The possibility of using the power of the sun to heat the Student Recreation Center swimming pool or installing energy efficient lights to brighten the Outdoor Program’s storage barn inched closer to reality Monday night.
The Energy Conservation and Alternative Futures Fund, the student group that brought wind power to the EMU through a ballot initiative last year, decided Monday to recommend that the Ecological Design Center receive $4,000 to put toward purchasing solar thermal panels that would heat all the water the rec center uses. ECAFF also recommended allocating $2,000 for new energy-efficient light fixtures for the Outdoor Program’s Equipment Facility, said ECAFF chairwoman Stephanie Erickson.
Each year, student groups and programs apply to receive part of ECAFF’s annual $25,000 grant budget, Erickson said. ECAFF spent fall term hearing proposals and winter term deliberating, and decided in a meeting Monday to recommend the two groups to the ASUO, which, if it approves, will send its decision to University Vice President and Provost John Moseley who has the final say, Erickson said.
“We’re very stoked,” said Ed Fredette, trip facility manager for the Outdoor Program.
Fredette said the ECAFF funds will propagate a sustainability plan for the Equipment Facility, which he affectionately refers to as “The Barn.” In addition to energy-efficient lights, Fredette said, the barn will soon have a rainwater collection device to wash kayaks, canoes and cars; solar panels; a new eco-lawn that requires no mowing, watering or fertilization; and a biodiesel van.
Fredette called the move toward sustainable living an extension of the group’s guiding principles and ethics of minimum-impact camping.
The money allocated to the EDC will fund a study to examine how feasible a solar water heating system would really be, said Jesse Jenkins, campus sustainability coordinator for the EDC. The money will help the group determine how much rec center water it would be able to heat. Jenkins said that antifreeze would pump through solar panels on the rec center’s roof, and run through a heat exchanger that would in turn heat the water. Jenkins said three other Eugene city pools use the technology, including the pool at Amazon Park.
“It’s a well established technology,” Jenkins said, “reliable and cost effective, even in Oregon’s climate.”
EDC’s proposal estimated the cost of the project at $100,000. That amount is fluid, Jenkins said, because the audit ECAFF funded will help determine whether the solar panels can heat part or all of the pool’s water, or possibly even the water used in faucets and showers throughout the facility.
ECAFF decided not to fund proposals from Sustainable Advantage and the Center for Advancement of Sustainable Living.
CASL requested funding for personal data loggers for students to take home and measure their individual energy output, and Sustainable Advantage requested money to help put on a conference, Erickson said.
“Their proposals were not in line with our missions and goals,” said Erickson, “but we encourage them to resubmit their proposals next year.”
Contact the news reporter at [email protected]
