Eastminster Child’s Play & Learning Center (ECPLC) assists families with the development and child care of children from the ages of six weeks to five years. This non-profit center in Bexley, Ohio was built in 1954 and still holds many of the original units and features of the building. These outdated elements are not holding up to the extreme weather conditions in the winter and summer months. If the classrooms are not between a certain temperature range, the center must shut down. As a result, five families have stopped sending their toddlers and infants to Eastminster.
There are many sources of energy loss throughout the building. As much as ECOS wants to help Eastminster renovate the entire center, we must realistically take small steps towards improving the environmental conditions and tackle one of these sources of energy loss at a time. Because we would like to solve both the heating and cooling aspects of the building at the same time, ECOS has found that changing the insulation of the classrooms would greatly resolve their predicament.
The Ohio State University Engineers for Community Service (ECOS) will work with our student volunteers and local Columbus companies to solve these heating and cooling issues with the most sustainable, energy efficient and cost effective methods. We would like to invite engineers from local companies to help guide us through this project and provide their assistance. ECOS is also putting great efforts into finding the necessary funding for this project.
Since 2006, Eastminster and ECOS have been working together to find plausible solutions. We originally looked into building a trellis or a louvered awning along the south wall. During this past summer, ECOS completed calculations to prove that a trellis or awning would greatly improve their overheating issues. We are currently working with Battelle to verify the results of those calculations.
However, ECOS has established that the plants for a trellis would be difficult for the center to maintain. Also, by shading the south wall of windows, this does not necessarily improve the lack of sufficient heat in the winter months. Therefore, we have shifted our focus to the roof and insulation. We have found that improving the roof and/or insulation, we can help Eastminster for both extreme temperatures. Our hope is to slowly develop this project with one classroom at a time, keeping in mind that the construction should take as little time as possible.
ECOS has come to a realization that we cannot do this project alone. We will eventually need to contract some of this project out to professionals (depending on the path we choose), but we are trying to focus on a project that our student volunteers can contribute to as well.
We have helped with small improvements (please see the next section), but we cannot decide the best path for Eastminster to take. After looking into several different options/products, such as reflective roofing, dropped-ceiling, and blanket-wrapped insulation, we are turning to local Columbus engineers to help guide us through this project. We would like feedback, suggestions, and any input regarding this project. As well, this project will not be able to continue without some sort of funding. Eastminster is not able to use any of its money for building improvements; the money they have must go towards the education of the children. They have turned to us to help them find funding. We are currently searching for grants and also seeking the generous help of local companies for this project.
Specific Issues:
Roofing/Insulation
The roof consists of corrugated metal with a thin layer of asphalt on top. There is little to no insulation in many of the rooms, and we are not looking to revamp the entire roof. We would like to add some type of insulation that will be safe for the children. In the past, Eastminster has had to improvise the overheating conditions by placing a hose on the roof to lower the temperature.
Boilers
There are two boilers located in the basement: Weil McLain (“newer one”) and American Standard (original with the building – 1954). Both are heated by gas and serviced before each winter season. We are hoping to find enough funding to eventually replace these outdated boilers, for they could stop working at any time.
Air Condition Units & Heaters
Most of the rooms use window air conditioners, and almost all have been removed for this winter season. However, there is one particular window A/C unit that has been has been built into the wall using cracked wooden boards. The poor construction is causing another source of heat loss in the Toddler room. Although they have not installed this, Eastminster has another readily available air condition unit with the following specs:
Each unit = 18,000 BTU
Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) = 10.0 BTU/W*h
Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) = 9.6
The radiators that lay below the windows are separated from the outside by a thin sheet of metal. Some of the radiators are not transferring any heat. Therefore, Eastminster has recently placed two new heaters into two of the classrooms on the first floor, where they have the main concern of lack of heating. This has shown to help so far to warm the room, however, they have not experienced another extreme cold temperature to verify their issues.
Windows
All the windows on the first floor are single pane and are causing much of the energy loss. During the summer of 2008, Eastminster and ECOS have placed window film along the south wall of windows to help reflect the sunlight and heat. The following website has all the technical information regarding the Gila Platinum Heat Control Window Film:
http://www.gilafilms.com/Residential/window-film-support-performance.htm
Other Small Improvements
Playground door and windows are equipped with weather-stripping
Windows have been re-caulked recently
Vent filters for the wall units have not been cleaned for approximately 2 years
If you have any further questions, please contact the project leaders, Emily Lui and Shea Mogg, at elui42[at]gmail.com and mogg.3[at]osu.edu.