LSP Environmental Studies Community Event Reports

On October 4th, there was a national open house of buildings and public areas that are environmentally friendly. The 6BC Botanical Garden in Manhattan, located on 6th street in between Avenues B and C, took part in this American Solar Energy Society’s Green Buildings Tour. The open house showcased the garden’s use of solar energy. At the event, there were information sheets available for the public to explain the garden’s solar installation. Tracy Fitz, who founded City Solar, is one of the main designers and contributors to the solar installations. City Solar is an organization that encourages sustainable, renewable, alternative energy in public and private spaces. The event was low-key and casual, and visitors could help themselves to the information packets available and walk around the garden to see the solar-energy efforts. It was really interesting just to go to the garden because it is surrounded by buildings, and seeing nature in New York City can be rare.

At the 6BC Botanical Garden, visitors could walk around and look at the garden and the shed with the second-story library and then ask Tracy Fitz about the solar installations. A history of the project was provided that began in 1994, when some of the members of the 6BC Botanical Garden wanted to design a solar electric powered waterfall. They designed a solar electric system that powered the waterfall when the sun was out. Volunteers wanted to create a solar electric design that could power the waterfall and a small library as well. Tracy Fitz later created a battery installation with a charge controller and a timer for the pump for the waterfall. Eventually, a second story was added to a small tool shed in the garden to create a library, which is also solar powered, and volunteers placed two solar modules on top of the library’s roof. Additional solar modules were placed elsewhere in the garden. Although there was a setback to the design when a fire in 2002 damaged the batteries and the shed, they were soon restored. The specific batteries and methods of powering the library and pump were also described. For example there is a DC charging station for the weed-wacker, and DC lighting for the tool shed and library, as well as DC outlets in the library. Direct Current energy (DC) is produced by solar cells. At the garden I also noticed that in the corner, there is a community compost area, where the public can bring decomposable materials such as vegetable waste, coffee grounds, leaves, tea leaves, egg and peanut shells, worms, and even horse manure. This seems like a great way for the community to get involved in some of the efforts of the garden to improve the environment.

(picture taken from http://herls.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/2-story.jpg)

This event was a new experience for me. I had never visited the garden before, and it was really pretty inside. There are benches and little swings that you can sit on, and a pathway that goes through the garden. There is also a section where you can sit at a table, which is made out of a giant rock. It is peaceful and quiet, and completely unexpected in the busy and chaotic atmosphere of New York City. At the event, I learned about how solar energy was being used in this particular space, which was interesting because it showed me that it is possible to obtain energy and use it in a way that doesn’t damage the environment with pollutants. At the open house, there were sheets that visitors could take that told how we could “go solar” at home. Although this is unrealistic for me to do right now, it showed me that it is possible to use solar energy for electricity and also for water systems. It made me interested in learning more about solar energy and how it can be implemented on a large scale, or on a small scale, like in the 6BC garden. The open house seemed to have a positive effect on the community, because it encouraged people to come to the garden and look at the projects being done there. It also positively impacts the environment, but not only on the day of the event, but instead on an every day basis. Because the public was able to visit the garden and receive information on solar power, the event seemed to achieve its goal of educating the public on solar energy. I think that the event could have been advertised more to reach a broader group of people.

My experience at the Green Buildings Open House at the 6BC garden on October 4 was overall positive. I was happy to discover a new spot in New York that isn’t widely known about. It is easy to miss nature while living in the city, and it is nice to know that I can visit this garden. It was also really interesting to see the solar efforts that have been undertaken at the garden, and it taught me more about the importance of solar energy.