Join LSC in helping us create a more environmentally friendly 2017
2017 has just begun, and there’s still plenty of time to follow through on your New Year’s resolutions! In addition to eating healthier or learning a new hobby, may we also suggest that in 2017, you look for ways to help the environment?
For years, Liberty Science Center has been identifying ways that we can be environmentally friendly. If you have ever been to LSC, or even Liberty State Park, you have most likely seen a bright yellow and white wind turbine, standing at 125 feet tall. This Bergy wind turbine was part of a three-year test and evaluation period with the Department of Energy, or DOE. The 10,000-watt wind turbine provides .001% of the electricity that LSC needs to operate.
That may not seem like much to a big facility, but this amount of energy would be enough to run your microwave, television, refrigerator, and even some of your lights at home.
The wind turbine also acts as an ambassador for conservation awareness. Schools, companies, municipalities, and guests constantly contact LSC employees for information about wind turbines, wind energy, and other ways to “go green” and help the environment.
LSC also obtains energy from three different solar arrays. In the parking lot, guests can see one of these solar arrays, which are managed by us. Energy is also obtained from the bus walkway and rooftop arrays. Power from these panels is fed directly into the house grid of our building with no storage capacity. Together, all three solar arrays provide approximately 18% of LSC’s electricity.
Aside from energy, LSC contributes to conservation efforts through our 6,000 square foot “green roof,” which guests can see covering our retail store as they ascend the main staircase to the second floor. Green roofs offer benefits for heating, cooling, and rain water retention. Green roofs can support a variety of plant life, and ours currently supports vegetation that is being studied for its ability to leech hydrocarbons from soil. In other words, this research would be beneficial for cleaning contaminated soil from pollutants like oil.
LSC also takes part in recycling efforts around the building. On site we have two compactors, one for garbage and the other for recycling. The recycling compactor accepts both paper and cardboard. Our loading dock also contains additional recycling bins for cans, bottles, and glass. Our administrative offices contain two large recycling bins with a list of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable attached to each bin. Recyclables from these locations are collected once a week.
Conserving our resources is important not only for future generations but for today as well! We are completely reliant on natural resources and would be lost without them.
For example, cutting down trees and forests can have huge implications. Not only does it destroy the environment of the animals that live there, but fewer trees means less oxygen and less rainfall. Fewer rainfalls will end up harming our water cycle. All of these natural resources work together to keep us alive by maintaining ecological balance. Therefore, one action that may be viewed as trivial – such as littering – contributes to the disruption of this balance and may have a trickle-down effect in ways we might not automatically think of.
In the New Year, we hope you will join us in helping the environment in any way you can!