Post by account_disabled on Mar 4, 2024 20:24:43 GMT -8
In Tallahassee, Fla., the Leon County Cooperative Extension Building was transformed into a net-zero facility in March 2012 with the addition of solar power and a geothermal heating and air system.
One year after its retrofit, data shows the 50-year-old building at 615 Paul Russell Road, also known as the Leon County Sustainable Demonstration Center, is producing renewable energy at a rate equal to or greater than what the building annually consumes.
“In the heat of August or the cold of January, we’ll have bills for those months,” said Maggie Theriot, director of resources stewardship for Leon County. “But over the span of 12 months, it balances out to be zero. We still have to pay basic fees and services” to the City of Tallahassee municipal utility.
The solar is tied into the grid and either draws power or B2B Email List earns credits. The building includes 253 solar photovoltaic cells on a ground-mounted structure, which also doubles as shaded parking. The solar array is sized to a 60-kW system compared to a 5-kW system used in the average home. The solar array supplies about 40 percent of the energy needed to power the 13,000 sq-ft building.
Also, a large portion of the facility’s heating and air system was replaced by a geothermal system, which uses the earth’s relatively stable temperature of approximately 68 degrees to cool or heat the building. This geothermal system is approximately 40 percent more energy efficient than a traditional heating and air system. After the geothermal installation, the building was able to take nine HVAC units offline.
The geothermal system was installed at an adjacent empty lot. “We just dug up that area and returned it to overflow parking at the end of construction,” said Theriot.
Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel plans to investigate the cause of the leak, CBS reported. He said the company may be liable for the consequences of the spill, under Arkansas’s Water and Air Pollution Act and other laws.
Southern California Edison has submitted a draft request to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to fire up one unit at the San Onofre nuclear plant this spring. Edison plans to run the unit at 70 percent power for five months, then power it down and inspect it, the Los Angeles Times reports. The plant closed over a year ago because of excessive wear on tubes that carry radioactive water.
Emissions from factories and power plants subject to the EU Emissions Trading System fell for a second consecutive year in 2012, with a 1.4 percent drop, Reuters reported. The preliminary data shows the EU on track for its 2020 emissions reduction goal.
Collis Inc, a manufacturer of metal racks and shelving brackets for refrigerators, has agreed to pay a $31,379 administrative civil penalty to settle several Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations in Clinton, Iowa, the EPA said. The company will also spend at least $91,809 to replace high-mercury fluorescent fixtures with low-mercury fixtures and bulbs, and complete a project to reduce the generation of hazardous solvent waste.
One year after its retrofit, data shows the 50-year-old building at 615 Paul Russell Road, also known as the Leon County Sustainable Demonstration Center, is producing renewable energy at a rate equal to or greater than what the building annually consumes.
“In the heat of August or the cold of January, we’ll have bills for those months,” said Maggie Theriot, director of resources stewardship for Leon County. “But over the span of 12 months, it balances out to be zero. We still have to pay basic fees and services” to the City of Tallahassee municipal utility.
The solar is tied into the grid and either draws power or B2B Email List earns credits. The building includes 253 solar photovoltaic cells on a ground-mounted structure, which also doubles as shaded parking. The solar array is sized to a 60-kW system compared to a 5-kW system used in the average home. The solar array supplies about 40 percent of the energy needed to power the 13,000 sq-ft building.
Also, a large portion of the facility’s heating and air system was replaced by a geothermal system, which uses the earth’s relatively stable temperature of approximately 68 degrees to cool or heat the building. This geothermal system is approximately 40 percent more energy efficient than a traditional heating and air system. After the geothermal installation, the building was able to take nine HVAC units offline.
The geothermal system was installed at an adjacent empty lot. “We just dug up that area and returned it to overflow parking at the end of construction,” said Theriot.
Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel plans to investigate the cause of the leak, CBS reported. He said the company may be liable for the consequences of the spill, under Arkansas’s Water and Air Pollution Act and other laws.
Southern California Edison has submitted a draft request to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to fire up one unit at the San Onofre nuclear plant this spring. Edison plans to run the unit at 70 percent power for five months, then power it down and inspect it, the Los Angeles Times reports. The plant closed over a year ago because of excessive wear on tubes that carry radioactive water.
Emissions from factories and power plants subject to the EU Emissions Trading System fell for a second consecutive year in 2012, with a 1.4 percent drop, Reuters reported. The preliminary data shows the EU on track for its 2020 emissions reduction goal.
Collis Inc, a manufacturer of metal racks and shelving brackets for refrigerators, has agreed to pay a $31,379 administrative civil penalty to settle several Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations in Clinton, Iowa, the EPA said. The company will also spend at least $91,809 to replace high-mercury fluorescent fixtures with low-mercury fixtures and bulbs, and complete a project to reduce the generation of hazardous solvent waste.