Universities in the US are in nothing less than an all-out stampede for sustainability, and for distributed energy, its an exciting opportunity for long-term growth.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Photo: UCSD
Climate monitoring equipment at UCSD |
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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.