Remember the saying “Don’t judge a
book by its cover?” Well the same goes for libraries, especially those housed
in an old grocery store building. Bedford is a small city located between the
metropolises of Dallas and Fort Worth. It is often put together with Hurst and
Euless making it the HEB area of North Texas. The Library’s Director, Maria Redburn, gave us an inside
look at the library and all of the technologies that make it a sustainable
building.
The first technology Maria brought
up was adapting an existing building. The building that the library is on, used
to be a grocery store. Instead of knocking it down and building something new,
Bedford chose to reuse the existing structure. I personally love this idea and
plan to do it with a house one day.
The Bedford Library also applied
for some grants which they received. One of those grants allowed them to
purchase solar panels. These panels produce electricity when the sun shines on
them. These panels have allowed the library to decrease its monthly electric
bill which allows for more books and people to work at the library.
Another interested technology that
Maria pointed out with the LED high-efficiency light fixtures and motion sensor
lights. This is something I am familiar with because my company uses these as
well. The lights turn on and off automatically which saves unnecessary
electricity from being used.
The final technology that Maria
pointed out was one I was unfamiliar with and found very interesting:
Geothermal Heat Pump System. Bedford Library’s system consists of 150 wells
buried 250 feet in the use. These wells use the earth’s core temperature to
heat and cool the building. Below is a picture of the field where all of the
wells are located.
Since I was unfamiliar with the
geothermal technology, I decided to try to find out more information on it. I
went to the Department of Energy’s web site and found this informative video.
It shows how geothermal technology works and does a great job of making it
simple.
Maria gave an excellent tour of
the Bedford Library. This library is an outstanding example of several
different sustainable technologies that are helping to save the earth for
generations to come.
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