By Fall Quarter of 2019, seven to eight percent of DU’s energy consumption will rely on solar power. This initiative was accelerated by Divest DU, a student organization that started five years ago to spread awareness about DU’s investments with energy companies that produce fossil fuels. Divest DU has been working to lobby DU’s Board of Trustees to end this investment in fossil fuels. Although this specific goal was shot down by the board during the 2017-2018 school year, Divest DU aims to hold DU to its sustainability goals.
On Wednesday, Oct. 17, Divest DU hosted an event to talk about DU’s fossil free future. Present at the event included Chad King, DU’s Sustainability Director, James Rosner, the Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities, Lynn Baker, the Assistant Director Utilities Manager, Mat Elmore, the Managing Director of Pivot Energy and Sara Hall, the Marketing Associate for Pivot Energy. Though not all officials spoke, they were there to show their support for those with Divest DU, who are pushing for faster change in light of the recent UN Climate Change report.
To introduce Elmore and the overall goals and successes of Divest DU, King said, “I know that can be a sad day. But, we did get to invest, and that’s the word that’s happening now on campus. What you’re going to see today about what’s happening in our investment in renewables here on campus would not have happened had it not been for Divest getting out there. You are the customer, you have the biggest voice on our campus and you should be using that.”
Elmore spoke on the solar panel project that will start at DU this winter, giving an overview of how solar panel construction works and what it means for the campus. As part of DU’s 25 by ’25 goals, Pivot Energy’s partnership with DU will provide the campus with seven thousand solar panels on sixteen existing buildings and the two new buildings set to be completed by 2020. In his presentation, Elmore also detailed the design plans for each building, giving a mini lesson on why certain designs and roof styles work better than others. For example, they have to be careful about how many solar panels they place on flat, old roofs to avoid any complications with roof cave-ins when it snows, adding extra weight to the building.
The university currently has a 20-year agreement with Pivot Energy. DU will buy the clean energy from the company, which owns the solar panels despite their installment on campus. This saves DU the upfront cost of the panels. The average four kilowatt (kW) solar panel system costs 15 thousand dollars, and DU’s system will provide 2,250 kW of power, which is over 500 times larger than the average system.
They are also looking into installing two solar panel trees on campus. Most of the solar panels will lay flat on the rooftops, so people visiting campus may not know they are there. The solar trees, though they do not produce very much energy, will act as a visual representation and center for students and visitors to learn about solar energy’s impact on DU. Additionally, these trees can serve as a meeting place with benches and can support phone and laptop charging stations.
One of the most important aspects of this project is that DU will own the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) of the solar energy. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a REC is “a market-based instrument that represents the property rights to the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation.” When universities and personal homes invest in solar panels, companies such as Xcel Energy often offer a bonus to the purchaser if they give their RECs to the company. This takes away the ability for the people who use the panels to report their energy-saving data to the government. Additionally, it allows companies to meet their renewable energy percentage goals without enacting major change.
Elmore said, “I don’t know a single other institution that has done anything like this. This actually reduces the carbon emitted by the university and shows other universities this can be done, and there’s an urgency in that.”
Construction on solar panels is estimated to begin in January of 2019, with full completion in June and July 2019. As each building’s solar panel installation is finished, the building will go live with solar power, so the campus will start using renewable energy as soon as possible. A video that details the impact of fossil fuels in comparison to clean energy is available on Pivot Energy’s website.
