Activity 2.1 – Atmosphere: Reduce Northwest Vista College’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions

     In 2009 the Alamo district colleges signed into the American College and University Presidents' climate committee. The purpose of this committee is study ways to be carbon neutrality by 2050, and it expects to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2020. In addition to carbon reduction, they are also targeting towards going into a more "green" future by reducing electricity consumption by 5% every year. The colleges have come up with many ways to help the students and the surrounding community become more environmental friendly, by offering varieties of transportation to classes, reducing the usage of water on campus, expanding the curriculum and moving towards solar energy, plus many other things.

    One of the ways the colleges are helping with sustaining the environment is by recycling water. Water is one of the Earth's natural resources that we take for granted, but luckily we have found ways to reuse it. One way to reuse water is by recycling it for irrigation, which  irrigation is the watering system you use for things like gardening, or to refill a toilet bowl after you flush it. They also reuse the water on campus for their main cooling systems, to run their air conditioning. They recycle the water for the cooling system by using a thermal energy storage unit. During the day, at peak hours, cold water already in the thermal tanks is used to circulate cool air throughout the connected buildings that are being used. This is what we call the discharge system. While chilled water leaves the tank, the water inside the tank is absorbing sunlight and heating up. This water will need to be cooled again, to be used the following day. At the end of the peak cycle the thermal tank is full of warm water that it will send to a chiller to cool. This cycle is called off-peak, or the charging cycle, and occurs at night when a building is empty and the air conditioning system if off. The chiller will move the cold water back into the thermal storage tank to use before the next peak cycle. Another resource saver that the schools practice is recycling, which can help reduce pollution and save energy because it keeps us from having to make new products. For example it takes 95% less energy to create an aluminum can from recycled aluminum than it would cost to make a brand new one. Alamo colleges recycles paper products, glass, metals, and plastics. Another energy saving tactic that Alamo college uses is the use of solar energy. The way that solar energy works is that the sun emits light in the form of photons. These photons travel at the speed of light to reach Earth, which takes about 8 minutes, Upon arrival, the photons are absorbed by solar cell panels made of semiconductor materials that are placed in areas that receive a significant amount of sunlight, like our rooftops or flat land that attracts sunlight. From there, the solar technology harnesses the sun's energy for us to make it useable for us. This electricity then travels through the electric grid and into our buildings and homes. Another initiative that the school has taken is that in February of 2016 the chancellor took a pledge to make the schools carbon neutral by 2050. The committee of the school board believes that one of the biggest steps into getting to their energy friendly goal is by simply educating the people more! So as of 2016 they have tried a new method called "greening the curriculum", where they are simply educating their students about the importance of moving towards a more energy saving and less pollutive future. One last affective step towards making the school a more eco friendly environment is by reducing the amount of transportation to the different school campuses. Alamo Colleges is a firm advocate in alternative transportation, and is actively searching for new ways to decrease the commuting  we send out into the atmosphere on a daily basis. One major gasoline/ oil saver the district has pushed for is that any and all students may ride the VIA bus for free! Yes even if you have a car that is probably more quick, but if you could do something as selfless as take the bus instead you can not only save your money on gasoline, but you can contribute your help by reducing the pollution that is caused by every vehicle on the road. If everyone took the VIA bus that is only one pollutant vs the 20 different vehicles that each individual student drives. To gain your free bus access all you need to do is show your bus pass to the bus driver. The different campuses also made walk ways and bike trails to get to different locations, so if it's a nice sunny day out and you're not too far from a campus, why not walk and save on the bus and car energy? 

    So as you can clearly tell the school district truly is moving forward in trying their best to become more eco friendly and natural resource sustainable, in not one or even two, but a many many ways. Like I said they are down an average of 5% electricity every year since they started and that was back in 2009, so they are clearly making some type of progress. Their end goal is 2050, which will honestly be here before we know it. I have high hopes in the science of our future and I can only hope that more people realize what is at stake here, because we only have one planet Earth, and as of right now we are failing her.