45% REDUCTION OF GHG EMISSIONS BY 2030
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Target progress
FY 2022 Progress
Target actions for 2022
- Electrify UW Transportation Services
- Plan to repower the Seattle campus
- Implement campus solar plan
Electrify UW Transportation Services
The UW has set a goal of converting its fleet to all-electric (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) (with the exception of selected emergency vehicles) by 2030. Transportation Services has also worked to identify opportunities to utilize solar generation for much of the charging infrastructure, and has worked with the UW Solar group to determine the capacity for parking to house solar canopies which would largely power new EV charging infrastructure.
Over the past year UW Transportation has continued to transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles when replacing vehicles, and has continued to pursue opportunities for installing solar arrays on parking areas.
Plan to repower the Seattle campus
In November 2021, UW hired David Woodson as the new Executive Director of Campus Energy and Utilities for UW Facilities. In this role he will be overseeing the effort to decarbonize the university’s energy infrastructure. Woodson had the helm for a similar effort at the University of British Columbia before being hired at UW.
The UW has already started looking at the feasibility and cost of a variety of options to transition the university away from fossil fuels and move away from steam as the primary building heating method, including a number of studies over the past several years, and continued to evaluate options over the past year. The information from past studies and current efforts will be used to help inform the planning process.
In the past year, a faculty task force was established to help provide more perspectives on the decarbonization effort. In addition, Spring 2022 saw the beginning of a communications campaign to let the UW community know about the effort and why it is required. In conjunction with Earth Day in April 2022, an article about Woodson and the effort was published on the UW Facilities blog and publicized along with an event with Woodson and UW Sustainability discussing the effort.
Implement campus solar plan
UW Solar and UW Resource Conservation have developed a Solar Energy Plan for all three UW campuses, assessing all buildings on campus for feasibility of supporting solar energy. This Solar Energy Plan provides a framework for possible future solar installations at the UW.
Solar projects are likely a good fit for financing through the future Green Revolving Fund. As the Fund is implemented, the Solar Energy Plan allows the UW to identify projects which are the best fit for impact and feasibility.
