UNH Sustainability Fellowship: UNH Campus Energy & Utilities Decarbonization Roadmap
UNH Energy & Utilities
UNH Campus Energy & Utilities Decarbonization Roadmap
Durham, NH
In-person
About the Host Organization:
The University of New Hampshire serves a community of roughly 12,000 undergraduates and 2,600 graduate students, 6,500 of whom live on campus. The campus is a leader of sustainability: it has had an active Energy Task Force and was once of the first campuses in the country to measure its carbon footprint and commit to carbon neutrality in the country.
On the frontline of bringing that commitment to fruition is the UNH Energy & Utilities office. Our 12 staff members work to ensure reliable, cost effective and sustainable power to UNH’s education, research and student life activities: 6,000,000sq. ft. of Academic, Housing, Dining, and Office facilities. Two thirds of this space are served by the campus district energy network, which provides a range of utilities including hot water, steam, chilled water, dual temp distribution, and electricity.
UNH has been able to drive significant cost savings and carbon reductions through forward-thinking projects such as the Ecoline landfill gas project, advanced building automation, and the Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF). However more work is needed in order to achieve the campus climate commitment of net zero by (and preferably before!) 2050.
About the Fellowship:
The UNH Energy & Utilities Decarbonization Fellow will be the first to work on a comprehensive decarbonization plan for the Energy & Utilities department. The fellow will utilize existing energy & utilities master plan along with utility data to determine a current picture baseline of where the department stands today. This will include current carbon emissions—of which UNH has a solid understanding from over the past twenty years, but the Fellow will start by getting an understanding of this current state with briefing and collaboration from the UNH Sustainability Institute--as well as major equipment and building systems in need of replacement in the short-term (10-year horizon). Our current energy generation depends heavily on combustion of both landfill gas and natural gas. The landfill has a limited lifespan and therefore we cannot depend on this renewable source indefinitely.
Once a baseline understanding of current system capacities, lifespan and impact has been established, the fellow will focus on researching technologies that could allow for decarbonization of UNH’s district energy system. This phase will focus on researching industry and peer best practices to create guidelines for UNH Energy & Utilities to develop an RFP (request for proposals) to consulting firms who specialize in decarbonization planning.
The final deliverables will be a report compiling the information learned from these two phases (the baseline) and how we plan to get to net zero (the roadmap). The final report will include the fellow's recommendations that are based on their experience and information learned throughout the course of the summer. This report will be Energy & Utilities roadmap for moving forward with a formal planning process.
Outcomes:
The project will provide a roadmap for UNH Energy & Utilities to follow to create and implement a comprehensive decarbonization plan. This will be the first step in the department-specific approach to document and plan for decarbonization by 2050. Specific deliverables will include:
- A comprehensive report detailing research findings, analysis of different decarbonization options or pathways (results and methods), and recommendations for implementation timeline and next steps.
- A summary presentation to the Energy Task Force, Sustainability Task Force, and leadership from UNH Facilities Department.
- An elevator pitch on why UNH should move forward with a formal decarbonization plan and what we would expect to gain from this effort.
Impact:
Two parts:
- The fellow will gain in-depth knowledge of energy and utility infrastructure, campus planning, utility decarbonization, and building level decarbonization. Skills gained in this will include economic analysis from project development to implementation, interdisciplinary collaboration, data analysis, utility planning, and carbon analysis. UNH has extensive energy, spatial, and building information tracking systems which the fellow will have access to and learn how to navigate.
- UNH is a leading higher education institution in demonstrating sustainability. Energy & Utilities has contributed largely to this through the Ecoline Landfill Gas project and implantation of the Energy Efficiency Fund. These initiatives are shared widely through the ASHEE STARS certification and participation with the International District Energy Association. A successful decarbonization roadmap would serve as a tool to guide other institutions in their pursuit to become carbon neutral.
Desired Qualifications:
Preferred qualifications are that the fellow is a recent graduate or master level student who can demonstrate their ability to understand complex systems. Energy & utilities knowledge is not required, but a strong background in either engineering, economics, or sustainability will be necessary. The candidate should understand the core sustainability concept of being interdisciplinary and be able to explain why this is important to a systems-based project. The fellow should be prepared to demonstrate or discuss examples of quantitative and qualitative analysis, independent research, collaboration, and strong communication. Emphasis on economic analysis such as cost-benefit comparison, net present value, and carbon accounting within previous coursework is strongly preferred. The ideal candidate will be able to show their interest and motivation in learning more about sustainable energy.
Location:
UNH Energy & Utilities Department
6 Leavitt Lane
Durham, NH
Work will be performed onsite (preferred).
Mentors:
Matt L’Heureux, Campus Energy Manager
Adam Kohler, Executive Director, UNH Energy & Utilities