Stanford University has unveiled a long-range energy plan for its
Northern California campus that is anticipated to save hundreds of
millions of dollars in energy costs over the next four decades.
The 173-page Stanford Energy and Climate Plan, put together
by the university's Department of Sustainability and Energy Management,
spells out steps the university intends to take to reduce its
environmental impact and conserve energy by moving away from its
dependence on fossil fuel.
"While continuous improvement in new building energy
efficiency and conservation in existing buildings remains a cornerstone
of our long-term energy and climate action strategy, a shift away from a
100 percent reliance on fossil fuel is now prudent due to changes in
energy costs and climate impacts from (greenhouse gas) emissions," the
plan says.
The plan calls for initial investment of $250 million, but
the resulting energy savings would result in more than $639 million in
savings after the capital investment is recouped. The $250 million in
front-end spending would go for converting the steam distribution system
on campus to a hot-water distribution system, and building a
regeneration plant to replace the fossil-fuel power cogeneration plant
that now serves the Stanford campus.
A regeneration plant would recover heat that now is lost in
the existing campus heating and cooling system. The overlap of heating
and cooling on campus "provides an opportunity for recovery and reuse of
heat energy that is normally discarded to the atmosphere at considerable
added energy and water expense," the plan states.
University officials have estimated that a regeneration
plant could capture about 70 percent of the heat now lost through
cooling towers. That recovered energy could provide half of Stanford's
heating demands. In addition to saving more than $639 million in energy
costs from 2010 to 2050, the steps called for in the energy plan would
enable the university to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to
20 percent below 1990 levels.
The new energy system also would enable Stanford to reduce
its water consumption by 18 percent because it would no longer need to
use cooling towers to discharge heat.
The university says that in the next year it will begin the
process of designing the regeneration plant and converting the campus
steam distribution system to a hot-water system. Carrying out the entire
plan will take five to 10 years.
"Changing the campus steam distribution system to hot water
will require more time to carefully manage widespread impacts to campus
operations," the plan states.
In choosing to build a regeneration plant, campus officials
have concluded that it "offers Stanford the greatest flexibility to
develop and deploy additional innovations in energy conservation,
efficiency, and alternative energy supply to achieve additional cost
savings, (greenhouse gas) reduction and water savings. Also, by
significantly decoupling the campus energy supply from fossil fuel,
greater operating budget stability is provided and economic, regulatory
and public relations risks are reduced."
Read
the entire Stanford Energy and Climate Plan or visit the
Sustainable Stanford website.
by Mike Kennedy
