Going green is all the rage these days and companies with huge operations, like those who run data centers and server farms have started implementing greener ways of generating power, such as through the use of solar panels. That being said who’s to say that other industries or buildings can’t be just as energy efficient as well, right?
Stanford has had such a project in the works for several years now and has recently converted to a new system that relies on heat-recovery to help generate some of the energy it requires, and in turn will also be able to act as a model that large organizations such as utility companies and governments will be able to use.
Dubbed the Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI), this system is said to be able to cut greenhouse emissions by as much as 68% and the use of fossil fuels by as much as 65%, both of which are pretty impressive figures. According to Joe Stagner, the executive director at Stanford’s Sustainability and Energy Management office, he describes the system as follows:
“What SESI does is use electrically powered heat pumps to take that waste heat from the cooling system to make hot water for campus heating instead of wasting it, thereby greatly increasing efficiency, and by using electricity to power this system instead of natural gas, we can use renewable power and not burn gas and create air pollution.” To get an idea of how this system will work, check it out in the video above for the details.
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