Pitt Green Tour
Duration: 1 hour
Overview
Pitt is one of the leaders of Pittsburgh’s transition from one of the world’s most heavily industrialized cities to a model of green, post-industrial adaptation. Researchers at Pitt investigate and apply more sustainable methods for powering and building our society. This tour provides a glimpse at the ongoing work at Pitt in areas from local, small-scale hydroelectric power to constructing buildings from bamboo. The tour takes place in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Pitt’s center for designing applications for sustainable communities and lifestyles, and includes demonstrations.
What You'll See
A green space for Pitt’s green center
The Macaro Center’s new home includes the renovated second floor of Pitt’s Benedum Hall (home of the Swanson School of Engineering) and the Mascaro Building. Completed in 2009, the Mascaro Center space is a pending LEED-Gold certified complex that embodies the “green” transformation of the University—and the city—that hosts it. The original Benedum Hall, built in 1968, featured dark, concrete labs and hallways with poorly insulated windows and very little natural light. The Mascaro Center space—which is the first stage of the complete renovation of Benedum Hall—boasts open, adaptable areas flooded with natural light. The lighting and ventilation systems operate on motion sensors to automatically power-down and reduce energy consumption. The larger Benedum Hall complex includes two varieties of green roof: a no-maintenance type planted with sedum and a conventional lawn open to loungers. Both are meant to reduce energy costs by providing insulation and reducing the urban heat island (UHI) effect caused by the absorption of sunlight.
Vandergrift Hydroelectric Project
Supported by the Mascaro Center, the Vandergrift project seeks to supply the business district of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, with free, clean-source power via electroactive generators set in the nearby Kiskiminetas River, which is too small for conventional hydroelectric power. With Pitt’s guidance, citizens and business owners in Vandergrift are looking closely at their energy consumption and working to be more efficient producers and consumers of energy and goods. This project has been featured in various news outlets, including the Discovery Channel.
Bamboo Structural Lab
Civil engineer Kent Harries works to promote, design, and build bamboo structures in the Indian Himalayas. Unlike cement and brick, bamboo is native, earthquake-resistant, and gentle on the steep hillsides. Harries’ lab is developing the first comprehensive building standards for bamboo construction. Harries will conduct a strength demonstration of bamboo versus concrete. This demonstration will be in the subbasement of Benedum Hall, Room 85.
LED Assessment for the City of Pittsburgh
Pitt engineers investigated the life cycle and pay-off time for LED (light-emitting diode) street lights considered by the City of Pittsburgh. They found that the 40,000 LEDs would provide more light with lower energy consumption than conventional lights and would pay for themselves within ten years.
Arsenic Water Filter and Superhydrophobic Coating
A project to provide people in Inner Mongolia with arsenic-free drinking water is underway in the lab of Pitt chemical and petroleum engineer Di Gao. He and his students are designing a low-cost arsenic filter that employs absorbent iron oxide particles. The project received the Youth Council on Sustainable Science and Technology the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 P3: People, Prosperity, and Planet sustainable design competition in April. Gao’s lab also has created a superhydrophobic coating that effectively repels water and prevents ice formation on any surface, which can be applied on power lines, antennas, clothes, and construction materials.
