Below is an email exchange between Morgan White, Rob Roman, and members from the iWG and Energy iCAP Working Groups:

Hello iCAP Working Group,

One of the iCAP 2020 objectives is to develop a Comprehensive Energy Planning Document that includes clean energy and energy efficiency solutions to identify the best path to meet our climate commitments.  To that end, I worked with a team of students last year who developed the attached ABE 469 report, describing options to consider. 

Our intention is to hire a consultant to calculate the costs and benefits of various pathways for our campus, and the attached “Comprehensive Energy Planning” document is a first draft of scenarios to be evaluated.  We will go through this document during our discussion today.

I’m also including a list of buildings that use steam inside the building, so that you can be aware of the reasons we don’t just turn off Abbott Power Plant, which co-generates steam and electricity for the campus facilities.  Many other buildings are heated with steam, through the district heating system, but they convert it to hot water or forced air once it gets inside the facility.

Thanks,

Morgan

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Energy iCAP Team,

I attached several documents related to scenario development for energy planning. Please see the trailing email from Morgan White for additional explanation. We are still in the early phases of this effort and welcome your input. The iWG will be discussing scenarios at our next meeting on November 7 @ 9AM.

Thanks,

Jennifer

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A couple of thoughts:

There probably should be a list of major capital projects that are targeted for completion in say the next 10 years.  We typically cut the energy usage in the range of say 50 -75% on major renovation projects examples of this are the Everitt lab remodel, Undergraduate Library,  MRL via the ESCO project, ..etc.   Examples of old buildings that need funding and/or are waiting for projects to be delivered are at Bevier Hall, Newmark  civil engineering, Turner Hall, Main library, ..etc.   There are probably others that I am not thinking of immediately.  We have to find ways to reduce the campus energy load in my opinion.  I agree that space evaluation needs attention.

Thanks,

Karl

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Morgan,

Who was included on these emails. The addresses are general lists, so I cannot see who is included. Apparently Karl is one of them. The topic would, on the surface, indicate that it would be appropriate to have UES involved.  But, maybe not. Can you share your thoughts on level of involvement?

Thanks,
Rob

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Hi Rob,

I forwarded the invitation to the Sustainability Subcouncil and Council meetings to you today.  You may recall attending the council meetings last November to talk about the Utilities Master Plan, the F&S Energy Management Plan, and the idea to do a Comprehensive Planning Document, as suggested in the iCAP 2020 and recommended by the Energy iCAP Team.  At that time, the Council agreed that F&S and iSEE should work together to develop a scope for a consultant to develop a comprehensive planning document for how we can meet the carbon-neutral energy goals.

In the spring, I asked a student group to gather more information about what to include in the scope, and last week UOCP posted an RFP to hire a consultant to update the Deferred Maintenance facility condition assessment (expected to take about a year from when the consultant is on-board).  There are several studies and analysis available and underway, but the specific scope of what we want to hire a consultant to do for this comprehensive energy planning document is not completely resolved. 

I believe UES should take a very active role in developing the scope for this plan, requesting funding through campus, and seeing it actualized.  The iCAP Teams are advisory and they are advocacy groups, but the authority is still held within the campus hierarchy.  As the Sustainability person in F&S, I am here to assist and facilitate meeting the iCAP objectives.  I propose we officially call this project a UES project, with you as the lead and with me as part of the team helping it happen.  What do you think?

Thanks,

Morgan

PS. The iCAP Energy Team includes the following people, and Meredith, Jen, and I get all the iCAP Team emails.  Would you like to get these emails, as well?

Primary Contact: Tyler Swanson

Project Leader: Aman Mehta

Team Members:

• Paul Foote
• Yun Kyu Yi
• Tim Mies
• Damon McFall
• Roman Makhenko
• Andy Stumpf
• Shannon Anderson
• Martha Kubakh
• Karl Helmink, non-voting
• Mike Larson, non-voting

Here are the related emails. 

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Hello Morgan,

Thanks for the detail below. I do agree that the creation of a long term comprehensive energy provision planning document needs heavy involvement from the utility production and distribution staff, along with those with in depth engineering knowledge of end use devices (i.e.; building HVAC, process flows, etc.). Therefore, it does seem appropriate to have UES be the lead in this work.

I am unclear if your thought is to include this comprehensive energy study with the deferred maintenance study, but I would strongly advocate for them to be separate efforts and documentation.

I do agree that UES should seek input from the campus community in the development of this plan, and keep the iCAP team as an ally in our efforts. Please include me in any emails and meetings involving this topic as we get started. I would ask that the leadership of the iCAP team be the first to present the topic to executive leadership of the campus in an effort to obtain initial funding. Of course, UES will partner with them do develop the proposal and presentation, but I believe their leadership is crucial to securing the necessary resources to move this initiative forward.

I am happy to discuss in more detail at your convenience.

Thanks,
Rob