Earth Day/Arbor Day Plantings

To celebrate and commemorate Earth Day and Arbor Day as well as our ability to positively affect the environment, the Physical Plant has worked with faculty and students to provide plantings on campus.

 

In 2007, the effort involved the planting of trees and shrubs on the upper edge of the storm water management area alongside the Kanbar Campus Center. The plantings were native species selected to tolerate exposure to salt from the runoff in the area. Environmental Issues and Biodiversity students helped with the planting.

 

In 2008, the Physical Plant once again teamed up with the faculty and students to install a rain garden at the end of the Independence Plaza parking area. The garden was designed by Landscape Architecture students and Environmental Issues and Biodiversity students helped with the planting. The rain garden is designed to capture storm water runoff from the parking area and enhance infiltration of the rain water back into the ground.

 

Energy Conservation

The Physical Plant continues to identify and implement energy conservation practices which prove to be financially beneficial and environmentally sound. Some of the efforts include:

• - A public relations effort during the cooling season to set back thermostats in air conditioned spaces when the buildings or spaces are not occupied. This request was made to all University personnel asking them to take responsibility for their areas and help to reduce electric use by turning air conditioning down or off when leaving.
• - Coupled with the effort to encourage staff and faculty to reduce air conditioning, the physical plant reset the computer controlled thermostats on campus to match the occupancies of the buildings. Air conditioning was reduced during periods of low building use (nights and weekends) through the use of computer controls.
• - The installation of energy efficient fluorescent lighting. This effort included the replacement of older less efficient fluorescent tubes in classrooms and other public spaces with higher efficiency type and the replacement of incandescent bulbs in residence halls and offices with compact fluorescents. This effort will continue until all incandescent bulbs and lower efficiency fluorescent tubes are replaced.

The Physical Plant is encouraging the use of bicycles on campus through the recent installation of additional bike racks at Independence Plaza and the parking garage.

 

Recycling has been increased in Tuttleman and Downs Halls through the centralization of collection bins in these buildings. Additional recycling collection bins have been placed in the new studios and entry lobbies in Hayward Hall and Smith House. Also, during student move-in to the residence halls, members of the Sustainability Committee volunteered to help collect and separate recyclable materials and place them in recycling dumpsters. This effort resulted in a large amount of cardboard and paper being recycled as well as reducing the volume of waste going to the landfill.

 

Lights Out Cleaning Program

In an effort to reduce energy consumption, the janitorial staff begins cleaning office buildings at 5:00 PM and academic buildings at 10:00 PM.  The buildings are team-cleaned, meaning 2 or more staff members work together to get a building cleaned or a floor completed in the academic buildings, thus reducing the need for unnecessary lighting, air conditioning or heat throughout the night.

 

Sustainable Energy

PECO’s final stage of electrical energy de-regulation goes into effect on January 1, 2011. During the summer of 2010, in preparation for that transition, Plant Operations with the assistance of Summit Energy conducted an extensive multi-year RFP for generated electricity.

This process has enabled the University to commit to the purchase of over 4.2 Million Kilowatt hours from renewable wind sources each year for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.  This commitment has further enabled the University to be eligible to become an “EPA Green Power Partner”, along with preventing over 3,000 pounds of annual carbon dioxide emissions as explained in our certificate awarded for environmental stewardship.

 

The Dell

With the construction of the new Kanbar Campus Center, expanded Recreation Facility and Parking Garage, the University had a unique opportunity to address this connection to the Park and Wissahickon Watershed.  As part of the Master Plan and campus construction, the University implemented the Dell Stormwater Management Project, an effective and innovative multi-phase stormwater management system that:

• meets all regulatory requirements

• provides an environmentally sound solution that improves water quality and controls runoff flowing into the Wissahickon

• creates a learning laboratory for university and high school students

• incorporates an aesthetic amenity for the campus and neighboring community including greater plant and wildlife diversity.

Philadelphia University’s master plan emphasizes the direct relationship between land use and water quality by protecting and restoring campus property that drains into Wissahickon Creek.  Philadelphia University’s Dell Stormwater Management Project addresses conditions that lead to periodic flooding of Lincoln Drive along the Wissahickon Creek due to stormwater runoff, improves water quality on site, addresses aesthetic aspects of project implementation, and involves students and the community in active learning about watersheds, stormwater management and pro-active maintenance. The Dell Stormwater Management Project demonstrates model practices and policies for an integrated approach to watershed management.

 

The Philadelphia University Dell Stormwater Management System, designed by Carol R. Johnson Associates, Inc., and Boles Smyth Associates, Inc., consists of a series of check dams, step pools  and wetlands for holding and treating the first flush of a rain event and also serves as a large detention/retention basin with monitoring and control devices for larger storm events.  This type of stormwater system infiltrates  water on the site, removes pollutants from the water, prevents flooding downstream, provides wildlife habitat, and serves as an aesthetic amenity for the campus.  This project fits within the larger Philadelphia Water Department’s master plan for long-term ecological restoration of the Schuylkill River watershed.

Per agreement with the City of Philadelphia and Fairmont Park Commission, Philadelphia University also completed park restoration work within Fairmont Park.  This work included repair of a damaged section of the Orange Trail, construction of four step pools, re-grading a portion of the Orange Trail leading to the pipe arch, and at the top of the ravine, construction of two more step pools.

The University has also committed to an ongoing operation and maintenance program in perpetuity for this runoff area. The Dell is now in the final phase of construction.

 

AICUP

Philadelphia University is participating in a program sponsored by the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) to ensure the campus is in compliance with state and federal environmental regulations. The program is the result of agreements between the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA-DEP), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and AICUP and requires peer environmental audits of each institution. In April 2006, the University hosted a team of auditors made up of peers from other schools in the program to identify any areas of environmental concern on our campus. As a result of the audit, the University is working to ensure all of its operations are in compliance with environmental regulations, both now and into the future. The director of the Physical Plant and the director of Safety and Security have been personally involved in this program and are providing leadership in its successful implementation at Philadelphia University.

Future Endeavors

Philadelphia University has several future energy and environmental efforts currently in the planning stage. A new project involving energy management and conservation for member schools in the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) was unveiled at the Institute for College and University Economic Development: Energy Conservation and Green Building in March 2008. This effort is designed to provide members of AICUP with the resources to perform peer audits of their campuses to identify and quantify opportunities for energy conservation.

The peer audit would focus on energy management practices and energy conservation opportunities. It would be performed by auditors from other member schools trained by the Electrotechnology Applications Center (ETAC) at Northampton Community College. The ETAC training would provide interested institutions with auditors capable of performing assessments similar in quality to those provided by professional engineering and consulting firms. The audits would generate and assess potential energy conservation actions that the University could implement. The end result is expected to be a detailed plan for energy conservation opportunities. The audit and its report would include the collection of energy management data, field measurements to evaluate energy management options (EMO), cost quotes for implementation of EMO’s, financial analysis of EMO’s, and implementation EMO strategies.

An additional direct benefit of the AICUP audit would be an assessment of the University’s carbon footprint. The audit would help set a benchmark for the University’s current impact on the environment from green house gas emissions, known as its carbon footprint. The carbon footprint for the University will be determined by the peer energy management audit through the AICUP program. The carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the University, measured in units of carbon dioxide. The footprint is meant to be useful for an organization to conceptualize its impact on global warming. It will provide the University with a starting point in evaluating the effects that current practices and future decisions regarding energy and conservation activities have on the environment at large. The AICUP energy management audit program is still in its preliminary planning stages but is expected to be a cost effective tool for the University to use in the future.