Activity 2.1 – Atmosphere: Reducing Northwest Vista College’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions

 Northwest Vista's Impact on Greenhouse Gasses

Problem:

Greenhouse gasses have been a thorn in the world's side for years. Over time, these gasses have caused the earth to become a lot hotter, thus making climate change a real threat to humanity. Things like stronger hurricanes, more droughts, overall temperatures rising, and icy places melting are all coming at an alarming rate. The irreversible effects of climate change are coming soon, which is why college students need to get started in taking more action to slow them down. 

Investigation:

Students and faculty alike at Northwest Vista College can improve on how they help the environment around them. One thing we can improve on as a community is the usage of cars. The majority of students who go to physical classes have to drive upwards of 3 - 4 times a week  depending on how many classes they have. If we include the faculty, this can almost double in how much emissions are going into the atmosphere weekly. As of now, we can all do a better job in how we approach getting to the campus. Things like finding alternative ways of transportation can help out tremendously. By reducing the amount of students driving separately to the college, this can lower the amount of emissions that are being sent out into the atmosphere. Carpooling, taking the bus, or biking can make a positive change to the environment around the college. This is just one small step, but in the long run will ensure Northwest Vista is combatting the effects of greenhouse gasses. This would be made to be an immediate implementation to the campus’ transportation recommendations. A more gradual implementation I would work into the campus would be to implement more eco-friendly sources of energy. Installing a larger number of solar panels to the college would reduce the usage of energies that are harmful to the environment. There are some solar panels on campus already, but not enough to make a big impact. In this gradual implementation, the college would work to install panels during the summer when classes are less dense. Having these panels would encourage the use of natural energy, and in turn provide the college with a more sustainable and cheaper way of using energy. Ideally, over a long period of time, solar energy would save the college money, have an energy source that’s easy and convenient to maintain, and reduce the college’s use of unnatural energy sources. To keep Northwest Vista running for years to come, we have to change the way our college uses energy. 

Data Analysis and Interpretation:

On the Alamo website, it says that “Alamo colleges students, staff, and faculty // emitted 48% of the total greenhouse gasses in the entire district” (Sustainability. Alamo Colleges. (n.d)). This statistic is solely based on transportation alone to and from the Alamo college district. This number doesn’t represent Northwest Vista only, but it shows how bad margins can get when dealing with large scale emission.  If we were able to change the way transportation works to and from campus, this number would go down dramatically. This number can also go down by reducing the number of workers that have to do maintenance on energy sources. The use of solar energy within the college would produce a more convenient and easy way to save them time and money, all while keeping the environment safe. Solar panels can last “for about 25-30 years”(Richardson, L. (2021, June 1). How long do solar Panels Last?). These panels would only have to be occasionally cleaned, and replacement for them is once every couple decades. Northwest Vista would be able to shift workers’ attention elsewhere, and benefitting from a natural, safe source of energy. 

Explanations and Designing Solutions:

The college’s biggest carbon emission is the vehicles that come on and off of the campus on a daily basis. Being able to implement things like more busses, bike rentals, and encouragement towards carpooling are all ways to reduce emissions. Northwest Vista’s step towards sustainability has been consistent, but it can do better in reinforcing how beneficial it would be to drive less. The use of solar energy is also another step in the right direction for the college. Switching to a more natural source of energy means less heat going into the atmosphere, and producing less carbon dioxide that harms the environment around us. Implementing more solar panels into the college is a good idea because of how convenient they are for the faculty and staff. They are easy to maintain which means the work that faculty has to do can be put elsewhere. More walkways could be made for bikes, and solar energy from the panels can also be used to charge electric cars are just some ways solar energy can change life on campus. Northwest Vista has already made efforts in the right direction, it just needs more social awareness in classes to maintain a safe and clean college for the environment.

Cites:

Richardson, L. (2021, June 1). How long do solar Panels Last? Panel LIFESPAN Explained: EnergySage. Solar News. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://news.energysage.com/how-long-do-solar-panels-last/.

Sustainability. Alamo Colleges. (n.d.). Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://www.alamo.edu/about-us/compliance/sustainability/.

 Dorward, A. (n.d.). Unit 1 climate change and development challenges. 2.2 A brief history of climate change policy. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://www.soas.ac.uk/cedep-demos/000_P524_CCD_K3736-Demo/unit1/page_14.htm.

 NASA. (2021, August 26). The effects of climate change. NASA. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/#:~:text=The%20Effects%20of%20Climate%20Change,and%20intensity%20of%20tropical%20storms.

Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/greenhouse-gases.