RESNR+Article



I have reviewed and posted the edited version of the RSENR article and added an image, hopefully the site labels are readable enough

Our ultimate goal is to make the Aiken building, a net-zero building. The Aiken building is the headquarters of the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources. A Net-Zero building has zero net energy consumption, meaning that it produces as much energy as it consumes. The energy usage of the building is made up of electricity, heating and water use. The objective is to offset the amount of energy used by the Aiken building with photovoltaic sun trackers. The sun trackers would be placed on the forest service property along Spear Street. There are already 17 solar trackers on the forest service property. We estimate that in order to produce enough energy to completely offset Aiken’s energy use, about 16 new solar trackers would need to be installed on the property.

Over the past few years we have been producing about half as much energy as we have been using. From 2012 to 2013 we used an average of 204,355 Kilowatt hours (kwh). An average of 103,928 kwh was being produced by the 17 solar trackers currently at the site. If one tracker is producing around 6,113 kwh, we will need 16 more solar trackers. We also had to take into account the amount of heating and cooling energy the building uses. Based upon an energy data model from 2009, the average use was 180,550 kBTU. This means that if our energy use for electricity was converted to kBTU, the total energy usage for aiken is 877,788 kBTU, which gives us a total of 42 new trackers to cover the The Aiken Center’s energy consumption.

The only way to achieve net zero energy status for the Aiken Center is to produce more energy. As the Aiken Center is located on a small plot of land and is connected to the UVM steam plant presently, most of this energy must be produced off-site. Along with Gary Hawley, we have determined that this may be most easily achieved through the addition of new solar trackers at the UVM Forest Service Complex, which is currently owned by RESNR. The new trackers could potentially be located along the Northern edge of the property, presently occupied by a research forest that is no longer in use. With the permission and encouragement of the researchers, Gary Hawley and Carl Waite, we plan to propose the removal of these trees for the installation of the new trackers. The wood from these trees could then be chipped and used for alternative energy. As we will likely need additional energy production to achieve net zero status, we are also exploring other locations and possibilities.

Before our proposed project can get underway, there are certain concerns that the University has regarding our proposal that must be met. The University is primarily concerned whether the installation of new solar trackers at the forest service building on Spear Street will be cost effective over the long run. The installation of more trackers may mean that the current power grid at the site needs to be upgraded in order to handle the increase in energy flow through the system. Also, since space is limited at the site, forested areas may need to be cut, which requires going through University grounds crews to get such measures approved. Other concerns regard any possible environmental impacts linked to altering the site for the trackers placement, as well as questions regarding who will maintain the site area. Lastly, concerns regarding funding from Green Mountain Power to install the trackers and further investigating their available buy back period must be taken into account before the project gets underway. We intend to plan for and address all of these concerns in our proposal to ensure that we may proceed with the alternative energy improvements that may make our net zero goal possible.

In order to get our project underway, several different factors must come together. Firstly, we must get approval from the university through the Provost to fund the installation of the additional solar trackers. If the project is approved by the provost and we will be allowed to install the solar trackers, we will contact the University grounds department to get approval to remove the outdated research forest on Spear Street. From there, We will collaborate with Burlington Electric and a tree removal service to chip up the trees in the research forest for use as a source of alternative energy. With the research forest gone, the newly cleared land will have to be surveyed to see how many solar trackers it can support. At this point we will have already calculated how many trackers we need to offset the Aiken Center’s energy usage. This information will be shared with the University provost and he will make the decision about how many trackers the university wants to lease from AllEarth Renewables. Upon the approval of the additional trackers, we will work with AllEarth Renewables to install the trackers in an attempt to achieve our net zero goals.