Carbon Footprint Reduction On Higher Education Campuses
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Transcript of Carbon Footprint Reduction On Higher Education Campuses
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The Challenges of Carbon Footprint Reduction on Higher Education Campuses‐ by Sami Barry
Carbon footprint reduction is one of the hottest initiatives within higher education institutions today. There is a push for facilities managers of universities and colleges to operate their campuses in an eco‐conscious way and more efficiently than ever before. Due to the vast array of strategies available for carbon footprint reduction, programs are complex and entire committees and departments devote their time and efforts to formulate plans that address specific issues and achieve long‐term goals. These plans involve conducting initial assessments, obtaining board a p p r o v a l s , f o r m a l i z i n g strategies, developing measurable goals, and communicating the results campus‐wide.
Helbling & Associates spoke with some of o u r i n d u s t r y colleagues at Duke, Fordham and St. John’s Universities, and the University of Iowa, who were kind enough to elaborate on their institutions’ specific initiatives to reduce their carbon footprints.
In 2009, Duke University became involved in the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment which focuses on climate neutrality through campus integrated sustainability programs. Fordham and St. John’s Universities are involved with PlaNYC 2017, which was initiated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2017. Part of PlaNYC 2030, this sub‐plan was signed by ten major universities in New York City that represent over 1% of the city’s total square footage and almost 1.5% of its greenhouse gas emissions.
Each professional interviewed emphasized the importance of conducting an initial emissions inventory to gain a comprehensive view of their institution’s
weaknesses. This quantitative data provided them an essential foundation from which their plans were developed. While some of our colleagues conducted baseline studies internally, others chose to hire an external consultant to perform them and to develop strategies and outline attainable goals. From the results of those studies, they chose target areas that would offer substantial carbon footprint reduction within an aggressive timeframe.
Marc Valera, Vice President for Facilities at Fordham, plays an instrumental role as head of the University’s sustainability committee. Valera explained that after conducting an assessment of utility usage at all university facilities, he and his colleagues were able to identify locations with the highest emissions rates. Those locations were then
targeted as initial projects. One such immediate issue was the oil‐burning boiler‐plants on the Bronx Campus. Valera says, “when we updated the controls and switched to natural gas, we saw tremendous savings in emissions”.
All new construction on Fordham’s campus is committed to LEED silver certification. They have completed two dormitories at roughly 170,000sf, which are presently LEED Gold. When facilitating any project in existing facilities, Valera says two of their primary goals are energy savings and completing deferred maintenance tasks, and he added that they are focused on “trying to hit the ROI’s in less than 5 years.”
Another strategy Fordham deploys is retro‐commissioning outdated buildings over 20,000sf to reach LEED certification over a series of years. They began this process with the University’s Walsh Library which is the largest end user on campus.
ConstructionFacilities Management
Real EstateEngineering
There is a push for facility managers of higher educational institutions to operate their campus facilities in an eco‐conscious way and more efficiently than ever before.
Thus far, Fordham has seen a 21% reduction in their carbon emissions through lighting controls, steam trap maintenance, building automation expansion, boiler optimization and switching to natural gas. Valera is quick to add that the last nine percent will be a challenge. For example, they are researching the potential implementation of a cogeneration facility as well as a large solar array plant in order to reach their ultimate goal of 30%. Valera says, “We targeted the low hanging fruit and projects which would give us the most bang for our buck and our new construction is very energy efficient, but building a CHP plant and retro‐commissioning will take more time. Those types of projects not only entail getting the funding in place but we have to work with the utility company, go through the regulatory process for emissions and all of that will take longer. With our results so far, we are hoping to achieve a 30% reduction by 2013, four years ahead of schedule.”
He goes on to say, “All of this [carbon footprint reduction] is ultimately going to be mandated by codes here in New York City. They are going to make these initiatives into laws and give everyone a few years to do it. For an engineer, you give me a reasonable code, sufficient amount of time to finance and get the work done, and I’ll meet the code. And really, that’s the best way to do it.”
St. John’s University is one of the largest Catholic universities in the country, and like Fordham, they also follow PlaNYC 2017. They hired an external consultant to assist them with designing a strategy and secured a Director of Sustainability to execute that plan long term. Brij Anand, Vice President of Facilities, says they have “proposed and received approval for a $25M capital infusion for energy capital projects, which would reduce their energy bill by $3.2M with the payback in 7 ½ years.” Anand adds, “We realized it was better for us to borrow the money directly from the bank and we are implementing the 20‐odd projects related to infrastructure upgrades. A major portion involves establishing a cogeneration plant on campus. We hope to have it all done in 3 years.”
Duke University’s goal is to be carbon neutral by 2024 which is also the 100 year anniversary of the institution.
Russell Thompson, Director of Utilities & Engineering, says that the “big piece of the plan is on the energy side by reducing energy in existing buildings and striving for ‘LEED Plus’ for new buildings. ‘LEED Plus’ is setting our own energy standard within the framework.” One of Duke’s more significant accomplishments is fuel switching where they have reduced the university’s coal usage by 85% since building the new natural gas fueled East Campus Steam Plant.
Throughout their emissions reduction process, Duke will be working closely with its utility company, Duke Energy. As Thompson discusses, “[Duke Energy] has their own initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint and ways of monitoring it, so we keep in touch with what they’re doing as well.” Thompson says that the
university is “looking at a cogeneration plant d o w n t h e r o a d , par t i cu la r l y i f Duke Energy doesn’t meet their target. But, right now, if we did a cogen plant in the next 10 years based upon what Duke Energy has told us, our production would be
more carbon intensive than theirs. So, our footprint would increase.” When asked about long‐term strategies, Thompson responded, “we are researching other renewable energy sources such as solar (both PV and thermal) and biomass, but have nothing concrete as of yet.”
Although the University of Iowa has not confirmed a formal plan to date, they are currently in the process of developing a long term strategy for the next ten years. Liz Christiansen, the University ’s Director of Sustainability, explains “we are finalizing our program and it will involve aggressive energy conservation and renewable energy development goals as well as goals that will address waste diversion, reducing the carbon footprint from university‐related transportation and travel, and building sustainability literacy among our students. We are basing our metrics on ones developed by the University of Michigan and they involve about 140 different points of measurement and energy consumption of all kinds, air emissions, water use, land use, waste, procurement, population and cross cutting and emissions issues.”
“All of this [carbon footprint reduction] is ultimately going to be mandated by codes here in New York City ... and really, that’s the best way to do it.”‐ Marc Valera, Fordham University
One of the most significant challenges of these programs is developing goals while figuring campus growth into the equation. Christiansen says “one of the biggest challenges for the University of Iowa is anticipating its growth in building space over the next 10 years. That is certainly an energy conservation challenge. As we grow, we need to make sure we offset that growth and that demand for new energy in other areas of our organization. And, at the same time, provide energy that ’s rel iable, safe, renewable and environmentally friendly.”
Another common issue associated with emissions reduction is having the manpower to execute such plans. Thompson states, “Our biggest challenge is internal resources, particularly on existing buildings. It takes quite a bit of manpower when you’re going after 7M SF in over 100 buildings.”
All parties agree that measuring the success of their initiatives is critical. For example, St. John’s installed meters on every utility system. Anand says, “We want to make sure that there are real measured results. As we make our upgrades, we measure the energy reduction and see where we came up short.”
Fordham has been benchmarking emissions along the way while Duke measures its success by conducting an annual carbon inventory assessment. Each of Duke’s strategies has a different target of reduction and a growth estimate figured in. “We projected that out to 2024 to show our targets and where we are on the curve,” Thompson says.
Mitigating the challenges of these programs and tracking their success demand a campus‐wide commitment. Therefore, it is essential for these institutions to inform staff, faculty, students, and the community as a whole of their initiatives. All universities highlighted within have sustainability web sites where they outline their goals, strategies, and results. Fordham also implemented an online Web‐based util ity tracking system for monitoring consumption, cost, carbon footprint, and budgets.
St. John’s Anand emphasized the importance for institutions to have their entire campus communities
actively engaged in establishing programs while simultaneously developing new practices that will help reduce their carbon footprint. One such program recently initiated on the University’s Queens Campus
focused simply on changing behavior. Students living in the Residence Village’s six separate dormitories used a web‐based application in a competition to see who could achieve the most significant energy reduction over a two‐week period. The program will continue to be available online so that resident students can continue to monitor and optimally reduce their use of electricity.
St. John’s also offers various c o u r s e s i n s u s t a i n a b i l i t y, encouraging students to have a
broader perspective. “Our mindset is that, once students have the basics, they become informed and responsible citizens moving forward”, says Anand.
While these colleagues represent a small sample of universities and colleges that are executing emissions reduction plans, their efforts and challenges are similar to those of higher education institutions across the country. Developing and implementing an effective, comprehensive program takes planning, constant efforts and consistently monitored results. When one goal is met, a new goal is created. “Going green” is an initiative that will have no end ‐ it will be a continual process as renewable resources and technologies progress.
“Our mindset is that, once students
have the basics, they become informed and responsible citizens moving forward.”‐ Brij Anand, St. John’s University
- Sami Barry performs Strategic Market Development for Helbling & Associates and has been with the firm since 1994.
She is a member of the International Facility Management Associationʼs Pittsburgh Chapter as well as the Green Building
Alliance of Pittsburgh.
To subscribe to Helbling’s quarterly newsletter, visit our home page at www.helblingsearch.com and click on the green button on the bottom right.
Plan Initiated:2007
Program:PlaNYC 2017
Goal:30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2017
Energy Strategy:Capital infusion of $25M for infrastructure upgrades“Greening campus buildings through ventilation,
heating, lighting & “high performance” window glass
Measurement:Meters on all utility systems
Results Thus Far:25% reduction in consumption
Future Considerations:Cogeneration facility
Solar
Plan Initiated: 2005
Program: PlaNYC 2017
Goal: 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2017
Energy Strategy: Targeting projects with greatest emissions reductions
Updating controlsSwitching to natural gas
Measurement: Benchmarking emissions
Results Thus Far: 21% reduction in carbon emissions
Future Considerations: Cogeneration facility
Solar
St. John’s U
niversity
Ford
ham U
niversity
Plan Initiated:In progress
Developing plan that will address:Sustainability literacy among students and staff
Renewable energy developmentCarbon footprint reduction
Energy conservationWaste diversion
Metrics will be based upon ones developed by University of Michigan which include:
Energy consumptionWater and land use
Air emissionsProcurementCross cutting
Waste diversion
University of Io
wa
Plan Initiated:2009
Program: American College & University Presidents’ Climate
Commitment
Goal: Carbon Neutral by 2024
Energy Strategy:Reducing energy in existing buildings
Striving for LEED plus for all new buildingsFuel switching
Measurement: Annual Carbon Inventory Assessment
Results Thus Far: 75% reduction in coal usage
Future Considerations: Cogeneration facility
BiomassBiogasSolar
Thermal
Duke
University