Eric GershonFacilities managers Jeff Sweet, Mario Velazquez and Deborah Holman began the summer of 2011 staring down the number 2,863. That’s the total number of beds in Wesleyan’s undergraduate housing pool – somewhat greater than the number of bedrooms in the university’s 225 residences. In an annual rite known as the summer maintenance program, Sweet, Velazquez and Holman oversee the inspection, basic repair and cleaning of each and every room in Wesleyan’s varied housing stock, from the aptly named High Rise to the stately Eclectic Society to the multitudinous wood-frame houses. The project amounts to a carefully choreographed dash toward the end…
Olivia DrakePeter Staye, associate director of utilities for Physical Plant-Facilities, was featured in the May 16 edition of The Hartford Business Journal. In the article, titled "Energy Saving Projects Focus on Measurable Results," Staye explained how Wesleyan has invested more than $6.5 million into a variety of innovative, energy-saving measures. Wesleyan has reduced energy about 22 percent since 2005, but the focus is now shifting to a more challenging initiative - changing the culture of energy use on campus. "Not that long ago, energy was abundant and cheap. Now it's neither, but there is still the feeling that everyone should have…
In 1900, when the student residence at 24 Fountain Avenue was built, heating oil was cheap. Insulation wasn’t a concern. Window sealant didn’t exist. Hot water gushed from the shower heads. “We call homes like this ‘balloon framed,”’ explains Gary Rawlings, lead energy auditor technician for Wesleyan’s contractor Lantern Energy. “Air from the basement flows up through the walls and escapes through the window frames, the area around plumbing pipes, doors, and attic. In this particular house, there’s a big gap around the air duct. That’s never a good sign when you can see down into the basement.” The 24…
It's one mean, green machine and it's saving Wesleyan up to $5,000 a day in energy costs. Wesleyan's new Cogeneration system - or CoGen, - uses natural gas to simultaneously generate electricity, heat and steam for university use. It began operation in February after an 18-month installation process. "Buying electricity from the grid is expensive and non-efficient,” says Peter Staye, associate director of utilities management. “With CoGen, we are generating 81 percent of our own power. It should pay for itself in five years." CoGen operates similar to a vehicle with an extreme super-duty engine. The natural-gas fired, turbo-charged, four-stroke…
Peter Staye, associate director of utilities, points to the ceiling of the Bacon Field House. About 140 high-tech light fixtures span the width of the dome-roofed gymnasium. "These are special lights for high ceilings," he says. "There's 24 fewer fixtures here than there used to be, and it's just as bright. If we used florescent fixtures, we'd need 240 of them." The new, 350-watt, high-intensity discharge bulbs have replaced the older, 400-watt bulbs, and use 373,000 fewer kilowatt hours per year. They're also programmed to turn on in zones, and change luminosity throughout the day based on a newly-installed ambient…
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Between Jan. 18 and March 28, Wesleyan will once again join the more than 470 colleges and universities from across the country participating in RecycleMania, a national recycling and waste minimization competition. This is Wesleyan's fourth year participating. "Our goal is to make people aware of how much trash and recyclables they are generating, and to hopefully minimize waste and increase awareness about recycling," says Jeff Miller, associate director for facilities management and chair of the Recycling and Waste Committee, a subcommittee of Wesleyan's Sustainable Advisory Group for Environmental Stewardship. "We're interested in measuring how much waste goes out of this…
Wesleyan was featured as the cover story in Doors & Hardware magazine's Jan. 2009 issue. Doors & Hardware is a publication of the Door and Hardware Institute, which aims to advance life safety and security solutions. In an article titled "Off-Campus Fire Safety: How Wesleyan University meets the Challenge of Making its Unique Student Housing Fire Safe," the magazine cites Wesleyan's Facilities for upgrading residential sprinkler systems. Joyce Topshe, associate vice president of facilities, and Barb Spalding, associate director of campus fire safety, are featured in the article. Wesleyan allocated $5M towards sprinklers for a residence hall that housed 520…
Trash bins may find themselves down in the dumps, at least around Wesleyan’s campus. The university is replacing them - one by one - with recyclable containers in attempt to make Wesleyan a "greener" campus community. "Most everything we throw away at our desks - paper, plastic water bottles and soda cans and cardboard packaging material - is recyclable," says Jeff Miller, associate director for facilities management. "So why keep a trash can under your desk?" Miller and other members of Wesleyan's Recycling and Waste Committee, a subcommittee of Wesleyan's Sustainable Advisory Group for Environmental Stewardship (SAGES), are spearheading efforts…
Q: Donna, how long have you worked at Wesleyan as the department assistant/customer service assistant for Physical Plant? A: It's been eight years. Q: The extension X3400 is one most people on campus are familiar with. A: This is my number, the direct number for all customer service needs. Q: Have you had any odd-ball calls? A: I have to say the funniest call I received was a request asking that we send someone to clean a refrigerator out because she had rotten chicken that was smelling. (more…)