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Environmentally sound bathrooms on college campuses use revolutionary XLERATOR Hand Dryer.
“Greening” the Student Union.
Student Union at CalState Northridge leads
the way towards hands-free, environmentally
sound bathrooms on college campuses.
Southern California is almost as well known
for its environmental conscientiousness as it
is for its frequent water shortages. In a part
of the American landscape once dominated
by arid desert, the now densely populated
region has had to find new ways to preserve
its important water resources. The University
Student Union at California State Northridge
has met this environmental challenge headon.
Several of the newly-renovated Student
Union buildings boast the most hands-free
“green” state university bathrooms in the
country. All of the University’s Student Union
renovation projects in the last decade have
been undertaken with environmental
soundness and water preservation in mind,
and the energy-saving measures have, not
surprisingly, saved the University a great deal
of money in the process.
Gary Homesley, Assistant Director of Facilities
and Maintenance at the Northridge University
Student Union, says that the environmental
initiative began with the former Assistant
Director, Ray Miller – and they both agreed it
was the logical thing to do. “After all,” says
Homesley, “in the state of California it only
makes sense to be water and landfill
conscious.” Plus, they
knew that an environmentally-friendly (and
money-saving) student union complex would
be a popular selling point for incoming
students. “We’re a nonprofit organization, and
this way, we let students know we care about
their money. They’re very supportive of our
efforts.”
Together, Homesley and Miller discussed how
best to achieve green standards and save
money amidst budget cuts and other
challenges to new development. Homesley
knew that water preservation would be a
major factor in cutting costs. “In California,
you have to pay a sewer tax on all domestic
water that you use,” he explains. “So,
naturally, the less water you bring into a
building and then waste in the sewer system,
the fewer charges you incur.”
To start, Homesley and Miller tested several
waterless urinal systems to save water in the
student union men’s rooms, both agreeing on
the Waterless No-Flush™ urinals from C&L
Supply Company. These urinals work by
draining fluid and trapping odors beneath a
special sealant, which is poured into a small
cartridge below the drain. The cartridge traps
and filters out sediment, allowing an
unobstructed flow of liquid down the drain
without wasting water. The first building
Homesley outfitted has 30 restrooms, 13 of
which are men’s rooms with urinals. Once
installed, the Waterless urinals alone accounted for a 35% reduction
(around a million gallons per year) in
domestic water intake that saved the
university between $10-15,000 a year,
depending on the annual cost of water.
Homesley was pleased at the results and
immediately started looking into other
green fixtures: “Once we saw how effective
the water-free urinals were at saving water
and costs, we wondered, what next?” He
installed hands-free faucets with automatic
shut-off, automatic soap dispensers, and
automatic flush toilets in all 30 restrooms.
The automatic fixtures provided a more
sanitary touch-free environment, as well as
limiting the amount of water and soap
product used.
Next, Homesley decided to look at hand
dryers. He wanted to reduce the $21,000
spent annually on paper towels, installation
labor, and trash hauling fees. In addition to
the expense of paper towels, the
environmental impact of their manufacture
is significant: to make one ton of recycled
paper uses 7000 gallons of water, 360
gallons of oil, 158 million BTUs of energy,
and releases 86 pounds of pollutants into
the atmosphere. Homesley knew that he
would have to limit paper use to achieve a
truly green bathroom. However, he was
skeptical. “I’d never liked hand dryers in the
past,” Homesley said. “They never seemed
to work well enough; your hands were never
actually dry after using them.”
Enter the XLERATOR™ hand dryer. Researchers
at Excel Dryer found that water clings to skin
both as a thin film and as loose droplets.
Instead of trying to evaporate the droplets,
XLERATOR™ blows them off using a focused
high-velocity air stream and a specially
designed nozzle. The high-velocity air also
breaks up the layer of water vapor between the
air and the skin. This causes the thin water film
to evaporate more quickly than it would using a
conventional dryer. Thus, it dries hands in
about 15 seconds and uses 80% less energy
than other dryers. “I was very impressed with
these units,” confirms Homesley. “They are the
best dryers I've ever seen, and one of the most
energy efficient units on the market. I decided
to get rid of all of our paper towels altogether."
Homesley says that the cost of installing the
urinals and dryers added up to about $24,900
total (all installation was done in-house with a
fixed overhead). He started seeing significant
savings due to water conservation within less
than one year, and now estimates that the
XLERATOR™ and Waterless No-Flush™ urinals
save the Student Union more than $30,000
every year – money that used to be spent on
water, paper towels, and associated labor and
disposal fees. “The Union bathrooms generated
about six tons of paper towel waste every year,”
says Homesley. “It’s remarkable to be able to
cut that out.”
The student union now consists of 248,000
square feet on nine acres of property. Out of
the seven present buildings comprising the complex, three
boast bathrooms that incorporate as many
LEED credit qualifying systems as possible.
In Homesley’s view, the 30 bathrooms in
the union building are now 100% green.
They use only biodegradable toilet paper
and no paper towels at all. They have
significantly cut back on overall energy use.
They replaced electrical water heaters in the
building with natural gas, connecting
directly to an existing central plant at the
Student Union. All facilities were centralized
wherever possible, rather than building new
systems such as rooftop heating units. They
use only efficient lighting such as energy
watt and compact fluorescents, eliminating
incandescent lamps wherever possible. All
systems in the building – including air
conditioning and lighting - are monitored
electronically via photo and motion sensors.
Homesley even limited much of the
landscaping around the union building to
native plants that don’t require much water.
Homesley expects that, by the end of the
fiscal year, two more buildings should be
completed – and he plans to continue to
adhere to strict green standards. “This has
been a real whirlwind experience for us for
the past few years,” he says. “We had a lot
of success retrofitting the older buildings,
once we tested and implemented suitable
products; I expect to continue with this
trend.”
About California State University, Northridge:
California State University, Northridge,
home to the USU, has 33,000 full- and parttime
students and offers 61 bachelor's and 42
master's degrees as well as 28 education
credential programs. Founded in 1958, it is the
only four-year university in the San Fernando
Valley and the fourth largest in the 23-campus
CSU system. The university serves as the
intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the
Valley and beyond. For more information, visit
www.csun.edu.
About University Student Union, Inc.:
A non-profit, student fee-based corporation,
the University Student Union, Inc. is the largest
in the California State University system. The
USU and SSU provide a relaxed and diverse
atmosphere designed to enhance the total
university experience through multicultural
programs and high quality services.
Additionally, the USU offers students a variety
of part-time employment and volunteer
opportunities to develop leadership skills. The
Board of Directors facilitates programs, adopts
policies, maintains facilities and oversees
financial matters for the USU and the SSU. The
Board operates within the policies set forth by
the Trustees of the California State University
and CSUN, and students run for positions on
the Board annually.
About Waterless No-Flush™ urinals:
Now into its second decade, Waterless No-
Flush™ urinals are being used throughout the
country and the world. Each urinal operates completely without water or flush valves
and saves approximately 45,000 gallons of
water/sewer per year. Urinals are LEED
applicable, boast the lowest long-term
operating costs in the industry, and are
available for all retrofits and new
construction projects in high-traffic
facilities. For more information, visit
www.candlsupply.com.
About Excel Dryer:
Excel Dryer, Inc. manufactures the industry's
finest quality hand dryers and hair dryers. For
more than 38 years, Excel's full line of
American-made hand dryers has provided costeffective
hand dryers and hair dryers for
schools, hospitals, airports, service stations,
correctional facilities, restaurants, stadiums,
movie theaters, health clubs, office buildings,
factories and hotels. For more information, visit
www.exceldryer.com.
For further information contact:
ExcelDryer
phone: 1300 78 12 77
fax: +61 (02) 9630 7664
email: malcolm@aladdin.com.au
web: www.exceldryer.com.au
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