Associate Director Judith Sheridan and Science Teacher Hans Estrin
presented at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)
Institute for Leadership in Sustainability last summer (and will do so
again this summer) offering ideas to other schools on how to embrace
sustainability in the curriculum, the physical plant, the community and
beyond. Although there to present ideas, Judy and Hans came home
with nearly as many inspirations as they offered. One of those ideas
was that someone should become the point person for sustainability at
Putney. Hans took on that job this year, started poking around, then
soon realized many people on campus are working toward similar goals.
They all got together in January to share what they'd done so far, and
where they were headed. Here's what they said:
Jim Taylor, Plant Manager
Jim built the first-ever house in Vermont that featured
super-insulating 2x6 studs in lieu of standard 2x4s.
"My goal was a zero-energy house," says Jim. He didn't quite achieve that goal, but
working on the engineering puzzle of low-impact living is still one of his favorite
things to do. Jim joined the school in 1985 and has been chipping away at Putney's
energy use ever since.
First to go were all the incandescent lights. "The first fluorescents were awful," says
Jim. "Hard to install and much too weak." But he persevered and now all overhead
lighting is high-efficiency fluorescents. "They take a moment or two to warm up,
but then they're fine," says Jim. And the bulbs last for years. "Now you can turn on
all the campus lights and the energy drain is about that of running a clothes dryer."
Fifteen years ago Jim and his crew fitted the first photovoltaic solar panel to the Gray
House cabin to power the lights. Panels were added to two other cabins and the remainder
work on propane, because the tree canopy precludes solar access. Two windmills and
a photovoltaic array power the lights in the KDU and literally turn the energy meter
backwards during off hours, feeding energy back into the grid and reducing Putney's
power bill. A sun-tracking solar array powers the lights in the ecology lab of the
Reynolds Building. Many of these solar additions were parts of Project Weeks past.
Solving the problem of keeping the aesthetics of our white clapboard campus
intact while cutting down on energy loss, Jim has replaced the high-maintenance
wooden boards with vinyl siding backed with a 1", high R-value insulating foam.
Many complained about the use of vinyl, but most of us have yet to notice the
change because the visual part is unchanged. And our heating oil bill is still within
reason, aesthetics notwithstanding.
Nearly all of the single-pane windows have been replaced.We now have argon-filled,
low-E models. (That's low-emission—lets sunlight pass easily, but not heat.They have
nearly the same insulating capacity as the walls they're mounted in.) "You have to balance
all of these improvements with the price of oil," says Jim. "When it was a nickel
a gallon, single-pane windows and minimal insulation were cost effective. But things
have changed. "Whether it goes to heating oil or tuition relief, it's all the same money.
Sometimes you can't save an old building, but you can make a high-tech, sustainable
structure that looks like it fits in. For instance, did you know that the old
music wing was bulldozed and rebuilt two years ago when the Michael S. Currier
Center was finished? The plan was to renovate the wing into four classrooms and
an English department office. But when the renovators got down to the studs, the
tops were rotted to the point of instability from leakage of the old flat roof. So
down she came, and up went a super-insulated replica with 2x6 studs; argon-filled,
low-E windows; cork, bamboo and ceramic flooring; and insulated vinyl siding.
Oh, and this one has a peaked roof that offers dry storage for the Main Building
offices in addition to better rainwater management.The new wing is now called
the New Wing, in honor of Putney trustee, Bill New (much to his merry punster
delight), who chipped in much of the expense.
This year, Jim and his crew have replaced inefficient steam boilers with new oil
furnaces and circulating hot water heaters in Old Boys, Leonard's Keep and the
Milk House (which houses two to three faculty and staff). That leaves three to go,
including the one at Lower Farm. And there's been some talk of experimenting
with biodiesel as a home heating fuel in at least one of the remaining buildings—
pending feasibility and cost.
As a result of our most recent energy audit, which utilized thermal imagery to find
heat leaks in 30 buildings (as opposed to the visual inspections we received in
1990), we've embarked on a roof capping project that includes insulating, sealing
and installing vapor barriers. Jim estimates the payback on investment at about
three years or so. Sooner, if the price of heating oil continues to rise.
Other ongoing physical plant ideas and projects include:
- Centralizing clothes laundering to reduce dryer use (more room to hang clothes)
- Installing more automatic light switches (even though light use is a drop in the
bucket, it's a visible way to show people we care about conserving energy)
- A possible Project Week on designing and installing a solar hot water pre-heater
on the roof of Old Boys
- Installing an energy monitoring display and signage in the Post Office to
illustrate our KDU windmill and solar cell use
Han Estrin, Science Teacher
Hans has always had a "notion of ‘biophilia,'"
meaning he likes being in the woods. So it follows
that his education went down the road of botany, natural history and biology.
It's something he'd like to pass along."As a teacher, I see students awakening into
adult awareness," says Hans."The learning becomes a part of them.The foundation
for a sustainable future is being laid here, whether they're embracing it at the
moment or not."
But teaching isn't all that Hans loves. "I love food. I love gardening. I love hard
work—hours and hours outdoors with a shovel in my hands." And he has an abiding
interest in the energy cost of producing, among other things, food. "A human
body uses 2.3 kilowatts per day. Americans use 100 times that amount per capita.
We're starting to feel the limits of the Earth. Carbon dioxide is a wonderful gas,
but you can have too much of a good thing."
In his role as sustainability coordinator this year, Hans is mostly taking inventory
of what we have in place, new ideas (many gleaned from last year's strategic planning
meetings), and resources to pursue those new ideas. He says, so far, it makes a lot of
sense for Putney to focus on food and fuel, since we've already made great inroads
in those areas.
Hans also oversees Putney's energy tsars—student workers who, twice a week, go
to all of the dorms to read the electricity meters and leave sticky notes near the
switches of lights that have been left on.The energy tsars are hand-picked from a
pool of volunteers because of the go-getter nature of the job.The tsars present
their findings in morning assembly on a regular basis.
Two special projects this year include overseeing Putney's entry in the Green Cup
Challenge, a multi-school contest to reduce campus energy use through behavioral
changes (see sidebar, page 21).The other is an effort to make Putney's sustainability
more transparent on campus by erecting signs explaining systems at work, resource
use, energy production, waste management and farm food featured at meals.The
goal is that any Putney student could answer, with some degree of accuracy, questions
visitors might have about our windmills, solar arrays and so on.
Judith Sheridan, Associate Director
"I think NAIS likes me to lead these seminars because I'm such a newcomer
to sustainability," says Judy."I have that beginner's perspective and fresh eyes on the
whole thing." Don't let her fool you, though. Judy is skilled in curriculum design
and good at figuring out what will and won't fit.
"It would be hard to add anything specific about sustainability to our class offerings
without sacrificing something else," says Judith. It's true.We already teach environmental
conservation and the whole biodiesel effort came by way of Project Week,
which is a deeper look into several of our academic subjects. Judith suggests another
track: "We could establish a tutorial in environmentally-certified students." In
other words, students with a lot of interest could study sustainability in depth
and become certified as Emerging Green Builders with the U.S. Green Building
Council, the people who established the Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design [LEED] Green Building Rating System.
Judy will, once again, be on the faculty of this summer's NAIS Institute for Leadership
in Sustainability in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, this time with Washington, DC's
Wynn Calder, associate director of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future.
Margie Levine, Assistant Farm Manager
Margie and Farm Manager Pete
Stickney are New England farmers
(Pete was busy, so Margie was sitting in for the farm team, so to speak), first and
foremost.They don't waste steps, materials, money or words if they can help it.You
met them in the last issue, so suffice it to say nothing's changed in their commitment
to teach youngsters exactly where their food comes from.
Margie reports that the farm is sending two milk cows to be beefed, instead of selling
them at auction as we've done in the past when they get past their dairy production
prime.The beef will be served in the KDU, in the interest of keeping our food
gathering local. Margie also says issues we had with the health department over
composting meal scrapings have been resolved by containing the compost in
biodegradable trash bags.And, now that it's actually cold in Vermont, the new windows
in the cow barn have made life much less harsh for the farmers and animals.
The Jean Hinton Rosner Greenhouse project is producing some useful data via
max/min thermometer readings. It appears that growing anything in January and
February requires additional heat, which is not the point of a passive solar greenhouse.
So, for now, we'll be having fresh Elm Lea Farm vegetables growing from
mid-March to December until we come up with a more clever means of stretching
the growing season farther.
The manure lagoon is in its third year of operation, collecting all of the liquid
runoff from the manure pit and cow barn milking wastes.The fermented effluent
fertilizes grazing pastures by way of a moveable pipeline and pump system—not a
place you want to be on a windy day.
Biodiesel production has been moved from the recycling shed to the Milk House
to take advantage of the water, heat and electricity there. So far we've produced
about 300 gallons. It's not a good fuel for winter use because of production inconsistencies,
but we only run a tractor for about 20 minutes per day in the winter.
The bulk of the tractor work occurs in the summer when fuel vagaries are less
likely to cause the motors to run roughly. So far, the Marina Restaurant in
Brattleboro is supplying us with all the used vegetable oil we need.There's talk
of an oil collection cooperative that could form once other biodiesel producers
in the area ramp up their production.
Marty Brennan-Sawyer, Executive Chef
Marty has popped up several
places in this special section as a
cheese-maker, athlete and purveyor of Putney Special. He keeps us fed, and fed
well. (Some of us a little too well.) Marty's approach to food service is professional,
innovative and fun. He works hard to keep us healthy and happy—which isn't as
easy as you might think.
"Our initiatives are the same as the farm's," says Marty."I work very closely with
Marge and Pete because $40,000 of our food comes from the farm.That's only 20
percent of the total, but it's still a significant amount." As for eating local food,
Marty says,"We're fortunate.You can't get any more local than that."
Marty says local beef production is limited by the amount of available pastureland
on Elm Lea Farm. Most of it is dedicated to our milking herd, horses and sheep.
But he's been looking into buying Vermont grass-fed beef because research he's
seen says it's quite a bit healthier than grain-fed beef. But it's also more expensive
because of the grazing land needed. So, as with so many things, it comes down to a
compromise among appropriate land use, personal health and money."Some decisions
are not always rational.You have to weigh the health benefits against the fact
that grass-fed beef costs half again as much as the standard issue," says Marty. He'll
try to offset the cost by searching for more local or sustainable animal proteins.
"We don't use much, but when we do, all of our paper products from dishes to
napkins are fully compostable," Marty reports. And he's looking for effective biosafe
sanitizers for cleaning tabletops, an odd compromise between one health issue
and another.
"We get our apples from down the road," says Marty. But because the growing
season is so short in New England, we don't eat as much Vermont and Northeast
seasonal vegetables during the school year as Marty would like. Global warming
might improve the situation, but that's really not the point now, is it?
Marty says the challenge with students' dietary needs is the heritage we now have of
convenience foods."It's what a lot of them have been eating up 'til now," says Marty.
So the challenge will remain: keeping them healthy while keeping them happy.
Last, But not Least
Chief Financial Officer Randy Smith and Development Director
Christie Baskett were also at the meeting, but mostly to listen.
Randy's job is to make sure we don't spend more money than we bring in. Christie
likes to keep her ears open for ideas that might fit well with various grants that are
available for our sustainable ideas. For example, the last tractor bought for the farm
came by way of a Windham Foundation grant because we (well, Pete, actually)
were able to demonstrate how we needed it for our curriculum.
The meeting adjourned with most everyone knowing more than they did before
they met. Now there's a sustainable idea.
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POWER BY SOL: THE
FIRST PHOTOVOLTAIC
SOLAR ENERGY PANEL
WAS INSTALLED ON THE
GRAY HOUSE CABIN
OVER 15 YEARS AGO.
TWO OTHERS, NOYES
AND KEEP/NEW BOYS
(SHOWN HERE), ALSO
GET ENOUGH SUN FOR
SOLAR PANELS THAT
PRODUCE ENOUGH
ELECTRICITY FOR
INTERIOR LIGHTING.
APPROPRIATE SINGING: WE'RE NOT SURE HOW MUCH
CARBON DIOXIDE IS PRODUCED BY SING, BUT WE'RE
WILLING TO GUESS THAT IT'S WORTH THE GREEN-
HOUSE GAS EXPENDITURE FOR WHAT WE GET BACK
IN COMMUNAL ENERGY TO TURN OFF LIGHTS, CLOSE
WINDOWS, RECYCLE TRASH, AIR DRY CLOTHES AND
COMPOST KDU SCRAPINGS.
Number of
Gallons of Milk
Produced Yearly:
60,000–70,000
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