Kansas City Kansas Community College

We removed the old style T-12 fluorescents tubes and installed the energy saving T-8 tubes with electronic ballasts. The T-8 fluorescent tubes put out more light and use less electricity. Additionally, the T-8 tubes contain far less mercury than the old T-12 tubes and may be disposed of as regular waste unlike the T-12 tubes which are considered hazardous waste.

These block solar gain through the windows and reduce cooling costs and they do not reduce the aesthetic appeal of the window. So far we have them installed on windows of the 2150 complex, the Humanities waterhole, the Math building complex, the Board Room and we have ordered ones for the Science and Louis buildings.

The net based HVAC Energy Management System has been expanded to include all buildings on the campus except the Child Care Center. It can start & stop HVAC units. It can raise and lower temperatures campus wide. It has night set-back capabilities and “vacation mode” applications. This saves the college money on HVAC costs. All of this can be done using a laptop from anywhere, since it is net based.

The College does air quality testing 3 times every year to ensure that we are providing a safe working environment for faculty, staff and students.

White roofing reflects heat to save money on cooling costs. The new roofs that are white are the Child Care Center, Flint, Print Shop, Field House, Math, Nursing, part of the Jewell, all of the buildings on the east side of campus and the Band Room. The new roofs that will be installed this year and those in the future will be white as well.

VOC stands for “Volatile Organic Compounds”. We started using paint that had low volatile organic compounds for better air quality. The paint with the low VOC provides low odor and proves to be less of an irritant to most people. When paint with zero VOC came out we started using that for all the obvious reasons. This helps minimize “sick building syndrome”. VOC’s are found in a wide array of products such as building materials and furnishings, cleaning supplies, copiers, printers, permanent markers, correction fluids, furniture etc.

CFL’s or Compact Fluorescent Lamps provide more light for less money. We have installed them in the Conference Center, Gym locker rooms and showers, Jewell building breezeway, recessed can lights in some classrooms, Performing Arts Lobby, the globe lights in the waterhole's, the stairwells around the campus and in the Board Room.

All of the custodial supplies used on campus are all natural made products. They are all environmentally friendly. They are all low or no Volatile Organic Compounds. The paper towels and toilet paper are 100 percent recycled material.

We recycle to reduce the amount of paper going into the waste stream. We have recycled over 40 tons of paper since 2005. We now compact cardboard as well. In addition we also have the comingle units which you can see around campus.

The waterfall and the pond in the center of the campus serve two purposes. The first one is that it looks good; we have the water fall which spills water into a small pond that has a fountain in it. The second purpose that it serves is that the pond collects silt from all the rain and run-off of water that is collected from the golf course and surrounding area. It is easier and cheaper to remove the silt from this pond than it is to remove it from the north end of the lake by the conference center which is where the water goes from this lake.

Solar tubes are a form of lighting. We tested the Solar Tubes in the motorcycle shed. We installed 3 different styles and found one to be the most applicable to our use. We may be able to use them in some areas of the college. If we do they could save us some money on electrical usage.

The exterior globe lighting has been upgraded and standardized. Not only is this good for safety but with the clear globes, we went from 250 watt light bulbs to 175 watt light bulbs and got much more light for less money. The old 250 watt lights contained mercury and the new ones do not. So with the new ones we don’t have to deal with the hazardous waste issue. On the road lights & parking lot lights that were 400 watts we are going to a new style light bulb that is rated at 360 watts but puts out 400 watts of light. So we are now getting more light for less money on those as well.

The College now has 2 solar powered parking lot lights poles. They are located on the south side of “C” parking lot.

 

Occupancy Sensors are now in use in the classrooms with plans to expand them into the hallways. Occupancy sensors sense when someone enters a room and turns the lights on. Occupancy sensors detect movement and infrared (body heat), when the people leave the room the Occupancy sensors detect no movement and no infrared and turn the lights off. This is an ongoing upgrade.

The Buildings and Grounds department is responsible for the collection and the proper disposal of all hazardous waste on the campus. We do so by complying with all state and federal regulations.

The carpeting that we are now installing around the college has a rubber backing for ease of cleaning and is rated low VOC which as mentioned before provides for better indoor air quality.

Since 1992 the Grounds department has planted 211 trees and 617 shrubs.

The Buildings and Grounds department is responsible for maintaining the data base for all material safety data sheets on campus. They can be easily located on the College web site. The data base grows in size each year.

The College is using a solar powered battery charger for use on the ambulance used by the EMT program.

The College is using catch basins to slow and divert the water that flows through the campus. It prevents erosion and also prevents flooding of some of the buildings.

The college uses LED style exit lights throughout the college.

The Grounds department uses environmentally friendly fertilizer.

The College recently upgraded chillers for cooling the campus. These chillers use the latest technology and will use less electricity to cool the campus.

Automatic flush valves are used in the restrooms throughout the campus to save on the use of water.

The College uses a software program that reads in real time the amount of energy used by the campus buildings via the use of digital electric meters.

The Grounds department uses new technology on the campus irrigation system. The system uses satellites to control the amount of water that is used for irrigation based on the information it receives from weather satellites.

We will continue our effort to be Green and Energy Conservative as manpower and budget allow.