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Northland College features several buildings and structures that utilize energy-saving technologies. Residence Halls, athletic facilities, the student center, and other aspects of campus make use of renewable energy, contributing once more to Northland College’s commitment to the environment.
Read more details about our current renewable energy features below:
For ways in which YOU can help us save energy on campus, click here!
Thanks to the students’ Renewable Energy Fund, evacuated tube panels now sit proudly on the roof of McMillan Residence Hall. The evacuated tube collectors are expected to provide up to one half of the domestic hot water for use in the residence hall. These hot water heating systems are extremely low-maintenance and dramatically reduce both energy costs and emissions, as natural gas is expensive and heating water is very energy-intensive.
Panels located outside the campus athletic facility provide 25% of the energy needed to heat the school's swimming pool. This project was jointly funded by the students' Renewable Energy Fund and the State of Wisconsin.
The campus wind tower has truely been a learning experience. The current wind turbine replaced the original which required more maintenance than the benefits received. The second model is a 10,000-watt, 22-foot in diameter turbine designed for high efficiency and minimal maintenance.
The "green" residence hall centrally located on campus features many energy saving and renewable energy functions, as was its purpose in design. Increased insulation levels, heat recovery of exhaust air, high efficiency boilers and lights save half the energy required for standard building codes. Furniture made from recycled materials and the use of locally grown wood cut back on consumption creating a very sustainable living environment. Additionally, solar hot water panels, a wind turbine, and photovoltaic panels provide a small of water heating and electricity needs. The building preceded LEED standards, but served as a prototype for their standards.
Right underneath the frequently utilized mall exists one of the most unique renewable energy features Northland can claim, its geothermal field. Sixty 280-foot boreholes allow ample heat exchange to heat and cool the Ponzio Campus Center year-round.
Students built the strawbale energy lab to model a building that operates off the electrical grid and that is constructed entirely of locally produced materials. Designated as an area of campus called our “living laboratory,” it is powered by a wind turbine and PV arrays, and it is heated with a combination of solar hot water and passive solar design.
Landscape that emphasizes northern native communities slows and filters runoff, does not require mowing and watering once established, and is wildlife-friendly. Through student, faculty and staff participation, half of the campus has been redesigned to incorporate these tactics using dry meadow plantings, storm water meadows, exotic species removal, and northern forest plantings. All new hard surface construction (roofs and parking lots) have been balanced by detaining runoff through series of wet meadow basins that slow runoff, filter out sediment and nutrients, and make ecology visible throughout the campus.
Students voted in 2002 to create the Renewable Energy Fund (REF) to help Northland College "walk the talk." The goal of the REF is to help support projects that meet the College’s goals for complete sustainability by the year 2020. Every semester, each student contributes $20 dollars to the REF and a project is selected.
The first project REF funded was the addition of the solar panels that help heat the hot water for the pool. REF also contributed more than $8,000 dollars to the construction of the geothermal system for the Craig A. Ponzio Campus Center. And last year, students purchased a 2006 Toyota Prius for the Admissions staff to use for travel and recruiting events. Currently, REF is funding a new solar technology that will be incorporated into McMillan Hall. The evacuated tube collectors are expected to provide up to one half of the domestic hot water for use in the residence hall.
Smaller projects include funding interpretive signage on campus to explain different sustainable elements. Wrought-iron sign posts were crafted by a local metal sculptor to mount wooden signs carved at Timeless Timber, located here in Ashland.
Statistics for the College's use of gas and electric are being compiled and will be updated soon.
Environmental Council: environmentalcouncil@northland.edu
Energy Conservation Tips.
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