13May
Heartland Community College (HCC) is committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship. They have demonstrated this commitment by reducing their emissions through energy efficiency and renewable electricity generation. In the last decade, Heartland has made impressive reductions in emissions that have only been possible through the commitment of forward-thinking Board of Trustees, administrators, and facility personnel. Starting in 2012 with the installation of a 1.65MW wind turbine in 2012, the college has implemented numerous projects including the installation of geothermal heat pumps and the building of new facilities that receive net zero designation. The projects are putting the college on track to achieve their goal of net building emissions by 2050 or before.
When the Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) announced that they were partnering with the Illinois Smart Energy Design Center (SEDAC) to offer net zero planning services to community colleges, HCC jumped on board. SEDAC provided HCC with decades of energy usage data to help the college with planning. SEDAC helped the college identify strategies to reduce building energy use by 47%. The SEDAC “Conserve and Load” strategy helped the college identify ways to achieve net zero emissions, including to converting natural gas systems such as boilers to electricity-powered systems such as heat pumps with remaining reliance on renewable resources such as solar PV.
Finally, SEDAC outlined a timeline for the colleges’ net zero goal in three phases. Phase 1 focuses on low capital cost, easy-to-implement measures. Phase 2 focuses on moderate capital cost projects and more complex measures. Phase 3 focuses on additional college related emissions from commuting, wastewater, food and more, and will require HCC to consider potential new policy directions.