PSC: Current Sustainability Practices Presentations

10:53 - Jeff Bemelen - Facilities Management at DU

Campus construction and change providing opportunities for rethinking energy and sustainability. Most changes were predicated on cost savings rather than sustainability.

Campus Energy Management

• Forced to eliminate Science Hall - heating plant and building
  • Consolidation of central power plant
  • DU funded the expansion of their central plant
• Building audits are still going on - how to conserve energy in equipment and lighting
• Direct Digital Control (DDC)
  • Allows monitoring of facilities

Renewable Energy

Nagel Hall (new residence hall) investigated for geothermal. Solar (expensive and small energy offset - 3-4%)

Energy Policy

• Adopted by Board B & G 2000
• Trying to get the word out...
• People have gotten spoiled (comfortable) with their environment (78 degress inside in the winter)
  • Built into the policy is a suggestion for us to let go of some of that comfort

Green Construction Policy

Fuel Conversion

Move away from electric to gas in kitches, dryers. Biodeisel for fleet vehicles. Move away from underground storage tanks and #2 fuel oil.

Recycling

Paper products, building material, petroleum products (used fleet oil).

Report Card

• Lighting
  • Annual kwh reduction - 3,800,000
  • Annual Savings - $265,000
  • Annual CO2 reduction - 2,850
• Mechanical retrofits
  • Annual kwh reduction - 1,266,630
  • Annual savings - $57,000
  • Annual CO2 reduction - 937
• DDC/Controls/BAS
  • Annual kwh reduction - 3,066,600
  • Annual savings $138,600
  • Annual CO2 reduction (T) - 2,269

Controls offer opportunity to look at all buildings energy use per square foot. Helps them identify problem areas. Annual consumption at DU is 47-48 Million kwh. Older buildings - changing out chillers, heaters, power units, etc.

Water Conservation - Irrigation system is 99% automated. Trying to get access to recycled water from Denver Water Board. 1895 trees on campus maintained with help from investment in a well.

Geothermal in the ground is not a good economic decision.

Wind - students assessed themselves a fee to purchase 15 Million KWH (1/3 of DU power usage).

Energy policy - get the word out, raise awareness. Saved $600,000 in the first two years of the program. Primarily behaviour modification (switching off lights, computers, etc. when not in use). In the Ritchie center, only have lights on where custodians are working, for example.

Net Effect of EMC's

1 Mil in dollar savings

kwh reduction - 16,100,000

CO2 reduction - 12,000

DU is currently below average among peer schools in energy conservation.

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11:20 - Mark Rodgers

DU started with only 36 acres (minus 9 spun off into Iliff).

Changes

• United campus for the first time in 140 years
• Light rail station and rebuilding of I25

LEED - forces you to deal with context. Denver, Colorado - lots of ultraviolet; heat gain from windows and views; locally produced brick (Colorado & Utah); pick materials with high thermal mass (handle dramatic temperature changes in Denver). The law building held it's temperature for a few days before they noticed ruptured steam line.

Land - stacking surface parking lots - more lawn in '08 than in 1991. Expanding the crossing at Evans. RTD Eco Pass; parking passes.

Buildings - build with materials that wear well - make buildings look their best after 60 years. 90% of law-school copper is recycled (and recyclable). Law school (Ricketson Building) is the first gold-certified LEED building in Colorado. LEED changes, and several of the points don't apply as well in high-altitude environments like Colorado.

Ricketson details

• Natural light
• Natural materials
• Red brick base
• Exposed concrete
• Natural finish on woods - no stains, etc.
• No-flush urinals

Sightlines study - DU had lowest aggregate energy use per square foot per year.

Plan to apply LEED certification to more buildings since law school was so successful.

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11:35 - DeAnna Pattersn & Charlie Coggeshall

Wind Energy Campaign - student-run initiative, resulted in a 2-year contract with Community Energy, Inc. $18 annual tuition increase covers 10% of campus energy needs.

Student Initiatives 06/07

• DUET
  • Recycling education
  • Added bins to Driscoll Student Center (previously no plastic recycling)
  • Energy Conservation Campaign (competition between dorms) - raised awareness
• Net Impact/Campus Wide (use your MBA to improve the world)
  • Triple bottom line (planet, people, and profits)
  • Greenhouse Gas Inventory (challenges with commuter data)
  • Recycling demonstration - is difficult for individuals (students and staff) to find places to recycle
    • Collected recyclable materials from trash and placed on campus
  • Campus guest speaker events
• Sustainable DU - bringing campus together to address sustainability
  • Started by Eric Kornacki
  • Linking students and administration
  • Convinced chancellor to sign on to the President's Climate Committment
• Current student projects
  • DUET - Reuse instead of recycle/dispose (plastic bags, water containers, etc.)
  • Net Impact Events - Ski panel on sustainability at ski resorts; sustainability at New Belgium brewery; networking; director of sustainability at Walmart talk
  • Chief sustainability officer - overhauled recycling program at Daniels by placing recycling containers (200) throughout; attempting to certify Daniels with LEED

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11:49 - Scott Morrissey - Greenprint Denver

Executive Order 123 - formal Greenprint Denver office gave permanency to the initiative as a city agency.

One goal is to position Denver as a national leader in sustainability. Part of this is learning from other cities who've been at it longer (Portland, San Francisco, etc.) Brundtland Commission (UN 1987) definition of sustainability - solutions that meet the needs of current Denver residents. Economic, social, environmental sustainability - the triple bottom line.

Sustain quality of life - parks and respecting water resources; public works department.

Action Agenda

• Energy & Emissions - Mayor signed a national mayoral committment; 1050 vehicle deisel fleet converted to biodeisel; purchasing hybrid vehicles
• Natural Resource Stewardship - Million tree initiative (over next 25 years in Denver)
• Materials and Waste Management - municipal recycling; reduce landfill waste; conservation & composting; use only what we need.
• Land Use & Transportation - blueprint Denver plan - push development into areas of change; Fastrax - new light-rail in next 10 years
• Community & Economic Development - green housing promotion (in public and assisted housing)

Year One Successes

• DADS landfill - turning methane gas into electricity (3.2 MW)
• 2MW solar plant at DIA
• 67,000 trees planted
• Convert bluegrass to natural vegetation to reduce costs, return to original ecosystems
• 63% increase in tonnage of recycled materials

Challenge - Constant emissions and 24% population increase means we need an 8% emissions reduction from 2005 to 2012. By 2012 we need to reduce consumption by the equivalent of 1 coal-fired power plant. By 2020: 2 coal-fired plants.

www.greenprintdenver.org

greenprint@denvergov.org

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12:03 - Morey Wolfson - Colorado Energy Office

Environmental design grad student in 1970 at UCD - received a call about organizing Earth Day. Helped organize third-largest earth day event in the US. 72/73 study of grad students on energy & environment - energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy emerged as the answer. Downtown Denver 1974 - helped organize world's largest solar energy conference at the time.

1981 - oil got really cheap and couldn't compete with renewable energy. Free-market principles came in with Reagan. Oil shell subsidy came with this and funding dried up for energy conservation research.

More recently - Colorado ballot initiative (amendment 37 - 115,000 signatures) - put Colorado on a "green diet" by requiring 10% of energy be renewable. The initiative passed, and Bill Ritter ran with the policy of energy independence and renewable energy. Instead of responding to attacks, Ritter stood in front of a wind farm in his first commercial, to show Coloradans the opportunities available to them. Ritter then created the governor's energy office.

96 GW - if wind farms deployed to all high-wind areas would create more energy than Colorado uses.

1300 GW - Fill San Luis valley and south/southwest of Pueblo with solar panels - more than the entire US uses.