over” was $108,000.
The new fixtures have yielded 30% savings in water usage per year or 6.6
million gallons. Projected annual savings in water and sewer costs is
anticipated at approximately $40,000, yielding a 2.7 year straight line
payback.
Another project began in the summer of 2001 to replace top-load clothes
washers with front load washers. The average front load washer uses about
one-half the water of conventional top load washers. Top load washers use an
average of 37 gallons for a 14-pound wash load while the high-efficient
front loaders use approximately 21.5 gallons for the same amount of laundry.
That is a savings of 15.5 gallons per wash load. The 32 new front load
washers, assuming two loads per day, will result in daily savings of almost
1,000 gallons of water. Additionally, front load washers are able to extract
significantly more water from a load of wash reducing our electric
consumption resulting in reduction in electrical costs. As we have a
long-term contract with a washer/dryer vendor we were able to make the
change at no cost by negotiating with the vendor.
The small-town atmosphere of open lawns, lush green athletic fields,
flowerbeds, and shade trees of the Elizabethtown College campus add to the
overall appearance and appeal for residents and visitors. Maintaining such
conditions requires an important ingredient-water. The drought had stressed
the lawns, trees and the athletic fields. Student sporting events, games,
and special events cause damage to the turf covering making the fields
unsightly and potentially dangerous to the players. Water is the great “healer”
and is usually applied naturally through 38 inches of rainfall annually in
Lancaster County, PA. When rainfall is in short supply, alternative sources
of water must be obtained to maintain the integrity of the athletic fields.
To celebrate the 100th year of the Elizabethtown College a special garden
was constructed in the center of campus. A variety of shrubs, perennials,
and annual flowers are maintained providing a colorful and welcoming corner
of the campus. Again, water is a key element in maintaining the freshness
and beauty.
A “metered irrigation system” was installed rather than “timer
irrigation” for efficient benefit of the water used to irrigate the
athletic fields and Centennial garden. This system provides state-of-the-art
features such as accurate, economical flow sensing, and cycle and soak
programming at a “push of a button”. The irrigation controller features
the ability to select cycle-and-soak programming or conventional programming
on an individual program basis. There is automatic minimization of water use
by intelligently scheduling zone operation starts if and when other stations
are satisfying. This system was designed to conserve water and provide
playing fields. Watering of the athletic fields was coordinated with the
Elizabethtown Borough Water Company and approved by The Bureau of Watershed
Management, Office of the Commonwealth Drought Coordinator.
The Elizabethtown College campus contains a 2-acre lake supplied by storm
run-off and rain. During drought conditions water from the lake is used for
irrigation of the athletic fields. Over many years the depth of the water
decreased due to silt build-up and lake bank erosion. In 2001 the lake was
drained and dredged to increase the depth, modify the banks, and repair the
spillway for overflow. A grant of $90,000 from DEP through the “Growing
Greener” program provided the funds to plant a variety of grasses to
maintain the integrity of the lake banks and the surrounding wetland areas
and filter storm water flowing into the lake. As the final phase of the lake
project, informational signage is being installed. Thus, members of the
college community and guests can be made aware of the best practices in
storm water management incorporated into the lake design.
Understanding the need to involve the college community in conservation
efforts students living in the six dormitories were encouraged to actively
participate in a friendly competition called “Water Wars”. Water usage
in the residence halls was measured over a two-week period in March.
Students tried to keep water use to a minimum through: shorter showers, not
letting water run while brushing their teeth and shaving, and washing a full
load of clothing rather than just one or two articles. Students were
encouraged to be aware of their use of water and look for ways to decrease
waste by reporting leaking water faucets or showerheads to the maintenance
department.
The students of Royer Hall decreased their water usage by 12 gallons per
student per week winning the competition. The residents of Royer Hall, along
with Royer Resident Director, Drew Lesicko, program founder, and Resident
Assistant (RA) of the Environmental Floor senior Susan Tomchak, and Plant
Operations staff were recognized and honored with the first ever
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection "Golden Faucet
Award." An added incentive for the students was a prize to the winning
dormitory to purchase recreational equipment.
A variety of posters were displayed in restrooms within the academic and
administrative buildings on campus to remind staff and faculty they also
needed to participate in the water conservation effort. Simple, but
effective wording on colorful recycled paper, resulted in timely calls about
a leaking faucet or running toilet. While employees and students were alert
about water use at school and work, the hope was that this behavior would
continue at home.
SUMMARY
In this “high-tech” computer age, a “low-tech” approach can yield
very positive results. High efficiency toilets and urinals have improved our
ability to conserve water.
Simple posters remind even drought aware individuals to continue with
conservation efforts on and off the job.
The Elizabethtown College students found a fun way through their “Water
Wars” to participate in water savings. Monthly readings of building water
meters and charting amounts can locate problems quickly or identify areas
where education may be needed to reduce water waste.
The irrigation system installed to maintain the athletic fields is the
most advanced irrigation controller available. The soil and grass types are
identified and then irrigation is programmed to the plants required or water
consumption. Watering is scheduled to match the evaporation rate of the root
zones. This permits exact need irrigation of the turf and prevents waste
from over watering.
The Water Wars program received extensive media coverage in local outlets
including the Lancaster New Era, News 8 (WGAL), ABC27 (WHTM), Fox-43 (WPMT),
and WHP580 AM. The WAVE, November 2001 issue of the newsletter featured a
cover story about the plumbing renovations and the reduction in water use.
This successful action plan also won the Governor’s Award for
Environmental Excellence in September 2002.
Through creative programs such as this, Elizabethtown College can
contribute to water conservation by direct action and example. It also
demonstrates the surrounding communities that the College is committed to
actively participating in conserving a valued resource as water. The primary
benefits from these programs are insuring there is sufficient water for
everyone to use and cost reduction.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Costs
Plumbing project
$108,000
Front load laundry washers
no cost
Irrigation for athletic fields
$30,000
Savings
Plumbing project
6,600,000-gallons; $40,000 annually
Front load washers
200,000-gallons; $21,000 annually
Irrigation
It is difficult to project the direct savings in gallons and dollars
for the irrigation system, as rainfall determines the amount of use.
FUTURE CONSERVATION PLANS
Elizabethtown College is conscious of our responsibility to be good stewards
of the environment and to provide educational opportunities in the most
economical way possible. As a major regional consumer of electricity, natural
gas, water and a producer of sanitary waste, we have the opportunity to further
improve the efficiency of our consumption of these resources and our generation
of sanitary waste. Several years ago we completed a major energy conservation
effort with the installation of high efficiency T-12 lights, high efficiency
boilers and air conditioners - all of which are common techniques used in many
institutions to improve efficiency and to reduce costs.
However, we are exploring several recent technologies, which have the
possibility of significant improvements in our operating efficiency and further
reduction in costs.
The first of these is micro turbine technology, which is a derivative of the
aviation turbine engine technology. This system uses very small turbines to
generate electricity using the exhaust gasses to produce hot water for heating
or domestic water use during heating season. During cooling season the same
turbine continues to produce electricity, but the hot gasses are routed through
an absorption chiller to produce chilled water for cooling.
Needless to say this co-generation technology has the potential to
significantly reduce our cost of heating and cooling while reducing our
purchased electrical power. We are working on a plan to incorporate this
technology into small district heating and cooling systems to better balance our
generation of electricity, cooling water and heat with our building loads.
Those of you who live in or have visited Lancaster County have certainly
noticed the odiferous by product of the conversion of plant material to milk via
the bovine digestive process.
To deal with the considerable amount of manure produced by the milking herd
farmers are moving to anaerobic methane digesters which turn the manure into
soil augmentation material, methane and waste water. The waste water is spread
on fields and the methane is dispose of by burning it to produce electricity,
via micro turbines or internal combustion engines driving generators. Since the
farmers don't have a use for all of the generated electricity they try to sell
it to the local electrical supplier. However, the electrical suppliers do not
want to purchase electricity at anywhere near the cost of generation, making
methane digester projects uneconomical. As we use electricity for a significant
amount of our heating, we are in a position to consume a lot of electricity.
Since we are now paying 6.1 cents per KWH, the dairy farmer and the College
could both benefit from our purchase of the methane-produced electricity. The
farmer gets a higher price and the College could get a lower cost. The bovine
digestive process has the potential to make a lot of methane! For example, a
farm in New York milking 850 head and using a methane digester for disposal of
the manure produces 500,000 KWH per year.
There is at least one other possible cost savings for us in the methane
digester process in that food waste has a high production of methane, as it
hasn't already been digested. We now pay to have our food waste hauled off
campus and if we were to dispose of it in the digester, considerable savings
could be achieved.
At this time the methane/electricity process is in the initial stages of
discussion, but I am very excited about the possibility of making good use of
what is now an unwanted waste material.
As you can see, Elizabethtown College takes its environmental stewardship
responsibility very seriously and continues to do what we can to operate with a
minimum of disruption on our environment.
