As I was pulling out of the Nott/Seward parking lot earlier this week, I noticed that the pavement was extremely uneven. As usual, I simply thought to myself that they needed to repave the lot. Well, with this week’s blog theme in mind a thought occurred to me: What if Union repaved the lot with a more sustainable method?
Many ideas have come and gone, and an expert I claim not to be, but perhaps we could go even further than simply using more sustainable concrete alternatives. Working with the sustainability coordinators and other departments on campus, I am curious to see what types of solar or thermal energy could be produced through pavement materials.
Along with economic factors, I could see this being cost effective for Union long-term, especially if proposed as a Green Free or Presidential Green Grant to cover short-term fees. I could not find any material as to the actual cost or probability of any of the previously discussed methods, but I’m curious to see if this would be a possibility.
This is a very interesting proposal. I have never thought about a sustainable alternative to paving a road. As you have mentioned, this would be a fascinating topic to further research. It would also be interesting to research what effect current paving systems have on the environment.
I once saw a video on different types of pavement that can be beneficial depending on the environment you are in. In one very warm city, they put in light-colored pavement so that it would not absorb as much heat, which also affected the amount of energy usage in terms of air conditioning and other heat-beating activities. There was another type of pavement that absorbed water from heavy rainfall so that it did not cause flooding. I am not sure if these two specific examples would be worth it for Union, but it is interesting to investigate other alternatives
I think that this is a great idea, especially with the added benefit of producing energy from the new paving materials. I would also be interested in learning which materials would be the most cost effective for Union, as well as which materials would yield the greatest amount of energy produced. I think this could also greatly lower Union’s electricity bill long-term, and money could be re-invested into other worthwhile causes.