This authors starts off by telling how important energy is and how much we, as humans, use energy with everything we do. Then the articles shifts into talking about how the University of Southampton is really making changes to its campus and trying to become a green campus. While trying to become a green campus, the university encountered a problem. Since the existing buildings on the campus are so old, when they were built a long time ago they weren’t built to be energy-efficient buildings. Therefore, the authors decided to select two types of systems and heat pumps. Those are photovoltaic (PV) systems and heat pumps (Kalkan 2011). First, they had to do research on the PVs to see exactly what they are capable of and their energy-consumption rates. During their research, they found that they could use solar radiation. “Solar radiation is an infinite energy source. In fact, it has the highest percentage of energy when compared to other types of renewable sources. Other renewable sources such as wind and wave energy are even derived from it" (Kalkan 2011). Once the group finished with their research, they were able to see results in their findings. The PVs and the heat pumps were a good idea. This project has investigated the technical and feasibility aspects of designing an off-grid PV system that is capable of generating as much as possible of the electrical demands of the Highfield Campus (Kalkan 2011).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=271969&_user=2139747&_pii=S1364032111000888&_check=y&_origin=search&_coverDate=31-Aug-2011&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlV-zSkWz&md5=3856e0d951203f2602a482fc92ab8342/1-s2.0-S1364032111000888-main.pdf
Kalkan, N., Bercin, K., Cangul, O., Morales, M., Saleem, M., Marji, I., Metaxa, Tsigkogianni, E. (2011). A renewable energy solution for highfield campus of the university of southampton. 15(6), 2940-2959.
Mr. Brown your article brought up a very good point that did not really cross my mind while doing research for the Green Energy Fund. The fact that FAMU is so old, your article made it clear that this is another issue we may definitely encounter very soon. Although our issue is currently finding the funding to aid with making these sustainable changes, I am very sure that figuring out how to modernize these old building we have on campus will be the next issue. Using the information in your article can give FAMU a jumpstart on how to overcome this issue.
ReplyDeleteChris, this was a great post. As we are researching and coming up with strategies for the Student Green Energy Fund, I believe this information will be very helpful. FAMU has some extremely old buildings on campus and we may encounter problems in regards to new ways of installing energy efficiency. If the student body votes in favor of the Student Green Energy Fund,the information from this article can assist us in overcoming this obstacle.
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