Rowan Engineers Working to Improve Environment
February 24, 2004

Close to four dozen Rowan University engineering students are working to make the environment better starting in their own backyard.

As part of a sophomore engineering clinic project under Dr. Peter Mark Jansson, electrical and computer engineering professor, and two other professors, 43 students from four engineering disciplines are helping to advance the University?s commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses.

Rowan President Dr. Donald Farish made that commitment along with 53 other New Jersey college presidents in 2002, endorsing the New Jersey Department of Energy greenhouse gas reduction plan. Rowan is part of the New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability, an organization of college and university members that supports the greenhouse gas reduction plan.

This semester, Rowan engineering students, in conjunction with the University's Facilities Department, are working to outline ways for the University to reach the goal of reducing Rowan's greenhouse gas level to 3.5 percent below the institution's 1990 emissions level.

Academic, administration and residential buildings use a lot of energy, which in turn impacts the development of gasses, Jansson said. The engineering students are conducting energy audits on nine buildings across campus, examining every room; determining ratings on equipment in mechanical rooms that provide energy; estimating hours of equipment operation; conducting light and heating and cooling analyses; examining doors, windows and insulation; and more.

"Our goal," Jansson said, "is to assess how much energy we are using and determine how effectively it's being used."

The team will make recommendations on energy savings to Rowan's administration. Some of those recommendations will increase the efficiency of the students' own college home - Rowan Hall, which houses the College of Engineering. The building features a three-story atrium with a glass wall. The team is suggesting the University implement a system whereby lights cannot come on in the atrium until diminishing available sunlight makes them necessary.

Jansson said the greenhouse effect - gasses in the atmosphere acting somewhat like the glass of a greenhouse keep the warmth from the sun from totally reradiating off the Earth - is essential to survival. But, he said, too much of certain types of gasses - such as those produced by increasing industrial activity - are contributing to the warming trends the Earth has experienced in the past several decades.

Jansson said it will be a challenge for Rowan to meet its goal. The face of the campus today is much different than that of 14 years ago. Growth in the last decade or so has included two of the largest buildings on campus: Rowan Hall and brand new Science Hall, which due to their technological intensity are the largest energy users on campus.

Regardless, the team hopes to find ways Rowan can reduce its energy use, including investments that will make buildings more energy-efficient. At the end of the semester the engineering team will present its findings and recommendations to the campus Energy Review Panel.

"The exciting part of this is that the University is eager to implement the cost-effective solutions our engineering students come up with," Jansson said.