Sustainabiliy 2020

7/30/2019 Sustainabiliy 2020

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sustainabiliy-2020 1/12

SUSTAINABILITY

2020

Brewster AcademyBy: Kyzer Gardiola, Jerry Zhu,and Domingo DIaz

dent Wednesday, May 8, 2013 1:56:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time 40:6c:8f:4d:66:f7



Sustainability 2020 2

Introduction

As we look ahead into the future generations, it

worries us. With the growing populations and a

declining amount of resources, let alone theamount of toxic waste that we produce, we must

act now to ensure that the future generations

here at Brewster will be able to enjoy many of the

things we learned to enjoy today. We pay the bill

at the end of the month but the people that are

really going to pay the bill are future students

here in Brewster. We have to teach the

community that the world is not indestructible.

With the rising prices of energy as well as the growing amount of pollution, we must give back to thecommunity and work towards the goal of a sustainable tomorrow. It is the right time to reshape the

image of Brewster Academy to become a leader in environmental sustainability.

This proposal will go over a detailed seven-year strategic plan that we have developed for Brewster

Academy to undertake in order to progress towards a sustainable tomorrow.





What is GREEN?In today’s world, the term green has been often used since

the world began to grow a concern on the environment. It’s

a concept of improving the human activity to generate a

positive impact on our environment and resources. Green is

not a label or a certification. It’s a state of mind that ensures

us that products and actions are sustainably produced by

using environmentally and socially conscious means. Green is

being able to meet the needs of the present without undermining the needs of future generations. One

of our hopes for Brewster is to have to word GREEN part of our daily lives.

Goals of Sustainability 2020• Minimize consumption and waste production

o Cut down utility use by 20%

Save $60,000 on electric bills

Save $4,000 on water/sewage bills

• Develop aggressive education and outreach programs to raise environmental awareness and

increase personal responsibility for sustainable living among students, faculty, and staff. Provide

administrative and financial resources to support sustainability programs.

• Build Infrastructures in Brewster that promote sustainability in the future

o Geothermal Systems, Solar Panels, Recycling Bins, Biomass heating/power generation

• Provide for 50% of our consumption, if not more

o Grow own food

o Produce our own electricity

o Use filtered rain water

o Provide for our heating

• Pave a path for a sustainable future for Brewster Academy

o Future generations continue to live and act with environmental responsibility

o Systems continue to grow towards a goal of %100 sustainable

• Maintain and enhance operations at Brewster while reducing environmental impact





Our Current Ecological FootprintLiving in the fast paced life in the Brewster community, many of us are negligent about our ecological

footprint. We have grown to enjoy consuming the common commodities of life such as electricity,

water, heat, and food, but we constantly fail to conserve. Even though we do not make up a significant

part of the world’s population, our actions most certainly have an impact on this planet. After an

analysis of our energy consumption, it is obvious that action towards sustainability is imperative.

Brewster Academy’s population: 450

Average electric use per year: 1,560,000 kWhElectric costs per kWh: 16¢usdAverage electric costs per year: $300,000 usd

Average heating use per year: 155,000 gallonsHeating Oil Cost per gallon: $3.55 usdAverage heating yearly costs: $519,000 usd

Average water use per year: 4,734,680 gallonsWater cost per gallon: 3¢usdAverage water yearly costs: $142,040 usd

Average waste consumption: 1120 tonsWaste management yearly costs: $84,000 usdRecycling waste cost: $0,00 usd

Green Policies and Strategies





Green policies and practices set standards and establish guidelines by which all

members of the campus community, faculty, staff, and students, should

operate. Green policies raise consciousness about energy and resource

conservation, help streamline decision-making about purchasing and daily

operations, and hopefully influence individual lifestyle choices with the ultimate

goal of evolving into a sustainable campus so that we can maintain our

beautiful natural environment here at Brewster Academy.

Pt. 1 Challenging the Brewster Culture

A Greener Bobcat

While infrastructure projects, facility renovations, and equipment upgrades are essential in a movement

towards sustainability, these things alone are not the only ones we should undertake to reduce our

ecological footprint. It is vitally important that everyone on campus becomes actively involved in

efforts to reduce the about of consumption and waste that we produce. Getting students, faculty, and

staff, individually and collectively, to conserve resources and embrace the goal of a sustainable campus

is fundamental to our goal of campus wide environmental sustainability. A greener bobcat must -

1. Incorporate the ideology of environmental

sustainability into their lifestyle

2. Conserve Energy

3. Become environmentally Aware and Educated4. Promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle

5. Participate in school wide activities towards

sustainability

This will not only make an impact on our Brewster campus but also an impact on the future lives of our

Brewster students. If they begin living a green life in Brewster, chances are they will also demand the

same thing the rest of their lives. A greener bobcat can also stand as a role model for other

communities to take charge and change to be more environmentally sustainable.





Adding onto the Brewster Principle

In addition to what is written in the current Brewster principle, we should add items that emphasize the

community’s responsibility to sustain their natural. We must add the idea of “Environmental

Responsibility” as part of the Brewster Mission. We want this idea to shape Brewster’s vision of the

future. We must seek to lead by example to foster morally responsible environmental stewardship

through education, conservation, and conscientious policies and procedures. It is necessary for

Brewster to push its students and faculty to also think and live green.

A possible Environmental Mission for the school to take: Teach and P ra c t i ce s us ta i nab i l i t y.

Educate the Brewster Faculty

One of the biggest driving forces needed to accomplish our goal

of sustainability for the year 2020 would come from the

Brewster Academy Faculty members. They are ones who nurture

us with knowledge and the students look up to them as

mentors. Much like the movement with the Emotional Literacy

Programs, the Brewster Faculty must be taught how to be

environmentally literate in order to lead this movement towards

sustainability. We must get the teachers excited to do things

like recycling and conserving energy.

A Greener Orientation

At the beginning of each year, Brewster holds a day dedicated to orienting the new kids about the new

environment that they are in. We could take this as an opportunity for us to stir the new students as

well as the student leaders to viewing Brewster as a school that has a sense of environmental

responsibility. This is an opportunity for Brewster to stir passion towards conserving energy and

sustaining the environment.





Along with the usual fun games that we play during orientation, it wouldn’t be hard to have a

presentation about Brewster’s environmental concerns. We could also do tours that provide an extra

emphasis towards our goal of sustainability by 2020. Another idea would be to play a game that

teaches kids more about environmental sustainability, or maybe even do a game that teaches kids how

to recycle properly. Even by replacing each student’s

non-efficient light bulb that they brought with more

efficient ones will get across the idea that Brewster

cares about the environment.

It’s this whole idea of changing the atmosphere early

on in the year that would make the big changes in

behavior towards environmental sustainability possible.

The Freshman Guinea Pig The new upcoming freshman classes will spend the longest

time in Brewster Academy. It only makes sense to focus

our attentions towards them when it comes to making

cultural changes. It is the freshman class that stands as

the “future” generations of Brewster Academy. They will

be the new faces of Sustainability 2020. We must

encourage the freshman class to be the advocates for

environmental responsibility. It is up to use to immediately

infuse in them the values we need to achieve a sustainable

campus. We must set up incentives for them that would

motivate them to care about the environment and the

community.

The Environmental Club

We must support the environmental club in their attempts to raise environmental awareness. The

administration must work with the environmental club to analyze the progress in our environmental

missions. Continued coordination and support of the environmental club will speed up the process of a

sustainable campus. Along with the environmental club, Brewster Academy could also incorporate an

Environmental Studies program into the curriculum, which would spark a greater education towards

environmental issues and solutions to them.





Systems that provide incentive

People are driven by incentives. Manipulating human incentive in a proper way is able to immensely

improve the efficiency of our campaign. We are going to come up with ideas and install facilities that

will remind people of their responsibility and, at the same time, make it fun to conserve energy.

1. Food waste meters

• Measure the amount of food that every table wastes after every meal

• Update the numbers on every table daily to show students how much food they waste

• Give prices to tables that waste the least amount of food

2. Water Meters

• Should be installed in every dorm

• Measure the amount of water used everyday and show the numbers on an electronic board

• Launch a school wide campaign in which dorms compete for the least amount of water usage to

earn donuts and food from DD

3. Electricity Meters

• Same as water meters

• Measure the amount of electricity used everyday

• A school wide competition

4. Energy efficient light bulbs

• Replacing the regular bulbs from new boarding students with energy efficient ones for free

• Save tons of electricity

• A movement that will take years to eventually eliminate all the non-energy efficient bulbs from

the school

5. Recycling bins

• There should be recycling bins in every major facility and every team area

Payback

If we ever get to a point where we are able to consume less than 20% of our current energy

consumption, we are able to save 312,000 kWh of electricity, 31,000 gallons of heating oil, and

234,195 gallons of water, which is nearly $200,000 usd of savings. This money could be then used for

infrastructure improvement that would make our campus more sustainable.





Pt. 2 Installations of Green Machines

Rebuilding of The Older and Inefficient Buildings

Its obvious that many of the buildings that stand within Brewster Academy are old in age and no longer

meet the standards of efficiency needed for a sustainable tomorrow. Luckily, there are new ways and

technologies that can be used to make a home nearly 95% efficient with its electric, heating, and water

use.

Passive Solar Design: A way of designing a home so that its

orientation captures the sun’s heat during the winter times and

deflects it at the summer times. If designed properly, it is in tune

with the nuances of climate and temperature, resulting with fewer

fluctuations in temperature. This would reduce heating costs and

incorporate more natural light into homes.

Cost: $0

Straw bale structure and insulation: Straw is a renewable resource

that could be used to build and

insulate homes. It is a dense material that is able to help maintain the

indoor temperature constant. Not only is it reliable and renewable, but

also cheap in comparison to synthetic foam insulations.

Cost: $2,000 for a home

Natural Clay Interior Walls: The use of plaster made with ingredients that are less highly processedand less synthetic than conventional wall coverings. Clay and Lime are the typical mixture used. It is

non-toxic, low-impact, vapor-permeable, and can be quite beautiful. It also helps insulate the home.

Cost: $2000

Rainwater Collecting Systems: NH has an average 40

inches of waterfall each year. By installing a low-cost

Rainwater collection system, we are able to help reduce our

dependency on the local water distributor and take

advantage of this free resource. This also promotes self-sufficiency and helps conserve water.

Cost: $900

Centralized Waste Collection Systems: By having our waste sorted out and centralized, we are

able to collect waste efficiently so that they can be transported to a biomass waste site rather than

ending up to the landfills. Right now, Brewster spends $7,000 usd for waste management. A biomass

site asks for a $50 fee for every ton of waste.





Cost: $2,300 initially and $500 to transport monthly Return of Investment: 19 months 1

A rough estimate of the cost of building a more sustainable dormitory to replace the old buildings to be

built by a company called Build It Green NE 2would cost roughly $130,000 usd. This particular number

is how much this school could save if it cuts its energy consumption by 20%. Then, by the

implementation of these new efficient buildings, we would be able to further reduce our energy

consumption, leaving room for more improvements within the Brewster community.

Installation of Geothermal Wells for Heating and Cooling

One of the biggest expenditures for Brewster Academy is our energy

consumption for heating. Today, we are using an out of date boiler

system that is probably less than 65% efficient. To make things

worse, these boilers run on oil, which is a very costly non-renewable

resource. One way to save this problem is to install a Geothermal

heating and cooling system in the Brewster Community. A

Geothermal heating and cooling system uses the renewable heat

resource inside the Earth to heat or cool our buildings. These systems

have a lower operating cost than conventional heating systems, lower

air emissions, and it has higher energy efficiency.

How It Works:

Water or a refrigerant moves through a loop of pipes buried within the Earth’s crust When the weather

is cold, the water or refrigerant heats up as it travels through the buried pipes. Once it gets back above

the ground, the warmed water or refrigerant transfers heat into the building. The water or refrigerant

cools down after the heat is transferred. It is pumped back underground where it heats up once more,

starting the process again.

This is a very popular alternative to heating and cooling systems to most homes and buildings. Our

next-door neighbor, Kingswood Regional High School uses Geothermal-heating systems and has over

300 underground wells, generating enough heat to keep their students warm within their newly

expanded buildings. Not only would we be able to reduce our carbon footprint but we’d also be able to

save money as it has a relatively fast and reasonable return of investment rate.

1 This rough estimate was given by Wheelabrator Concord Inc, a company involved in Biomass Energy

Production - http://www.wheelabratortechnologies.com/ 2 A company in New England built by Scott Morgan, a Brewster Academy Alumni -

http://builditgreenne.com/index.html





Cost Analysis3:

1 Geothermal Well: $8,000 usd

Number of Geothermal Wells needed for Brewster Academy: 300

Heat Pump System: $3,000 usd

Number of Heat Pumps needed for Brewster: 34

Rough Estimate: $2,500,000 usd

Current Heating Costs for Brewster: $519,000 usd

Geothermal System average yearly operating costs and maintenance: $60,000 usd

Return of Investment: 6 years

Installation of Wind Turbines

If Brewster Academy truly wanted to go above and beyond

the road towards sustainability, the installation of a few

windmills on our campus could relieve some of our reliance

from the energy grid. The electricity that Brewster currently

uses comes from non-renewable resources 94% of the time.

Wind in NH is often found 27% of the time and is blowing atan average speed of 25.4 miles per hour. Although this may

seem like a relatively small number, it is enough for Wind

power to be beneficial for Brewster Academy and our

environment in the long run. For Brewster Academy, most

dorms

are used within the nighttime as students settle in and

study throughout the night. Simultaneously, the wind picks

up at night, which causes the windmill to generate more

electricity to power our electric needs.

The Aeoronautica Norwin 29-225 turbine can generate up to 550,000 kWh of electricity every year.

However, due to limited wind availability in NE, this number drops to 143,000 kWh as its rated wind

speed is 34 mi/h and NE on aveage only has 25.4 mi/h winds which only available 27% of the time.

3 This estimate was given by Yeaton Associates Company- http://www.yeatonassociates.com/





Brewster’s current electric use is about 1,560,000 kWh yearly, however, if we cut our consumption by

20%, our electric use would only be 1,248,000 kWh yearly. Now, by implementing 4 wind turbines

within our campus, each generating an average of 143,000 kWh, we are able to cut our energy reliance

on the national grid to 819,000 kWh yearly.

Cost Analysis:

225 kW wind turbine: $425,000 incl. installation

Number of turbines needed: 4

Total Cost: $1,700,000 usd

Brewster’s current yearly electric usage: 1,560,000 kWh

Yearly Costs: $300,000 usd

Remaining electric needs on National Grid after installation of Turbine: 819,000 kWh

Speculated Costs: $131,000 usd (60% less)

Return of Investment: 10-11 years

A COOL IDEA:

With the new momentum going towards the renovations of the Art Department’s

Rogers Building, we can take this as an opportunity to take a monumental step

towards an environmentally responsible campus by designing the Rogers Building to be

self-sustaining. This could be the driving factor for the students and the rest of the

community to move towards the goal of sustainability. It could represent the new era

of Brewster Academy; the one that has a passion to care for the environment to helpprolong the existence of this institution.

Documents

Sustainabiliy 2020