ATTEMPTS UNDERWAY TO MINIMIZE CARLMONT'S FOOTPRINT
May 2016
The lights flickering and holding, the rumbling of the power generators in the quad, the splash of pool water.
Sunrise eases into the afternoon, and dusk creeps in.
The bleariness and chatter of students from seven in the morning to the squeaking of the lone janitor’s mop in the hallway at ten o’clock in the night.
The lights stay on. The generators hum along. The chlorinated water filters in and out of the pool 24 hours a day, seven hours a week, almost 365 days a year, save for the occasional maintenance shutdowns.
Power, energy, sustainability. Waste, resources, solutions.
These terms usually aren’t the first thing that comes to a person’s mind when they walk into school, much less the question: On the campus of blue and white, how green is Carlmont?
Assistant Vice Principal Grant Steunenberg said, “I was blown away by the sheer amount of power that is needed to run this school on a daily basis. There’s SmartBoards, computers, and other necessities that all pull energy.”
Due to the school being built in 1952, long before energy efficiency standards were considered important, much of the older structures are not as energy efficient as they could be.
According to Plant Manager Jerome Harris, the campus’s monthly electrical bill is around $10,000 to $15,000. One of the biggest expenditures include the swimming pool, due to its filtration needs.
In order to completely bring this school completely up-to-date, it would take a large amount of money, effort, and time.
Steunenberg said, “In order to get to a place where we’re 100 percent green, we’d have to tear this place down and rebuild."
This is currently not a realistic option. This school of over 2,000 students is on the path to accept even more students in the coming years. This means that much of the money goes into maintaining current energy needs and building more structures for the growing population.
But that doesn’t mean that Carlmont has thrown away the green dream.
Nearly seven decades since the original construction of the campus, the school has found other ways to cut down on its energyuse. This effort has manifested itself in LED lights, green engineering, and smarter solutions.
Some of the windows were replaced for better insulation, more fluorescent bulbs have taken over the campus, and custodians continue to sweep away the trash.
In addition, Harris notes that solar panels have been installed on the school’s F building, which has cut down 35 percent off the cost of the energy bill for that building.
As the campus grows and develops, efforts continue with a plan for the future.
The 5-Year Capital Repair Project calls for more LED lights, an electric vehicle charger, and more window replacements. As for the construction currently going on by the biotech buildings, greener efforts are expected.
Students have also gotten in on the action. One volunteer club at Carlmont, Key Club, hosts school clean-up days on a regular basis. Some students take the Green Engineering class to learn more about designing efficient buildings. Meanwhile, others have ideas about increasing sustainability at Carlmont.
One such student is sophomore Daisha Sherman, who is taking an online environmental sciences class.
Sherman said, “Something that doesn’t take much effort that we should do is composting. It’s easy to do, and compostable dishware in the lunch cafeteria would be much better for the environment. Even if you don’t buy lunch, Tupperware instead of paper and plastic bags are better.”
While this remains a dream -- Harris speculated that composting efforts could lead to an increased workload for the custodians already handling the trash crisis -- efforts for a greener campus haven’t stopped.
Awareness of sustainability and energy use has markedly increased, and most students know full well the basics of green etiquette.
Meanwhile, a monitor bearing resemblance to a small TV hangs by the choir room in the F Wing. It’s meant to update students on how much energy has been saved in the last 24 hours -- though it has yet to be plugged in and turned on for all to see.
So while the campus may be 60-years-old, Carlmont is pretty green for its age. Other schools have successfully initiated green efforts, and this in turn could lead other campuses to catch and spread the green bug.
For now, it’s up to the students to give energy and trash another look -- and not just a look, but action as well.
That could mean something as small as making the effort to transport trash to the trash can instead of throwing it on the grass, or something as big as contributing ideas and creating solutions.
Sherman said, “Whatever we can do, now matter how small, after a long period of time you can see how much energy you save.”
Sunrise eases into the afternoon, and dusk creeps in.
The bleariness and chatter of students from seven in the morning to the squeaking of the lone janitor’s mop in the hallway at ten o’clock in the night.
The lights stay on. The generators hum along. The chlorinated water filters in and out of the pool 24 hours a day, seven hours a week, almost 365 days a year, save for the occasional maintenance shutdowns.
Power, energy, sustainability. Waste, resources, solutions.
These terms usually aren’t the first thing that comes to a person’s mind when they walk into school, much less the question: On the campus of blue and white, how green is Carlmont?
Assistant Vice Principal Grant Steunenberg said, “I was blown away by the sheer amount of power that is needed to run this school on a daily basis. There’s SmartBoards, computers, and other necessities that all pull energy.”
Due to the school being built in 1952, long before energy efficiency standards were considered important, much of the older structures are not as energy efficient as they could be.
According to Plant Manager Jerome Harris, the campus’s monthly electrical bill is around $10,000 to $15,000. One of the biggest expenditures include the swimming pool, due to its filtration needs.
In order to completely bring this school completely up-to-date, it would take a large amount of money, effort, and time.
Steunenberg said, “In order to get to a place where we’re 100 percent green, we’d have to tear this place down and rebuild."
This is currently not a realistic option. This school of over 2,000 students is on the path to accept even more students in the coming years. This means that much of the money goes into maintaining current energy needs and building more structures for the growing population.
But that doesn’t mean that Carlmont has thrown away the green dream.
Nearly seven decades since the original construction of the campus, the school has found other ways to cut down on its energyuse. This effort has manifested itself in LED lights, green engineering, and smarter solutions.
Some of the windows were replaced for better insulation, more fluorescent bulbs have taken over the campus, and custodians continue to sweep away the trash.
In addition, Harris notes that solar panels have been installed on the school’s F building, which has cut down 35 percent off the cost of the energy bill for that building.
As the campus grows and develops, efforts continue with a plan for the future.
The 5-Year Capital Repair Project calls for more LED lights, an electric vehicle charger, and more window replacements. As for the construction currently going on by the biotech buildings, greener efforts are expected.
Students have also gotten in on the action. One volunteer club at Carlmont, Key Club, hosts school clean-up days on a regular basis. Some students take the Green Engineering class to learn more about designing efficient buildings. Meanwhile, others have ideas about increasing sustainability at Carlmont.
One such student is sophomore Daisha Sherman, who is taking an online environmental sciences class.
Sherman said, “Something that doesn’t take much effort that we should do is composting. It’s easy to do, and compostable dishware in the lunch cafeteria would be much better for the environment. Even if you don’t buy lunch, Tupperware instead of paper and plastic bags are better.”
While this remains a dream -- Harris speculated that composting efforts could lead to an increased workload for the custodians already handling the trash crisis -- efforts for a greener campus haven’t stopped.
Awareness of sustainability and energy use has markedly increased, and most students know full well the basics of green etiquette.
Meanwhile, a monitor bearing resemblance to a small TV hangs by the choir room in the F Wing. It’s meant to update students on how much energy has been saved in the last 24 hours -- though it has yet to be plugged in and turned on for all to see.
So while the campus may be 60-years-old, Carlmont is pretty green for its age. Other schools have successfully initiated green efforts, and this in turn could lead other campuses to catch and spread the green bug.
For now, it’s up to the students to give energy and trash another look -- and not just a look, but action as well.
That could mean something as small as making the effort to transport trash to the trash can instead of throwing it on the grass, or something as big as contributing ideas and creating solutions.
Sherman said, “Whatever we can do, now matter how small, after a long period of time you can see how much energy you save.”