Environmental Functions and Services
Rhode Island College is committed to excellence in environmental health and safety. Rhode Island College pledges to uphold all local, state and federal environmental regulations and to protect the environment within the College and that of the surrounding communities. Rhode Island College is committed to ensuring that its students acquire a sense of environmental responsibility that they can apply to their future schooling, their careers and to their everyday lives.
Contact
Mark DeLellis
Manager of Campus Environmental Functions and Services
(401) 456-4753
(401) 456-8262 (Main Office)
mdelellis@ric.edu
Building Management System
RIC has a computerized building management system in place that is used to control the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in all major buildings on campus. This system allows for energy savings by programming the systems in coordination with classroom and event schedules. The system is managed from a desktop computer and in many buildings temperatures can be controlled down to an individual room level. Room and building temperatures have different set points depending on whether they are occupied and unoccupied.
Energy Efficient Lighting
The college has retrofitted many buildings on campus with energy efficient lighting. These retrofits continue as we renovate buildings or as stand-alone projects. Lighting retrofits are important as it is estimated that lighting makes up 14% of total energy use in buildings on campus.
Many classroom lights on campus use occupancy sensors so that the College saves energy when classes are not in session and the lights were inadvertently left on.
The College is also conducting pilot studies on different lighting controls on campus, such as daylighting controls and occupancy sensors
Optimization of Central Steam Plant
- The steam plant produces steam that is used to heat the buildings during the heating season and cool the buildings during the air conditioning season (using steam absorbers).
- The college has made several modifications to the facility that have resulted in significant energy savings. The replacement of several key valves and a reduction in steam pressure has allowed the college to run on one boiler rather than two to achieve these savings.
- The steam plant operates well within its emission cap.
