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Financial Sense and Climate Sensibility: Renewable Energy at Louisiana’s Universities

Financial Sense and Climate Sensibility: Renewable Energy at Louisiana’s Universities. Professor Brian A. Salvatore (LSUS, Dept. of Chemistry and Physics). ALFS Meeting, Alexendria , LA Dec. 14, 2013. Church, et al., Geophys . Res. Lett . (2011).

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Financial Sense and Climate Sensibility: Renewable Energy at Louisiana’s Universities

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  1. Financial Sense and Climate Sensibility: Renewable Energy at Louisiana’s Universities Professor Brian A. Salvatore (LSUS, Dept. of Chemistry and Physics) ALFS Meeting, Alexendria, LA Dec. 14, 2013

  2. Church, et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. (2011)

  3. The Earth is Indeed Warming Overall, but the Biggest Changes are Happening at the Poles

  4. Energy and our Climate Lindsey, R., NASA Earth Observatory Study, May 2010.

  5. Energy Consumption on our Campuses Electricity in Louisiana is cheap! (Commercial rates are $0.05-$0.07 per kWh, among the lowest in the nation). Coal, lignite natural gas, and two nuclear-powered generators are all used here. There is relatively little renewable energy in Louisiana. LSU-BR currently uses 225 million kWh of electricity per year. LSUS uses 12 million KWh per year. Our university campuses are very energy inefficient.

  6. Campus Energy Infrastructure LSUS December 2013

  7. Humidity and Temperature Look up into the ceilings of the top floor of any of our campus buildings, and you can see daylight coming in through cracks. 15 minutes after the air conditioning is turned off, temperature jumps by ca10 °F on 3rd floor of LSUS Science Bldg. (Typical daily temperature range in our Science Bldg. is 69°-95°F in the summer). Over 3,000 gallons of water per year were removed from the air in just one room. The fume hoods leak water when it rains.

  8. Lack of Climate Control in Our Buildings(Detrimental to Chemicals and Equipment)

  9. Campus Buildings (Temperature Stress and Structural Integrity)

  10. LA Nat. Guard Training Facility (Camp Minden)Silver LEED Certified Building

  11. LEED Certification Program (GBCI) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Four levels of Certification: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Sustainability (site-selection) Building Materials (e.g., recycled) Energy Efficiency Indoor Environmental Quality Renewable Energy (wind, solar) Design Innovations GBCI: Green Building Certification Institute

  12. PV Watts Viewer—A Free Service of the US DOENational Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

  13. Annual solar energy generated by city (KWh/year per kW rating of system) Tucson, AZ 1837 Phoenix, AZ 1786 El Paso, TX 1647 Los Angeles, CA 1622 Denver, CO 1599 Palo Alto, CA 1587 Honolulu, HI 1569 Miami, FL 1480 Shreveport, LA 1435 Lake Charles, LA 1423 New Orleans, LA 1416 Baton Rouge, LA 1390 Monroe, LA 1377 Minneapolis, MN 1354 Albany, NY 1290 Detroit, MI 1274 Cleveland, OH 1228 Seattle, WA 1100 Anchorage, AK 908

  14. Solar Cell Production Costs (Example from China)

  15. Achieving Further Cost Reductions Despite unprecedented cost reductions for solar hardware over recent years, ca. 50% of the total price paid to plug in residential or small commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems is related to non-hardware (i.e., interconnections, permitting, and inspection). Enabling dramatic reductions in non-hardware costs—or "soft cost"—of solar is now the greatest challenge to achieving cost-competitive solar by 2020. Federal (and most state) solar tax credits for residential and business customers expire at the end of 2016.

  16. SunShot Prize ($10 million) Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the SunShot Prize offers a total of $10 million in cash awards to the first three teams that repeatedly demonstrate an average of $1 per watt for the “plug-in price”. (i.e. for non-hardware related costs, such as permitting, interconnection, and inspection). Cash awards for the winners of SunShot Prize: First place – $7 million Second place – $2 million Third place – $1 million

  17. Highlights of Conversation with ASU’s Professor Harvey Bryan Arizona State University has installed 23.5 MW of it’s planned 25 MW solar energy system. Ameresco and NRG are the chief developers (ASU uses PPA with its electricity vendors). ASU is ready to install a “microgrid” on its campuses to facilitate expansion of its solar energy systems beyond 25 MW. The Campus Metabolism website shows the status of the ASU green energy system in real time.

  18. ASU Solar Initiative (http://cm.asu.edu)

  19. Solar Energy on Louisiana’s College Campuses LSU-BR will soon announce plans to install a 1-MW of PV solar energy system on the Baton Rouge Campus. This will produce about $90,000 of electricity per year. A 3 MW PV system on each campuses (< 8,000 students) would save $270,000 of electricity expenses per year, which could be reinvested back into academic programs. A 10 MW PV system on campuses (> 8,000 students) would save $900,000 of electricity expenses per year which could be reinvested back into academic programs.

  20. What would it Take to go completely “Green”? LSU-Baton Rouge 180 MW PV system LSU-Shreveport 9 MW PV system Is this achievable with today’s technology and pricing? Yes it is. (e.g., Palo Alto, CA is currently constructing an 85 MW PV system which will produce power for $0.07 per kWh) Achieving just 1/3 of total campus consumption by 2025 would be superb, and it is a realistic goal!

  21. Different Mechanisms for Accomplishment Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s)—vendors/developers bear all of the upfront material and installation costs, then sell the power back to the universities guaranteed rate over 20 years (after that the universities own the panels and reap the remaining benefits for the life of systems)---PV panel lifetimes currently >35 years. Statewide Renewable Energy/Efficiency Endowment (goal: raise a $1.5 billion endowment by 2025) raise this endowment through new taxes and fees on public utilities, oil and gas refineries, and/or LNG exports. Be ready for the day (likely within a decade) when these large-scale PV solar installations cost < $1 per W.

  22. Acknowledgements John Selmers (Architect, KSA Alliance Inc.) Don Bloxom(Director of Facility Services, LSU-S ) Professor Harvey Bryan (ASU Solar, Arizona State University) Elmer Tingler (LSU-S Powerplant) Peter Davidson (Director of Energy Services, LSU-BR)

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