Fleming College

Two Construction Engineering Technician (CET) students are breaking new ground on sustainability efforts at Fleming College.

Tyler Fenton and Andrew Lloyd were awarded applied projects funding from the Office of Sustainability and FastStart Fleming to further their research on ways to make Fleming campuses more sustainable. Tyler is researching sustainable permeable pavement, while Andrew is researching integration of the Tesla Powerwall and Tesla Roof into the Kawartha Trades and Technology Centre.

“The Applied Projects Funding Program by the Office of Sustainability is intended to provide experiential learning for students in creating a more sustainable post-secondary institution and support Fleming’s commitment towards achieving net zero institutions,” said Trish O’Connor, Director of the Office of Sustainability. “I’m looking forward to watching their research develop.”

With the support and direct supervision of CET program coordinator Dr. Adel A. Zadeh, Tyler is researching and testing permeable pavement, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of current pavement materials on sidewalks, bicycle paths, driveways, parking lots, and low traffic areas. Tyler received $500 from the Office of Sustainability applied projects fund to work on this project.

“Currently when it rains, water bounces off the pavement and goes into the storm system, which costs the city money to treat,” said Tyler. “With permeable pavement, it would allow water to go through it and into the ground.”

Tyler said permeable pavement would be useful outside of the college, as well. He provided the example of a subdivision built around a fountain, which serves the purpose of collecting excess water to avoid flooding. With permeable pavement, the need for a fountain would be obsolete and therefore more land would be available to build more homes.

Tyler has been working on and testing the permeable pavement at GHD Canada in Peterborough. On Wednesday, April 5, Tyler worked with GHD Senior Technicians Adam Bonner and Shaun Shepherd (Resources Drilling and Blasting, Class of 2005, and Geological Technician, Class of 2007) to mix, cast, and compact the pavement. He will later test porosity (void content), density, infiltration rate (permeability) and mechanical properties, including compression and tensile strength.

“This applied project allows you to see the practical way of the materials through testing and seeing how it’s applicable for design. There are lots of environmental benefits, and students are learning about sustainability and caring about the construction materials they are using,” said program coordinator Adel. “It’s also an opportunity to work on challenges, because everything is not always A to B and we don’t always know the outcome; for example, we couldn’t use vibration so we used other equipment to compact the samples. Everything is not always what you see in a textbook.”

Adel said he is thankful for the support and resources GHD Canada is providing for this project, which includes a concrete mixer, their facility and technicians.

Joel Kimmitt, Principal Engineer at GHD Canada and Fleming Earth Resources Technician Program Advisory Committee member, said he is very interested in helping Tyler and learning more about the CET program at Fleming.

“We’ve had a longstanding connection with the college and many of our employees are Fleming grads from Frost Campus,” said Joel. “I’m interested in this program because it’s more on the civil engineering side, which could potentially yield employees for the company.”

Joel is also interested in the results of Tyler’s research. “It’s interesting because this technology is not widely used in Canada, so we don’t have a lot of experience with it either.”

Adel would like to bring phase 2 of the project to Fleming’s Centre for Alternative Wastewater Treatment at Frost Campus, if he receives more funding.  Adel would like to expand this research in order to investigate the water filtration of these paving materials as a function of different mix compositions used, applying microstructural analysis of hydration and carbonation products between different cementitious materials and permeable pavement capability to help absorb heavy metals and chemicals.

Tyler’s Construction Engineering Technician classmate Andrew Lloyd is researching sustainable initiatives as well, thanks to funding he received from FastStart Fleming.

Andrew earned 2^nd Place in the Green Your Campus conference co-hosted by Fleming’s Office of Sustainability, FastStart and the Trent Green Team, on March 11, 2017, receiving a $1, 000 prize to conduct feasibility research on a Tesla Powerwall at Sutherland Campus. Andrew was one of 10 Fleming groups who presented at the conference, which also featured 25 groups from Trent University. Projects were judged by Fleming and Trent faculty based on presentation and potential effect on meeting the college’s sustainability plan goals.

For his project, Andrew proposed integrating the Tesla Powerwall and Tesla Roof (or equivalent solar panels) into the Kawartha Trades and Technology Centre at Sutherland Campus. In addition to helping power the Fleming Kube during peak consumption times, Andrew proposed the Powerwall and Roof also be used to help train students in electrical trades.

“The city wants to be net zero emissions by 2050, so there is a demand on businesses to be net zero,” said Andrew. “If you can teach the trades students that before they go into the workforce, it will make them more valuable when they graduate.”

Andrew is currently working with Adel and Javier Bravo, Fleming College Entrepreneurship Liaison, to research the feasibility of this within Fleming College. His goal is to know whether implementation is possible by December 2017.

Both Andrew and Tyler are working towards their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications, and Andrew plans to take the Project Management graduate certificate at Fleming College as well. Both students plan to combine their construction engineering careers with their interest in sustainability to build a brighter future.