In response to President Spina signing "We Are Still In", the Hanley Sustainability Institute has created a campus energy team with a goal of identifying and implementing large-scale clean energy solutions to reduce campus scope 1 and 2 emissions by 26-28% by 2025. This campus energy team, made up of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and facilities management staff, is determined to demonstrate that cost-effective clean energy solutions are not only possible, but also cost-effective.
Our team conducts an energy audit on a campus building every one to two weeks, focusing on major energy users like air handlers, cooling units, boilers, and lighting. This semester we’ve been focusing on large academic buildings, which make up nearly 60% of campus electricity usage. Next semester we’ll be focusing on dorms and apartments, as well as athletics, making up around 20% and 10% of campus electricity respectively. Along the way we’ll be using the GRF to implement our recommendations, and following up by measuring and verifying savings.
Thus far our team has identified energy savings opportunities in four academic buildings that can reduce the buildings’ electricity by 3.61 GWh and natural gas by 8,800 mmBTU, for an overall 23% reduction in emissions. That correlates to 3,212 metric tons of CO2, which is equivalent to taking about 347 homes off the grid or driving 7.9 million less vehicle miles each year. These recommendations have a total implementation cost of $1,166,322 and annual savings of $235,046 for a simple payback of 5 years, and 10-year net present value of $648,637 with a 15% internal rate of return.
Download the Energy Team's latest report >>
If we come together as a university, such a daunting task will become far more attainable. I am excited to bring what I have learned back to campus with me, and I am interested to see what the future of sustainability at UD holds.
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Do you consider yourself a tree hugger, environmentalist, or nature-lover? Or are you a scientist, educator, or energy engineer? Or do you believe in a responsibility to care for our common home, or even just appreciate clean air and water? If you answered yes to any of the above, chances are it?s been a frustrating, depressing, or confusing past few months.
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