FIVE UNH BUILDINGS TO BE AWARDED THE ENERGY STAR RATING
DURHAM, N.H. – Along with new technologies, knowledge and the strategies used to apply that knowledge is the key that will open the door of possible solutions to help address the nation’s energy crisis. In an effort to increase awareness and the needed knowledge base, EPA Regional Administrator Bob Varney is coming to the UNH Earth Day festivities and will announce the new ENERGY STAR buildings this Friday, April 20, at 2:00 p.m. on the Thompson Hall lawn. This week, five UNH buildings (Randall Hitchcock, Sawyer, Jessie Doe, Woodsides PQR, and Taylor Hall) will be awarded with the ENERGY STAR rating.
University Honors Program freshman majoring in chemical engineering, Jacob Rossman explains, “Because of issues such as rising prices, pollution, and global warming, energy attainment and use is a major issue during this century. Basically there are two major ways that these problems can be combated. One is finding more efficient energy sources, and the other is energy conservation. Energy conservation can be achieved by using less energy and more efficient technologies.”
Nick Bencivenga (biochemical engineering major) elaborated that, “Energy Star is a program to rate electrical appliances, light bulbs, buildings and the like. It is based upon a scale from 1-100 (1 being the poorest energy efficiency, 100 being the highest energy efficiency). In the case of buildings, one must score a 75 or higher in order to qualify for the label. Requirements for qualification are quite stringent, taking into account electrical usage, square footage of the building, use of fuels for heating, use of air conditioning, and occupancy to name a few.”
Bencivenga and Rossman met on Friday, April 13, 2007, at Oyster River Middle school with *Professor Ihab Farag and ChE 410 “Energy & Environment” classmates Danah Hashem and Timothy Nelson (each University Honors Program chemical engineering freshman), for a benchmark assessment; part of a collaborative effort between the Oyster River School District and UNH. Nick Bencivenga said, “I am constantly reminded of the importance of being a ‘green’ citizen, or a citizen with a small environmental footprint. Determining where there is room for improvement, will aid efforts to act upon and improve the buildings making them more energy efficient. In doing so, it will become obvious how small upgrade investments to a building can go a long way in conserving energy, thus lowering energy costs, and in turn, saving the environment.”
Rossman added, “The Oyster River Middle School energy star project represents the first step in energy conservation. It involved analyzing the schools energy use, comparing the usage to similar buildings, and identifying areas in which the school could become more energy efficient and thus conserve energy. This process is critical to any energy conservation project, and sets a benchmark for improvement with the school. By identifying current energy consumption trends, it is now possible for the school to analyze the effects energy use has on both the schools budget and its environmental impact, and use this information to improve the effects that are caused by the schools energy use.
**Timothy Knowles, Oyster River School District Facilities Director, noted that, “Working with UNH students compliments the district’s ongoing energy reduction initiative. In recent years the district has tackled the energy issue with things such as adding four new high efficiency boilers and insulation to the roofing. Informative energy awareness issues and updates are also highlighted in staff newsletters.” EPA research shows that buildings carrying the ENERGY STAR label consume about 40% less energy than typical buildings. The UNH Energy Star project is hands-on service to the community of Durham and the Oyster River School system, which will provide recommendations that when implemented, could result in energy, environment and cost savings.
Bencivenga added, “Our hopes in assessing this school were that other schools would follow in doing so. The assessment of a building will tell the assessor one of two things; either that it is energy efficient or if there is room for improvement. In many cases, the second option will be the most prevalent, simply due to the age of most school buildings.”
"I am proud of our ChE 410 students” said Ihab Farag, "Last year we had one team of three students who applied what they learned in ChE 410 to assess and benchmark the energy performance of a couple of UNH dorms. I am pleased that our effort made UNH the first university in the nation to receive an Energy Star Label for one of its dorms. This year we have several ChE 410 student groups benchmarking over 10 dorms and an office building at UNH. One student team worked with the town of Durham. The team of Nick, Danah, Tim and Jacob worked with the Oyster River Middle School to establish an energy use baseline, making it easy to track improvements in efficiency over time. This is an excellent case of our UNH students working to benefit the community where they live. We hope to have more of these cooperative assessments with our surrounding communities in the future.”
*Ihab H. Farag, Sc.D., P.E.
-Hamel Professor of Innovation & Technology
-Chemical Engineering Department
-University of New Hampshire
-Homepage: http://www.unh.edu/p2/ihf
**Timothy W. Knowles
-Facilities Director
-Oyster River School District
-twknowles@orcsd.org
High res graphics and captions:
Energy Star group taking measurements
