Upon hearing that the showers at the Sullivan Gym are solar-powered, I had to investigate. So I worked up a good sweat, grabbed a towel and jumped in to see how the water was.
And although the water doesn’t whistle through the showerhead like a teakettle, it is adequately warm and stays so throughout the bathing process.
But that’s not the best part. The best part is that while the showers are running, barrels of oil are being conserved and people are smelling better.
According to Michael Wacker, a building construction engineer here at USM, the series of solar collection panels on top of the Sullivan building utilize the sun’s energy to heat domestic hot water which is then stored in two large collection tanks in the basement.
When hot water is needed, the water is taken from these tanks first, though supplemental water is also heated by natural gas and oil fueled boilers.
The showers aren’t the only “green” fixtures in the building. A recent $50,000 lighting renovation is also helping reduce USM’s ecological footprint.
Much in the same way citizens are being encouraged to switch from traditional incandescent lights to fluorescent lights, so too, has the Sullivan Gym made a significant change.
Instead of those large, slow to turn on lights, the gymnasium is now outfitted with a more energy efficient and instant-on series of T-5 fluorescent fixtures.
But what does that mean?
It means that these lights can more easily be turned off when they are not in use and that the bulbs themselves are conserving electricity.
Wacker and his team did not stop there. The fixtures also have three levels of adjustability so that when more light is needed, it’s available, but when it is unnecessary, the lighting can be scaled-down, and the gym is outfitted with 18 motion sensors that watch the action on each individual court. If no one moves on the court for 10 minutes, then the lights automatically shut themselves off.
“The only complaint that we’ve had is that the lights were too bright on their highest setting,” Wacker said.
Ultimately, the renovation has made the Sullivan gymnasium’s lighting system 25 percent more efficient on its highest setting and proportionately more efficient on the lower settings.
The conservation effort was in part funded by Efficiency Maine, an organization that provides economic incentives to residential and commercial entities alike to become more energy conscious.
Wacker estimated that $8,000 of the $50,000 project would be reimbursed by Efficiency Maine.