Livingston campus is seeing the eco-friendly light and acting on it.
In an effort to continue pushing toward a greener and more sustainable future, Livingston campus is undergoing a number of upgrades highlighted by the current installation process of more than seven acres of solar panels to help generate power and reduce emissions for the campus.
“We’re fortunate to have 7,000 solar panels being installed [on Livingston],” said Livingston campus Dean Lea Stewart. “This will be one of the largest arrays of solar panels for any university in the United States.”
The installation of the solar panels, situated between Suttons Lane and Joyce Kilmer Avenue, will give the University the ability to generate 10 percent of the energy required to run the campus. That is enough energy to power 165 homes and reduce 1,216 tons of carbon dioxide a year, Stewart said.
The best part about installing the solar panels is not only that it will be helping the environment and reducing energy consumption, but that it is not going to cost the University anything, Stewart said.
A grant by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is funding the $ 4.9 million, according to the University Facilities’ Web site.
The addition of solar panels is not the only way Livingston will be going green.
With the construction of a new student center and dining hall on the campus, the University has put a focus on catching and filtering polluted runoff naturally through the addition of bio-retention and filtration systems, said Director of Facility Design Jeff Livingston.
“Sustainable practice for on-site storm water regulation [in New Jersey] is among the most stringent in the country,” Livingston said. “We want to catch the water from the parking lots and filter them naturally in gardens and not in storm drains.”
He said the system works by forcing the runoff into the gardens and using native plan-life to separate out the solids and filter the water before it enters a stream to the Raritan River.
Stewart said the current number of parking lots would reduce in future years to make better use of the land the campus has to offer.
“Parking lots are not eco-friendly, and don’t let water into the ground,” Stewart said. “New construction will have more lots turned in to better use of the land. Parking decks are the better choice to utilize the vertical space.”
Many students agree the transformation the campus is going through will be the best for the campus.
“Most people talk about how ugly [Livingston] is and how it’s a waste of space,” said Livingston College junior Amanda Soder. “If they can make it look nicer while keeping the environment in mind then I might spend more time over there.”
The campus has already seen a lot of demolition and construction, which has all been done under the new University design standards established two years ago, Livingston said.
He said new buildings must be built to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver standards, which require using more eco-friendly materials and meeting more stringent energy codes than those currently in place.
“All of the ceiling tiles and carpeting we will be using is 100 percent recyclable,” Livingston said. “Even throughout demolition, carpeting and ceiling tiles have been sorted for recycling.”
Livingston said building to meet these standards doesn’t come with a high price tag for the University.
“It’s all commercially available, and was no real premium to specify we only wanted [materials] that were 100 recyclable,” he said. “All we had to do was ask for it.”
Livingston campus goes green with solar panel installation
Published: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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