The bicycle rack outside the College of Arts and Sciences is missing one bike.
This is because geography and environment professor Nathan Phillips uses his mode of transportation in conjunction with solar panels to power the electricity in his South-facing CAS office.’
‘Most people look at the bike and solar panel as providing energy,’ Phillips said. ‘But this office is as much about reducing consumption of energy as providing energy.’
Phillips, who has taught at Boston University since 2000, functions in an office that remains completely ‘off the grid,’ meaning he does not use electricity, and rarely consumes energy. Instead of plugging in his appliances, he attaches a generator to his bicycle and solar panels to power the laptop, phone and two small lamps in his office.
‘The sense of self-sufficiency is really a great feeling,’ he said. ‘It’s what we need as a society, to get to a point where we can really fulfill our own needs.’
His love for human-powered gadgets has spawned many other ideas he has for self-sufficient environmental sustainability, including energy first aid kits, an idea that would allow people to generate a minimal amount of energy in case of an emergency, such as the entire grid going down.
‘We have this implicit trust in the grid, and the grid’s not always going to be there for us,’ Phillips said. ‘So that’s part of self-sustainability and self-sufficiency.’
Phillips said he is able to maintain his office through his bike and solar panels because his office faces South and provides more solar panels.’
‘In summertime, I hardly have to pedal at all,’ he said. ‘In the darkest part of the winter I might have to pedal an hour or a half-hour a day.’
The energy from his bicycle and the solar panels streams from the generator to a 12-volt battery, which if completely empty, would take 24 hours of pedaling to recharge. Phillips said he prevents the battery from running low by spacing out his pedaling throughout the day.
School of Education professor Douglas Zook said he admires Phillips’ innovations not only for their practicality, but because they also reflect a sustainable way of living.
‘It teaches us humility and all the things we take for granted . . . we pay for [energy], but we don’t earn it, so we don’t get a sense of what’s required,’ said Zook, who is a member of sedGREEN, a group of faculty and students that advocates for greener practices in SED. ‘If you have to pedal and sweat, you have a new appreciation for what the earth is doing for us.’
Zook said what is also important in regard to Phillips’ solutions is that he looks to be sustainable without only searching for high-tech solutions, Zook said.
Environmental Student Organization Vice President Hannah Leone said it is important for students to see that professors like Phillips are actually living in the manner they teach.
‘Because he powers his office through his bike, he practices what it preaches,’ Leone, a CAS junior, said. ‘I think he brings that to the students, to push them to do the same in their lives.’
Phillips is currently working on multiple projects, including research on carbon and water relations of trees and forests, as well as Boston Carbon, a wiki that will provide periodic carbon footprint analysis of the city and greater Boston. He is also involved with various environmental groups on campus such as BU Bikes and BU Energy Club. He has also been selected to serve on two subcommittees of BU’s newly announced Sustainability Committee.
‘I think every student that’s come in here has really enjoyed it and hopefully inspired by what they see,’ he said. ‘I would just like to send the message to think about what is true energy independence at an individual level, and how can we become more energy independent and sustainable.’
