Four University of Wisconsin System schools’ goal to produce as much renewable energy as they consume by 2012 was simplified to reducing overall carbon dioxide emissions after energy independence was deemed unfeasible by state officials.
The original plan, proposed in 2006 for the UW-Oshkosh, UW-Green Bay, UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point campuses, was to have each campus operating “off the grid” by 2012.
Carla Vigue, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Administration, said the idea of campuses generating their own electricity on the scale needed to operate a university was not possible at this time.
The revised goal, according to Vigue, is for the campuses to reduce carbon dioxide emissions collectively by 74,500 tons by 2012.
Vigue said campuses vary in how far along they are to meeting this goal. She said UW-River Falls is already 52 percent of the way to meeting their share of the goal, and the other universities are between 30 and 40 percent complete.
“I think we’re all moving toward energy independence. You can’t do it overnight,” Tom Sonnleitner, UW-Oshkosh vice chancellor of administrative services said.
Sonnleitner highlighted a number of projects the university has that would be energy efficient and use renewable resources, including a wood-gasification system, which uses gas produced from wood instead of coal. Sonnleitner predicts this system will be in place by 2012.
Also, a new academic building under construction on the UW-Oshkosh campus integrates solar and wind energy and has a green roof that provides a natural cooling effect on the building, Sonnleitner said. The building will be complete in 2011.
While not meeting the original “off-the-grid” goal, energy efficient initiatives pursued by UW-Green Bay resulted in a 26 percent decrease in the use of energy from 2005-08, said Christopher Sampson, UW-Green Bay spokesperson.
Sampson said the university has experimented with biodiesel on campus and a wind demonstration project is in the discussion stages.
“[Off-the-grid] was a very dramatic goal, but it turned out to spur on innovative thinking and reduced energy by more than a quarter,” Sampson said.
Bob Oehler, director of facilities services at UW-Stevens Point, said some initiatives taken at the university included energy-efficient lighting and steam traps.
However, he said to make the large-scale changes needed in the UW System, it would require renovation to the infrastructure.
He added at this time the state does not have the funds needed to make changes to all of the 13 schools in the system to truly be “off-the-grid”.
“The goals of Governor (Jim) Doyle and We Conserve are pretty compatible, but they are not identical. We can meet and surpass our goals,” said Faramarz Vakili, program director of WE Conserve at UW-Madison.
Vakili said renovations to Chamberlin Hall, Science Hall and the Chemistry Building to make the buildings more energy efficient will save $2.3 million in energy costs. He added construction will be complete in a few months.
