On March 27th Tyler and Ryan went to NRG Systems in Hinesburg, VT to talk to the companies facilities manager, Martha Keenan. The main reason for the visit was to discuss wind and solar alternatives here at UVM, but when the two left the company, they had many more ideas than just wind and solar power. Below are some pictures of the NRG building.
This is the front of the building. As you can see they have quite a few solar panels collecting energy. Also, the roof is green, but the black strips running up and down the roof are laminated solar panels collecting energy as well, and at the same time remaining aesthetically appealing.
So, this is just a really cool picture of awesome wind art. We thought the design was really cool. Also, this gives a more direct view of the front of the building.
This is a picture of the back side of the tracking solar panels. We were just curious as to what it looked like behind the scene.
This is a picture of the second half of the building. We didn't get to see this portion due to some interesting secrecy, but you can see the heavy use of the laminated solar panels as well as the sky lights instead of just a solid wall. There are also a lot of windows to reduce the need for actual lighting.
Interview with Martha Keenan at NRG:
While at NRG, Tyler and I got a chance to sit down with Martha Keenan, the Facilities Manager. She was a very nice woman and answered a lot of questions we had about wind and solar energy. We also discussed how some of the current solar panels are coming from China since they are cheaper and we were curious as to how she felt about it. She didn't have much of an opinion, as long as people were buying solar panels and creating their own energy, she was happy. When we went into the interview, we were on a path that we felt was right for the project, but when we walked out of the building, Martha had, not totally changed but, changed our views and our thinking on bringing more efficient to UVM. She talked to us about solar hot water heaters and laminated solar panels on roofs and how wind is nice, but for a place like this, may not be the answer. She did comment on our very small wind turbine and how little it does and how bad it looks. We also discussed ways to cut down energy use, such as occupancy sensors in dorm hallways, or even lower wattage bulbs. We also discussed sky lights and how they allow for natural lighting. Another topic Tyler brought up was paper towels versus hand dryers and Martha actually ran a small experiment on which is better and uses less energy and she told us that using one paper towel and then drying the rest on our pants is the best way to save energy. Martha also discussed with us how NRG implicated energy saving ideas into their buildings. They have everything mentioned above, as well as shades that reflect the sunlight up onto a white ceiling so the room seems brighter than it really is. They also use stationary solar panels in the front yard of the building to collect energy. It was a very impressive building and Martha knew everything there was to know about it. She also made some suggestions as to where we should take our project from her, like talking to other places that have installed such upgrades and were in fact saving money. She also suggested talking to some other local companies in the energy efficiency field and also our Physical Plant here on campus to get an idea as to how much they spend on energy and what they are doing to save money. After talking to Martha, I think both Tyler and I were overcome with how well everything had gone and were ready to really get to work.
