http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-964478.mp3
Albany, NY – In today's Academic Minute, Dr. Denise McKahn of Smith College outlines the challenges colleges and universities face when attempting to achieve carbon neutrality.
Denise McKahn is an assistant professor of engineering at Smith College where her research interests include fuel cell technology and other forms of renewably derived fuel. While obtaining her Ph.D., she studied the modeling and control of fuel cell power systems at the Fuel Cell Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Denise McKahn - Creating a Carbon Neutral Campus
In 2006, the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment was drafted. This commitment requires tangible progress toward achieving climate neutrality as soon as possible. By July 2010, 673 colleges and universities had committed to this mammoth effort.
At Smith, with our fabulous New England weather, approximately half of our carbon footprint stems from our heating needs. To be carbon neutral, Smith needed not just to quantify how much energy it consumes, but how much it can reasonably reduce. But we hit a triple whammy. First, as for many schools, there are few energy or gas meters installed on individual buildings. Rather we have one main meter for the entire campus, which does not provide accurate data for the variety of buildings we have. Second, our buildings have great architectural significance to our community and alterations are not easily made. Third, many of these buildings are old, uninsulated and poorly sealed.
Given that so many colleges, universities, and even cities are in a similar situation, we realized there was great need to simultaneously estimate current building heating needs and the feasibility of retrofits in a way that is applicable to all campuses. To that end, a fantastic group of Smith engineering students have developed these methods and are now experimentally validating them.
While carbon emissions forecasting is typically the domain of planners and policymakers, our research can inform institutional decision-making relative to investments in renewable energy, facilities management, and the purchase of carbon offsets to further reduce our carbon footprint.