Jeffrey Hinton, Teresa Persons and Lucas Siegfried recently presented park rangers and administrators with a detailed efficiency plan, including a solar electric system to curb the building’s electricity consumption. The students also helped park staff enroll in a national Climate Friendly Parks program.
All told, the students’ energy proposals would pay for themselves in less than a year, based on the nearly $8,000 in projected savings. Their utility-connected rooftop solar system design could generate more than enough electricity to power the entire building.
Serving as summer interns employed by Humboldt State’s Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC), Hinton, Persons and Siegfried conducted an emissions inventory and determined that vehicles operated in the parks are the chief source of greenhouse gases there.
Ray Cozby, chief of park facilities management, said many of the recommendations would be acted on immediately and funding would be pursued for the others
“We are very pleased with the outstanding data [the students] captured on energy use at our headquarters building,” Cozby said. “We look forward to significant savings on utility costs, as well as lowering our overall carbon footprint.”
Hinton called the student project a “pivotal experience” that taught him to find conservation opportunities, plan renewable energy systems and weigh the burdens that human beings impose on the environment. Combining the three “has perhaps been the most relevant learning experience I have ever had,” he said.
His fellow interns agreed. “I gained a lot of real world knowledge about networking and getting a job done,” Siegfried said.
Funding was provided by the nationwide University-National Park Energy Partnership Program, which links national parks with students. At once, the partnership furnishes energy services to parks and gives students unique opportunities for real-world problem solving. The SERC has teamed with the program since 2000, hiring 13 summer interns and completing six successful energy projects at the Redwood parks.