The University of Washington has begun developing its new Energy Transformation Strategy. This multi-year strategy will transition how the Seattle campus heats and cools buildings - from burning natural gas to produce steam, toward a new clean energy system that will use electricity to heat and cool the campus.
Part of this process is engaging with people across the UW to provide information on this Energy Transformation and listen to concerns and ideas from the community. November 28 was the kickoff of a new Student Energy Taskforce, which will provide a way for students to directly connect with the process and learn about ways they can engage around energy. For the kickoff, Executive Director of Energy, Utilities and Operations Dave Woodson gave a presentation on the Energy Transformation Strategy, which outlined the plan with a timeline and the steps required for transitioning the Seattle campus energy system. The strategy identifies four major challenges the UW currently faces: greenhouse gas emissions from the steam plant, the need for a reduction in overall energy consumption even as the campus grows, the current electrical capacity constraint on the campus and the aging infrastructure that will need to be updated with new resilient infrastructure. Members of the UW Sustainability office and Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF) were also on hand for the meeting.
Woodson laid out the strategy, which includes five phases to get to our goal of 100% clean energy by 2050. The first phase includes expanding metering and using data analytics to greatly enhance our ability to identify and implement energy efficiency measures. The second phase will convert the heating system from steam to hot water, which will provide opportunities to take advantage of more efficient heating measures. Phase three will centralize the central campus cooling system, replacing inefficient chillers across campus. Phase four will electrify the campus heating system by using heat pumps which provide an opportunity to extract heat from a variety of sources. Some under consideration are cooling towers, sewer lines and Lake Washington. The final and fifth phase will evaluate emerging technologies such as green hydrogen and carbon capture to eliminate the remaining 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions. The UW has begun phase one, escalating investments in metering and energy efficiency, and laying the groundwork to bring on an engineering firm to refine the technical and financial elements of the energy strategy, along with engagement efforts with UW leaders and the entire campus community.
At the meeting were student representatives from a number of groups including Institutional Climate Action, UW Solar and Net Impact, who asked some well informed questions. Overall, students said the presentation was a very informative introduction to the Energy Transformation Strategy and decided to begin meeting regularly starting in winter quarter to determine strategies for student engagement and education along with advocating to the administration to show support for the project.
If you’d like to get involved with the UW Energy Transformation Student Task Force, the next meeting will be January 23rd at 4pm on Zoom. Register here to access the link.
Contact UW Sustainability's Marilyn Ostergren at ostergrn@uw.edu with any questions. Faculty members interested in being a part of the effort can also contact Marilyn for information about the Faculty Task Force for Energy Transformation.