Cal State L.A. | Spotlight

Newly-installed stations to charge up electric vehicles

Charging stations to also boost curriculum on ‘green’ technology

Children’s Center
is eco-friendly

Picture of children waiting in line on the new area rugs.

The Anna Bing Arnold Children’s Center at CSULA recently embellished its lobby area with new ECO Green area rugs. Purchased from Consolidated Plastics, the top of the rugs are made from 100-percent recycled bottles.

Picture of children recycling paper as part of the Earth Day activities.

Also, this past week the children celebrated Earth Day by recycling paper, picking up trash, and reusing old cardboard as canvas for their art projects.

The Center is designated as an Eco-Healthy Child Care Program. The designation was awarded last year by the Oregon Environmental Council in recognition of the Center’s commitment to provide a healthy, safe and green child care setting for the children and families.

Here are five easy tips to go green and stay green (excerpt from a poster displayed at the Center’s lobby):

1. Choose safe cleaning products

2. Keep indoor air clean

3. Provide non-toxic art supplies

4. Use and choose plastics with care

5. Remember to always reduce, reuse and recycle!

Pictured: Professor David Blekhman and CSULA technology students.
L-r: Professor David Blekhman demonstrates how to activite the newly-installed electric vehicle charging stations to his students Rolando Elvira, Mark Anthony Aguilar and Fakhrul Shawaludin.

In an effort to help improve air quality by offering an alternative fuel source, Cal State L.A. recently installed two new electric vehicle charging stations in Lot 10 for commuters and campus guests.

Funded partly by a U.S. Department of Energy grant through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the 240-volt, level 2 charging stations also serve as an educational tool in CSULA Professor David Blekhman’s clean transportation classes and research.

Blekhman said, “In our lab, we utilize two electric vehicles for our Power, Energy and Transportation curriculum. This is one example of how the University provides our students with hands-on learning and prepares them for careers in ‘green’ industries.”

The electric vehicles currently in use on the CSULA campus include utility carts and two passenger shuttles. Though they prevent the emission of most exhaust pollutants, these clean vehicles are not driven off campus because they are only “street legal” to 25 mph.

The stations, installed with support from the University’s Parking and Transportation Services, utilize the new SAE J1772 charging connector. All late-model electric and plug-in vehicles are built to accept the connector. These include Nissan Leaf, Ford EV Focus, Chevrolet Volt, 2012 Toyota Prius, CODA, Fisker Karma, and Smart ForTwo.

The stations are free to the public as long as users register for a ChargePoint® RFID smart card on the Coulomb Technologies website: https://www.chargepointportal.net. (The key card itself is a $10 one-time fee.) The University’s Parking and Transportation Service Center currently has a few cards available for CSULA faculty, staff and students.

The ChargePoint smart card activates the electric outlet and charging cable for use by electric car drivers. According to Blekhman, “One hour of charging will typically power the vehicle to travel for 20 miles.”

Due to its advanced network system, ChargePoint allows drivers to find unoccupied charging stations via web-enabled cell phones, or they may locate other charging stations at http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/locator/stations/state.

Picture of CSULA students and a volunteer at Dockweiler Beach.

CSULA adopts a beach

On Saturday, April 16, a group of CSULA students, professors and friends joined together to clean up Dockweiler Beach in Playa Del Rey.

The University adopted Dockweiler Beach as its own last fall, as part of the California Coastal Commission’s Adopt-A-Beach Program.

The Adopt-A-Beach Program is an educational project that gives people of all ages the opportunity to learn about and participate in the conservation of the coastal resources.

Heal the Bay facilitates the program in Los Angeles County by providing all the clean-up supplies (trash bags, data cards, pencils and gloves) for volunteers to carry out the work.

View a video clip of CSULA faculty Lollie Ragana talking about the clean-up efforts: http://www.youtube.com/csulosangeles#p/a/u/0/zlwEdKx9dJ4.

For more information, go to /univ/ppa/newsrel/csula-adoptabeach.htm.

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