BCGR - ACU Green (Part 5)
By: Chris Whited, KRBC News
Updated: March 31, 2009
Solar technology, use of effluent water, electric vehicles and even elephant poo paper are just some of the green initiatives we've touched on this month at Abilene Christian University. As the university continues to grow and as time goes by, even more green efforts are coming to light. Even the asphalt used in the parking lots is a unique and green effort. Scot Colley, Assistant Director of the Physical Resources Department, explains to us that "a lot of the asphalt on parking lots that we redo is where we regrind the asphalt that we have and this reduces the need for a new petroleum based product. It also reduces what we put in the landfill and we just grind up and reuse what we have here."
One of the main chemicals used in asphalt production is kerosene. The university uses a process called asphalt emulsion priming which eliminates the need for kerosene and instead uses a water base. Colley also told us that non-toxic byproducts of coal are also being put to use in the projects that require concrete. "Some of the concrete we do [recycle], we have a flash concrete we use in some of our buildings and that is a by-product of burnt coal and that makes the concrete more durable and it lasts longer. it just makes it a batter, more sustainable product" explained Colley.
He says there is been no real noticeable differences in both the green asphalt and concrete as far as in quality, but he says there performance of both has been exceptional.
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