Construction Tech Program Thinking Green

For release - September 10, 2008

Holding his nose as he passed the used grease receptacle of the college canteen every day for years, Chris Chavez, an instructor with UNM-Gallup’s Construction Tech program, had a sudden inspiration a few months ago. Why throw away all that used cooking oil, year after year, when he could be converting it into fuel to use in his program?

He and fellow instructor Rick Krouth put their heads together. After studying the surprisingly easy process for turning cooking oil into fuel, they purchased a biodiesel processor – a $2400 system marketed as a “Freedom Fueler.” Nowadays, they’re churning out biodiesel for 50 to 75 cents a gallon in sufficient quantities to run all the machines in their program, including the adobe making machine, a flatbed dump truck, tractors, welders and others. Further, making their own fuel means they don’t have to take time or expend energy going to the gas station for a fill-up.

“There are also fewer emissions with this method,” says Krouth, who has already started giving demonstrations on biodiesel fuel making at the college and around the area. He’s also teaching that you don’t necessarily have to purchase an expensive processor – anyone can make biodiesel fuel right at home, agitating the lye and cooking oil mixture while sitting in front of the television at night. At present, the only hitch in the process is finding enough used cooking oil to convert. The instructors are looking into collecting the oil from local restaurants, and say that even the oil with food particles in it is suitable for processing.

But the biodiesel production is just one facet of what the two instructors see as a brave new effort to help UNM-Gallup –and the surrounding area – go green.

“The trend in construction is green,” Chavez said. “You can’t open a magazine or a newspaper without it saying something about going green, and it’s time for us to offer course work that supports that.”

To that end, the instructors are developing a certificate program in alternative (sustainable) energy. They already have courses in solar adobe construction and building green as part of the approved curriculum.

Krouth is currently teaching a class on building adobe homes, instructing students on the principles of passive solar, much like those employed by the ancient Puebloans: houses of rock and mud facing south, with sun hitting the rock in the morning and the heat radiating into the coolest parts of the building by evening.

Chavez in turn is teaching how to build more sustainably in terms of recycled materials, downsizing living space, energy efficiency and better air quality.

“We’re discussing active energy systems, such as converting sunlight into electricity, heating hot water for geothermal heat rather than blowing hot air into the house, and wind power,” he said. Chavez has already built houses with radiant floors, where the heat radiates three to four feet off the ground, providing sufficient heat for human comfort at about 62 degrees. (If the feet stay warm, the rest of the body doesn’t need higher temperatures to feel comfortable, Chavez explains. That means you can keep the thermostat much lower than with conventional heating.).

The instructors are focusing on the concept of using locally available materials whenever possible. For instance, bamboo flooring is trendy now because it’s a sustainable resource – a fast growing grass. However, it is grown, harvested and processed in China, shipped across the ocean in a container ship, trucked to locations such as Gallup – all these steps resulting in a huge “carbon footprint.” For that reason, said Chavez, it makes more sense for builders in Gallup to look into local materials that are easily available.

“For instance, I dig a hole, and with all that dirt I take out, I can build adobes,” Chavez said. “Unfortunately, adobe building is also labor intensive. You have to consider all these factors. It’s complex.”

One labor-saving building method that Chavez believes shows particular promise for this area is that of using structural insulated panels, made of strand or wafer board and plastic foam – a lightweight material with insulation value almost twice that of fiberglass, and which can cut labor costs as much as two-thirds through cutting out several steps in the building process.

In addition to the ongoing classroom discussion, Chavez hopes his students can learn about building green – and particularly the topic of energy efficiency – by talking to the architects and contractors planning a new building at the college.

Students often enroll in Construction Tech to gain skills they will need in building their own houses.  And while the green classes will certainly help them do this in a more efficient way, Chavez also wants to show students things they can do in pre-existing houses, from insulating more efficiently with recycled or biodegradable materials such as ground up newspaper or ground up cellulose, to using paint with low volatile organic compounds that give off less gas emissions than other kinds of paint.

Krouth recently started teaching students about using recycled materials – including what comes from old houses that are being “deconstructed.”

“In the past, contractors would tear down houses and send everything to the landfill,” he says. Now, Krouth is having his students work on deconstructing some houses donated by the city, recycling the materials in their classes for projects.

Next spring, the instructors will be promoting all these concepts at the second annual UNM-Gallup Home and Garden Show, planned for the end of April.

For more information contact Chavez at 979-0204 or Krouth at 863-7560.