Solar Field
he solar field is located on the northeast side of the Florida Gulf Coast University campus. It can be accessed by a dirt road off of FGCU Blvd. by the main entrance on the north side of the road. The solar array consists of 10,818 panels that measures roughly 15 acres. The solar field produces enough energy to power hundreds of houses. The solar field powers three buildings on campus which are Lutgert Hall, Holmes Hall, and Academic Building 7. There are also solar panels on top of all buildings in South Village which powers all the hot water in the buildings. The panels can follow the path of the sun for maximum efficiency. The science behind the solar fields is not simple. A solar module consists of one solar element, and a solar panel consists of six solar modules. Sunlight passes through a glass cover coated with anti-glare material onto a semiconductor, a wafer made of silicone, that has a negative and a positive side. When the light particles strike the negative side, electrons are discharged in the silicone. Then, the electrons flow into the positive side, creating an electrical current (FGCU). To maximize the efficiency of the solar field, the solar panels follow the sun’s path by using a computer to tell the system what angle will give you the most sunlight. The solar array uses steel beams that rotate all of the panels at the same rate. A geared motor adjusts the panels to the angle they need to be at. A computer is what generates what angle the solar array should be at for maximum efficiency. There are four circuits that power the three buildings and the power travels through underground wiring networks. The solar field was finished in November 2009 and should provide the school power for 20 years without using any fossil fuels, and it produces no greenhouse gases. The project costed 16 million dollars and FGCU partnered with another company and split the cost of the project. The system runs whenever there is sunshine. For more information contact: Jim Hehl at jhehl@fgcu.edu Citations: GOING GREEN: FGCU’s Commitment to the Environment, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL. Hehl, Jim. Personal Interview. 31 Oct. 2018. Greenhoe, J. “Solar Field.” Facilities Planning, www2.fgcu.edu/Facilities/SolarField.html.
Food Forest
The Food Forest, a botanical garden which is ran by fgcu students contains tropical and subtropical species which provides the community at fgcu with education opportunities and the ability to pick up edible species to take home.The Food Forest at Florida Gulf Coast University can be located right next to the Welcome center which is the first right after you pass the main entrance booth. Once you make that first right you will pass the Welcome center and you will arrive at the food forest located on your left.Hours of operation: The hours of operation for the food forest are sunrise to sunset, everyday.Contact Information: To contact the food forest you can visit their facebook page, email them at foodforest@fgcu.edu, or call them at (239)-590-7015.Connection to sustainability: The food forest has a compost pile. This promotes sustainability because it gives students and staff an opportunity to use their waste to good use. Instead of discarding of their waste in the trash, they can put it in the compost pile to help contribute to fertilizing the plants growing in the food forest.Creator/Founder of Food Forest: FGCU student government (Executive Branch) in Spring of 2011 initiated the Food Forest Why was it created?: To teach students about sustainability. Is used as an educational tool in the community by teaching people about the variety of species that are being grown there. The foods being grown there come from many different parts of the world and and prove to people that they can be grown locally, here in Southwest Florida. Why is it important?: The Food Forest brings more biodiversity to our campus and its ecosystem. It also provides opportunities for students to learn about the ecosystem we have, the species growing in the forest, and sustainability overall. The edible species in the forest are a great source of produce for our campus, students, and our food pantry. Also, the Food Forest provides service learning hours to FGCU students in order to meet their 80 hour requirement for graduation. A Permaculture garden has its own ethics and principles. It wants the food forest to benefit people and the land. The food forest produces no waste (compost), if not, it is mulched. They use natural solutions especially for big control. Let systems mimic natural ecosystems, not a lot of man made control within the forest. How to best utilize the nature thats around (example is what direction the sun is coming in). It has been rough and lost biodiversity since the last hurricane that hit, since then they have cleaned up and replanted species affected.French, Aaron. "A Taste of the Wild." Natural History, Mar. 2009, p. 48. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A194903308/GPS?u=gale15690&sid=GPS&xid=663e5284. Accessed 5 Nov. 2018.Jablonsky, Michal, et al. "Extraction of value-added components from food industry based and agro-forest biowastes by deep eutectic solvents." Journal of Biotechnology, vol. 282, 2018, p. 46. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A549817033/GPS?u=gale15690&sid=GPS&xid=9eb8f606. Accessed 5 Nov. 2018.Office of Undergraduate Studies, www2.fgcu.edu/undergraduatestudies/foodforest.html.
Chiller Plant
First created on campus in 1997(1), the Chiller Plant at Florida Gulf Coast University is just one way the school is striving towards sustainability. The plant is located at the southeastern portion of campus, adjacent to the FGCU Art complex(2) and Jim Hehl, director of the Physical Plant, says it was created for its efficiency and lower costs to operate. A Chiller Plant, in essence, uses thermal ice storage to cool the building during peak hours (12pm-9pm). While during the other hours it creates and stores thermal ice to be used later. During the off-peak hours a water/glycol solution flows through the chiller & heat exchanger to produce ice. During the peak hours the ice is melted, and the glycol is pumped through a heat exchanger. Chilled water on the opposite side of the heat exchanger is pumped into underground pipes that cool the campus.3 Although there is no exact founder, the Chiller Plant was part of the initial design and construction of the FGCU campus, according to Jim Hehl. The Chiller Plant here at FGCU is important because it allows us to use its energy effectively and it is the main source of cooling for the buildings. Thanks to its energy efficiency, it has helped to cut down energy costs for the university.(4) So, in terms of sustainability, the chiller plant has cut FGCU’s cooling cost by more than half and in the first three years it saved nearly $700,000 in energy costs.(5) The FGCU Chiller Plant drastically saves money and resources6 and aside from the cut of the operating costs, emissions are reduced according to Susana Hanson, a senior product-support engineer.(7) Compared to other schools, The University of Florida and Florida State University also have chiller plants. However, the chiller plant at FSU is not quite as large as ours and while UF does indeed have a large chiller plant, FGCU overall has more thermal storage tanks.8 Jim Hehl tells us that the Chiller Plant is mainly a workplace for the staff at FGCU but if visits are needed, they can be planned in advanced. If you would like to contact him for more information or to schedule a visit you can email him at: jhehl@fgcu.edu or call him at: (239) 590-1313. 1https://www.fgcu.edu/about/#History. http://www.williscarrier.com/m/1923-1929.php2Environment & Sustainability, www.fgcu.edu/thefgcueffect/environmentandsustainability.aspx. Accessed 20 October, 2018.3“Florida Gulf Coast University Cools Down with Energy Storage for Annual Energy Cost Savings of up to $300,000.” Florida Gulf Coast University Cools Down with Energy Storage for Annual Energy Cost Savings of up to $300,000 | Business Wire, 9 June 2010, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100609006089/en/Florida-Gulf-Coast-University-Cools-Energy-Storage. Accessed 01 November, 20184Environment & Sustainability,www.fgcu.edu/thefgcueffect/environmentandsustainability.aspx. Accessed 23 October, 2018.5“Florida Gulf Coast University Cools Down with Energy Storage for Annual Energy Cost Savings of up to $300,000.” Florida Gulf Coast University Cools Down with Energy Storage for Annual Energy Cost Savings of up to $300,000 | Business Wire, 9 June 2010, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100609006089/en/Florida-Gulf-Coast-University-Cools-Energy-Storage. Accessed 01 November, 2018.6Environment & Sustainability,www.fgcu.edu/thefgcueffect/environmentandsustainability.aspx. Accessed 23 October, 2018.7Hanson, Susanna. "Saving megawatts with series-chiller plants: first-cost and energy savings can be expected from low-flow, low-temperature, and highly efficient chiller configurations." Heating/Piping/Air Conditioning Engineering, Jan. 2006, p. 37+. Academic ASAP, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A141699863/GPSu=gale15690&sid=GPS&xid=9d15c7ea. Accessed 6 Nov. 2018.8https://www.facilitiesservices.ufl.edu/departments/utilities/utilities-operations/https://www.facilities.fsu.edu/depts/utilities/environmental.phpSources for photos used: Photo 2: https://www.flbog.edu/documents_meetings/0195_0925_7035_k1.%20FGCU%20Presentation%20.pdf Photo 4: Crehan, Taylor. “How the Physical Plant Maintains Campus While FGCU Students Are Gone.” Eagle News - Florida Gulf Coast University, 13 Feb. 2016, eaglenews.org/news/fgcu/how-the-physical-plant-maintains-campus-while-students-are-gone/.
LEED Buildings
Sielder Hall The first building to receive LEED certification All major projects have a goal to be LEED certified. The most recent building up for review for certification is The Boardwalk, which was completed in January 2018. It can take months for a building to receive a LEED certification. The reasoning behind this is thorough examination of receipts from contractors and architects from all stages of the project. This is to ensure that all aspects of the project fall in line with LEED protocol. (T. Mayo, personal communication) Fun Fact: LEED buildings are only 4-5% more expensive to construct, on average, compared to a similar building of the same time. (T. Mayo 2018) LEED requires you to pay a review fee and a registration fee. What is LEED? LEED is a private company to build with and you acquire the rating through meeting their criteria. LEED itself is entirely WEB based, they have no representatives that come out to inspect the buildings. This is why the receipts must be checked so thoroughly. Design is a main contributing factor to the high cost of the building. For example, certain criteria may ask that a building have a high number of windows to allow for natural light to come in. The more windows the more expensive. (T. Mayo) There is an unofficial goal of creating every major building with a LEED certification. Each FGCU President has adhered to this goal, and most recently Academic Building 9 broke ground and announced they were shooting for a LEED certification Silver. (T. Mayo) Other colleges with LEED certified buildings Pomona College had 10 LEED certified buildings including 6 gold and 1 silver rating. The other 3 building are platinum rated. The University of South Florida has five LEED-certified buildings, two at the Gold level, and several others currently under construction are pursuing LEED certification. The University of California had a astounding 29 LEED certified buildings and requires all new construction and renovations to achieve a gold certification. Aerial map of FGCU campusWork CitedMayo, T. (2018, October 30). Personal interview.“LEED Certified Buildings.” Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College, 24 Oct. 2016, www.pomona.edu/administration/sustainability/on-campus/facilities/leed-certified-buildings.“10 Schools Leading the Way in Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges (Photos).” U.S. Green Building Council, www.usgbc.org/articles/10-schools-leading-way-princeton-review-guide-green-colleges-photos.
Nature Trails
“FGCU really has one long connected trail system, the main part of the trails are near South Village reaching to North Lake with an entrance on the SoVi bridge, an entrance facing SoVi’s Eagle Hall, and another in the Oak Hammock Outdoor Classroom across from the FGCU Intramural Field and the dirt parking lot. The trail system has a various connections to North Lake, some being from the SoVi area and others from the North Lake Boardwalk.”(3) To sum-up, the trail entrance locations are: near the South Village housing at the base of the bridge that connects South Village to FGCU Boulevard, across the road from Eagle Hall, across the road from the the intramural field on the main campus, and near the Alico Arena in the overflow parking lot. These trails are an important part of Florida Gulf Coast University because they facilitate education, research, and service for those in environmental science programs and otherwise. They are also valuable because nature trails foster a connection between the students, the environment, and sustainability through effective experiential learning.(2) They exist as powerful tool that has an effect on students and can assist in their journey for a higher education. The trails are used to create a beautiful environment where people can be closer to the natural world as well as the wildlife within it.(1) There are many ways that the Nature Trails connect to sustainability. According to Taylor Hancock, “the nature trails provide a vehicle for education to take place in the campus conservation areas, allowing for instructors to speak about sustainably, specifically in an environmental context, first-hand through experiential methods.”(3) Other than the nature trails helping our campus conservation and contribute sustainability to education, these nature trails contribute sustainability to our university as a whole. Another way our nature trails create a connection to sustainability is the campus conservation areas provide ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, water filtration and storage, flood mitigation, and a refuge for wildlife developed throughout the unique southwest Florida landscape. There are a few other universities in Florida who have nature trails like FGCU, however their trails likely do not highlight the same diverse ecosystems as FGCU. Many universities have acres available for recreational use surrounding the campus but FGCU stands out because the trails are inside the campus “The Nature Trails are mostly maintained by the FGCU Physical Plant through the Grounds Crew. They usually make sure the trails are clear since the trees and branches usually lay in the middle after storms. They are also constantly removing invasive plant species which are nearly impossible to fully remove and keep coming back into our campus conservation areas from close properties. The FGCU Campus Naturalists and the FGCU University Colloquium program also have a Campus Trail Clean-up in the Fall and Spring semesters each year where they facilitate student service learning in maintaining the trails, the majority of work being invasive plant removal.”(3) Information and all photos of animals from: 1. "Campus Trails & Wildlife." Florida Gulf Coast University, www2.fgcu.edu/EHS/trails-wildlife.html. Accessed 5 Nov. 2018.[Text Wrapping Break]2. FGCU Nature Trails, fgcunaturetrails.weebly.com/. Accessed 5 Nov. 2018. 3. Hancock, Taylor. Personal interview. 9 Oct. 2018.
