UNH attempts to reduce oil dependency

According to energy experts on campus, as oil prices continue to skyrocket, the electricity and heating costs at UNH will not be affected. But, many other aspects of campus living will.

As the winter months approach and temperatures continue to plummet, oil prices now exceed $100 a barrel. However, according to John Carroll, a professor of natural resources and environmental conservation, the new eco-line that will transport methane gas from the Rochester Landfill to the university’s co-generation plant will provide the university heat and electricity for the next 25 years.

“They are estimating that (the co-generation plant) will take care of 85 percent of our heating needs for the next 25 years,” said Carroll. “So, we are in much better shape than most people, and we will be able to sell electricity in the summer, because we don’t have the same demand for electricity.”

John Aber, a professor of natural resources at UNH, said the eco-line should be complete in a year, once the university is done building a processing plant at the landfill. Once that happens, Aber said, UNH’s heat and electricity will be immune to increases in oil prices.

However, Carroll said that many other aspects of campus life will be affected by the increase in oil prices. Although many people do not realize it, our society is very dependent on oil in the construction process, and this may have a huge effect on the university, he said.

“Another problem that the university is going to have is the cost of materials,” said Carroll. “The cost of cement, asphalt, concrete and steel for building (construction) and renovations are going to increase because all of those things are related to the price of oil.”

According to Carroll, the price of asphalt has increased by 45 percent in two years.

Carroll said the increase in oil prices may also affect the amount of food that is available on campus.

“We don’t have that much local food,” he said. “Most of the food in the dining hall comes from more than 1,500 miles away. How does that get here if the price of oil gets so high? How do we get enough food here to supply 60,000 meals a week from September to May, and 15,000 to 20,000 meals during the summer? That’s a lot of food, and it is all related to oil.”

Carroll said he also thinks that transportation will be a big factor, and it is going to become harder for commuter students and faculty to get to campus. This will have a huge effect on the university, because UNH depends on its employees for various services and its commuter students for tuition.

“When our commuter students and employees have a problem, whether it is a price problem or a supply problem, we all have a problem,” said Carroll.

As oil demands continue to rise and oil supplies continue to diminish, UNH will continue to do all that it takes to remain as energy efficient as possible, Aber said.

“It is safe to say that there is no other university in the country that gets as much energy from renewable sources as UNH,” he said.

thinking outside the box about the homeless

On the University of New Hampshire’s campus, the only cardboard boxes found are lined up beside trashcans or recycling bins. But students passing by the Thompson Hall lawn on Thursday, Nov. 15, noticed several cardboard boxes dotting the field.

Oxfam, a UNH student organization, sponsored “A Night Without a Home,” an event meant to educate the UNH community about the homeless. Students were invited to participate in a box-making competition and spend the night sleeping on the Thompson Hall lawn.

“It was quite an experience. I stayed the whole night in the heavy rain ’till 6:30 in the morning,” said Richard Drenkhahn. “It was pretty cold and very wet. We would wake up in the middle of the night several times to duct tape a leak, but it was almost a never-ending battle, and we went through a whole roll of the duct tape. It was quite an experience, and I can’t imagine how some people survive doing it for more the one night.”

The students had a strong reaction to the speakers and were shocked by statistics coming from their own state. Each night in Manchester, nearly 2,000 people are homeless. Many homeless are children who have aged out of the foster care system, young families struggling with children, or elderly residents whose rent has run beyond their means.

“They gave some statistics I didn’t know about. It really opens your eyes. I don’t know—it makes you want to do more,” said sophomore Samantha Ward.

Ward and three friends heard about the event through an acquaintance and spent the night on the lawn. Students formed small groups of four or five to construct shelters out of cardboard boxes and duct tape, and each box was adorned with a statistic to demonstrate the harsh reality of life on the streets. Several speakers who work directly with the local homeless population stopped in to address the participants.

“Even though it’s a sad subject, (the decorations) bring a little joy to it,” Ward said, showing her group’s Christmas-themed box.

Although many cases of homelessness involve drug addiction, the speakers made it clear that it is not addiction alone that forces people to the streets. The number one cause of homelessness in New Hampshire is the lack of affordable housing—a concept many college students have yet to face. Over the past several years, southern New Hampshire has seen a 37 percent increase in rent. A person needs to make nearly $18 an hour to afford rent, which averages about $978 per month.