May-June 2009

Climate Commitment Goals

Universities in the US are in nothing less than an all-out stampede for sustainability, and for distributed energy, it’s an exciting opportunity for long-term growth.

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Universities and colleges in the US have exploded into a thriving $317-billion marketplace, where more than 4,000 institutions educate roughly 17 million students in fields from engineering to business, law, urban planning, journalism, and politics. Better yet, make that green politics.

One of the driving forces behind the stampede is the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). The ACUPCC is intended to be a high-visibility effort to address global warming and accelerate research and education efforts to restabilize the earth’s climate. As of Earth Day 2008, more than 526 institutions had taken the pledge—representing an impressive 25% of the total student population from schools in all 50 states. The ACUPCC is aligned with, and supported by, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), Second Nature, and ecoAmerica.

The signatories agree to a long list of climate-oriented activities (See www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org for the complete program), but the main focus is to create and implement a plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as practically possible. Additionally, they must promote research and education to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They also make regular progress reports, an effort that has created an atmosphere (no pun intended) of camaraderie and sharing, and, most importantly, the sharing of successful strategies.

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) offers a prime example of one project that should prove to be very successful. In October 2008, FGCU began construction of a 2-MW photovoltaic (PV) solar “energy farm” situated on 16 acres of campus land. The project is a cornerstone of the university’s answer to the ACUPCC’s goals. Interim President Richard Pegnetter signed the pledge in 2007, with intentions to “build upon the university’s long-standing commitment to environmental and ecological sustainability.”

Since then, Wilson G. Bradshaw has taken the helm as Florida’s president, and he notes that distributed energy is a powerful tool for achieving carbon neutrality. “Recycling is very important, but we have moved to another level,” says Bradshaw.

Photo: Courtesy of UCSD Photovoltaic system at UCSD

Moreover, he expects the solar farm to have an impact far beyond the university’s power meters. “I’m very pleased that what we are putting up here is not some sort of small demonstration project,” he says. “This is something that will save the institution about $700,000 a year, and we have a very strong economic model, so I think other institutions are going to be looking to us and our solar project as a model that could work for them.”

The $17-million project was financed with $8.5 million from the Florida legislature, with the balance to be made up through a power purchase agreement between the university and Regenesis Power, a Simi Valley, CA-based provider of large commercial PV installations. Electricity from the PVs will cost the university two cents per kilowatt-hour, a rate substantially lower than the 10.5 cents per kilowatt-hour paid for utility-delivered power. Bradshaw expects the university to save about $22 million over 30 years.

“It’s a public-private partnership, and Regenesis is matching the legislature’s contribution,” adds Bradshaw. “We were early signers of the presidents’ climate control commitment, and we are on track with our plan and very excited about being a part of that initiative.”

The University of California at San Diego (UCSD) is another climate commitment signatory that has leveraged public-private partnerships to achieve their sustainability goals. To date, the San Diego campus has built up an impressive project list. In Spring 2008, the university signed a contract with investors for 1-MW PV of solar panels to be installed atop various campus roofs, plus another megawatt planned for 2009.

Additionally, UCSD has started construction of a 2.8-MW fuel cell plant that will run on methane transported to the campus from a nearby sewage plant at Point Loma. The system takes advantage of a recent ruling from the California Public Utilities Commission, created to lower peak usage demands that have strained California’s utilities to the point of roving brownouts during hot summers. The utility commission’s order encourages non-utility operators of fuel cells and small wind turbines of 5 MW or less to couple those systems to energy storage technologies. The incentives amount to $3.4 million.

To satisfy the energy storage stipulation, the fuel cells will contribute power 20 hours per day to the campus grid, with the remaining four hours of production used to charge batteries, compress air, or provide for other power storage technologies.

The university also developed a unique program to trade power from its natural gas cogeneration plant for wind power. The cogeneration plant produces 30 MW to supply about 80% of campus power requirements, but will decrease production at night to substitute up to 3 MW of electricity produced by California wind farms.

It’s important to note that the university’s partner on the fuel cell project is no small player in the energy industry. It’s the Linde Group, a multi-billion-dollar, international industrial gases and engineering company. Linde is providing financing, construction, and handling of the methane. It’s a typical power purchase arrangement, wherein Linde actually owns the system, while selling the power at rates favorable to UCSD. For the PV project, the same model applies to the partnership with Mill Valley, CA-based, Solar Power Partners Inc. In both cases, there are no up-front costs for UCSD.

“You can’t do these kinds of projects without partnerships with private companies,” says Byron Washom, the new director of strategic energy initiatives at UCSD. His credentials clearly demonstrate the level of the university’s intentions to be ahead of the herd in sustainability. Washom is a veteran of many financing and clean energy industry heavyweights. He has been a strategic advisor to The World Bank, the International Energy Agency, US Department of Energy, and many regulated utilities and corporations. He says that the climate commitment to attain carbon neutrality is a huge task, but that UCSD already has a long-standing history of aggressive environmental programs and achievements—more than enough to position itself as one of the “greenest” universities in the US.

Photo:  Courtesy of FGCU Archives FGCU campus surrounded by environmentally protected lands

In fact, UCSD traces its origins to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the world’s top climate change research institutions. The university just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Keeling Curve, named for Scripps professor Charles Keeling, the creator of the first method for measurement of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Washom believes that distributed energy solutions are integral to UCSD maintaining its high-level green status, and fulfilling the requirements of the climate commitment. He says that universities have an advantage in advancing new power technologies such as the fuel cell power storage project, because they typically have microgrids, and can implement distributed energy solutions with less complications and more benefits than institutions relying completely on utility power. “We are a test bed, from financing to installation, to operations,” says Washom. “A transfer of technologies to commercial industries and public entities will follow from the success of our projects.”

Although UCSD and Florida Gulf have managed to gain advantageous incentives and funding from their state legislatures, the nation’s economic problems are putting a squeeze on state budgets. However, universities that have signed the climate change commitment have a new resource: the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI).

In late 2007, during his keynote at the US Green Building Council’s International Conference and Expo, former president Bill Clinton announced a partnership with signatories of the ACUPCC. The CCI has arranged $1 billion in funding from five financial institutions, to help ACUPCC signatories connect with financial resources. According to Andrea Webster, membership coordinator at AASHE, the help is welcome because many schools don’t have experience in finding the large amounts of capital to finance equipment retrofits for energy efficiency.

Photo: UCSD Climate monitoring equipment at UCSD

Photo: FGCU Archives FGCU President Bradshaw and dignataries launch solar energy farm groundbreaking.

The CCI blames emissions generated as a result of energy consumption for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions on a campus. To help further with the problem, the CCI also secured energy savings guarantees from eight energy services companies and discounts from more than 25 energy-efficient product manufacturers.

At that same Green Council keynote, Clinton lauded the efforts of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) for its innovative green building program. At that time, LACCD was one of 11 CCI partners running a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through campus building upgrades, while maintaining capital budgets and without increasing monthly operating expenses. The success of the program serves as a model for other college campuses.

Although it doesn’t have the status of a university, the LACCD commands a respectable level of influence in higher education. It’s the largest community college system in the country, hosting 188,000 students each year. Just consider the impact of a $2.2-billion construction and modernization program spread over nine campuses. The districts claims to now have the largest public sector sustainable building effort in the US.

A major feature of the LACCD’s green building program is its 9-MW Solar Energy Plan, calling for the installation of enough PVs to produce at least 1 MW of electricity onsite at each of its nine colleges—enough to meet daytime electricity needs. One example of the plan is the installation at East Los Angeles Community College.

The system generates 1.2 MW from 5,952 solar panels atop seven large-scale carports. The 1.2-MW output is enough electricity to satisfy approximately 45% of the college’s energy needs. Excess energy can go to the grid or return to centralized storage.

For economic efficiency, the system works in conjunction with a new central utility that saves energy by drawing power from the grid at night when demand and prices are lower.

Funding came in part from a $2.8-million financial incentive courtesy of Southern California Edison’s Self-Generation Incentive Program. Chevron Energy Solutions designed and built the facility, while MMA Renewable Ventures handled finances, ownership, and operations. The college buys the power through a power purchase agreement at prices below current utility rates.

The LACCD is setting a good example for distributed energy, and the California State & Consumer Services Agency wants to see more. In December 2008, the agency released a guide called, “Grid Neutral: Electrical Independence for California Schools and Community Colleges,” at the annual Green California Schools Summit in Anaheim. The guide offers advice on distributed energy from solar, solar-thermal, geothermal, and wind. Also included are financial resources, such as help from the High Performance green projects program for California schools.

Of course, K–12 school systems aren’t members of the ACUPCC, but who’s training the next generation of K–12 teachers and administrators? The members of the ACUPCC are stressing sustainability as a cultural responsibility, as they train the next generation of teachers and, for that matter, all of the professions influenced directly or indirectly by higher education.

“Environmental sustainability is part of our DNA,” says Bradshaw. “Students are impressed with our commitment, and we have academic programs in environmental studies; so, it’s not just how we do business, it’s also reflected in our curriculum.”

With more than 500 signatories to the climate commitment and the potential for thousands more, it’s evident that the philosophy is spreading. And that bodes well for distributed energy providers that can offer solutions fitting the sustainability goals of universities—whether they are striving to meet the high goals set by the ACUPCC or just caught up in this green stampede.

Author's Bio: Writer Ed Ritchie specializes in energy, transportation, and communication technologies.