As energy prices maintain their high levels, UC Davis is in it for the long haul to find an affordable way to keep the lights on.
The campus is anticipating a second year of running a $9 million to $10 million deficit on energy costs. Provost Virginia Hinshaw has requested that units trim their budgets by 1.7 percent this year in part because of increased power costs.
To combat the high prices, the campus is urging continuing conservation strategies on the part of all campus departments. And an Energy Advisory Committee has developed some aggressive long-term plans designed to ultimately limit the growing campus's dependence on outside power providers, including expanding UC Davis' ability to generate its own power.
Less-expensive energy supplies that UC Davis has been receiving from the Western Area Power Authority expire at the end of 2004. So the campus is considering all alternatives.
"Nobody's crystal ball says prices will come down to what they were before the energy crisis. They are likely to stay elevated in part because of costs from the state-wide energy contracts," said Jill Blackwelder, associate vice chancellor for facilities.
"We're pursuing alternatives to these costs by seriously considering our own power generation and investing in innovative energy-saving projects," Blackwelder said. "But we need all members of the campus community to do what they can to help and that means conservation."
The campus energy deficit grew in 2000-2001 when the average price of electricity from various suppliers more than doubled from 2.9 cents to 6 cents per kilowatt hour and stayed there. Natural gas prices also rose, from 30 cents to 50 cents a therm. The annual power bill for UC Davis nearly doubled from $11 million to $20 million - resulting in a two-year deficit of about $20 million.
Campus power usage, however, has remained relatively stable despite a number of new buildings brought into the campus-run electrical grid system. UC Davis uses an average of 35 megawatts of power during the summer and about 25 megawatts during the winter months. Facilities managers credit campus- wide conservation efforts for the fact that energy use has not increased in a growth period.
"In the past year, people have done a good job of being cognizant of their power use," said Julie McNeal, director of facilities operations and maintenance. "Copiers are turned off, computers are turned off, and lights are turned off wherever possible."
Conservation campaign planned
The campus will embark on a conservation campaign later this year, and updates on ways to conserve will be posted to the energy-related Web site: www.unplugged.ucdavis.edu.
The campus also has joined a Power Saving Partners program with PG&E that provides financial incentives to UC Davis to retrofit campus lighting and reduce the number of lights in use. Begun seven years ago, the 10-year program will reduce the campus electric bill by $1.2 million per year, and at the same time, the campus will get $4 million in incentives. Over the entire decade, UC Davis program will be worth $12 million to the campus.
The campus also recently received a $1 million grant from the California Public Utilities Commission to buy a new chiller for the campus thermal-energy storage plant. This allows the campus, which cools most of its buildings with a chilled-water loop through the core area, to use off peak electricity at night to chill water and hold it to release during day. The new chiller is starting up now, and will be fully operational during the peak of the summer, according to Joseph Stagner, assistant director of utilities operations and maintenance.
There is also a possibility of keeping energy bills down by setting a standard high and low temperature for buildings throughout the campus. The Energy Advisory Committee recommended that the campus adopt set points, but this program hasn't been acceptable to many members of the campus community.
"We get lots of 'too hot' and 'too cold' calls when we try to use set points," Stagner said. "It might take the campus more time to adjust to standard temperatures in all of our buildings."
Exterior lighting is also being examined, particularly for parking lots and intramural fields that are not fully utilized at night. Some of these areas may be transferred to solar power or put onto systems that can be controlled manually when the areas are not in use.
"The outdoor lighting issue is one we still must discuss with campus police and the community, because of the safety issues," Stagner said.
Conservation measures, however, won't solve the entire campus energy problem. UC Davis each day consumes the power of a city of 20,000 to 30,000 people.
Maintaining green growth
Longer term, permanent strategies include incorporating even more "green" design into campus buildings before they are erected. The office of Architects and Engineers is working to incorporate a high level of energy efficiency available into construction plans for all new building projects now on the drawing board.
The new Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts also will open in October with a state-of-the-art heating and cooling system that gently wafts air from the ground up. The center is also double-walled and its main hall will be largely insulated from fluctuating outside temperatures.
And a new university neighborhood under consideration for west of Highway 113 would take advantage of the prevailing Delta breezes to cool the new housing. Campus planner Bob Segar said that the direction and orientation of new housing relative to the Davis weather patterns could significantly improve energy efficiency for heating and cooling the homes.
The campus also continues to assess every building's heating and cooling systems to determine the most efficient system, Stagner said. It could take two years to fully assess all of the campus systems and lay out costs for retrofitting. Then funds would need to be found to make the permanent modifications.
The campus is working to upgrade the way it meters power usage, which is not currently possible in many of the buildings constructed more than 20 years ago.
Co-generation in the works
The most effective and reliable way for the campus to assure it has adequate power supplies in the future is to build its own co-generation plant. A design for a $90 million facility that could produce 47 megawatts of electricity - enough to meet the campus's peak needs and then some - is being worked on by campus engineers. The project is expected to complete campus reviews this summer and could go to the UC regents for approval as soon as fall.
"Because our WAPA power generation changes drastically at the end of 2004, co-generation becomes very financially attractive, with the added benefit of increasing reliability," according to Jerry O'Hearn, associate director of Architects and Engineers.
The campus staff, working with a team of energy market professionals and attorneys, has been aggressively pursuing lower-cost options in this highly regulated electricity market. UC Davis is negotiating for power on its own, because regulatory constraints (UC Davis was the only UC member of WAPA) have made the campus unable to join a power contract recently negotiated for other UC campuses and the state university system.
"Campus energy is a very complex issue," McNeal said. "We are doing proactive projects, and every day we're looking for better options. We also are going to be looking for the help and cooperation of the campus community."