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UC San Diego and UC Irvine Discuss Calit2 Collaboration on Energy, Sustainability and Climate Change

San Diego, CA, July 16, 2008 -- The University of California, San Diego has begun construction on a sustainable energy program that’s among the largest in the nation by a university. Yesterday's announcement by UC San Diego coincided with a meeting of officials and researchers from UCSD and UC Irvine to discuss possible areas of collaboration on energy and sustainability through the two campuses' largest joint research venture, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2).

UCSD is investing in extensive 'green' infrastructure, including a campus network of micro-climate weather stations that will allow facilities to moderate energy usage based on "decision making using real-time observations for environmental sustainability," or DEMROES. Above, students from the Jacobs School of Engineering deploy one of the first weather stations in the network.

UCSD's far-reaching program, which includes solar, biogas fuel cells and wind energy, began with the first installation of solar photovoltaic panels atop a campus utility plant. Soon, buildings and parking garages across the 1,200-acre campus next to the Pacific Ocean will feature solar panels. UC San Diego’s green energy capacity will eventually produce 29 million kilowatt hours a year, which is enough to provide electricity for more than 4,500 homes a year, and remove an equivalent of 10,500 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. That’s the equivalent of removing 1,500 cars a year from the roads, which means UC San Diego is doing more than its part to limit pollution.

The National Fuel Cell Research Center at UC Irvine is at the forefront of fuel-cell technologies, which could one day power everyting from laptops to electric utilities. The NFCRC already operates the first 700-bar hydrogen fueling station in California (pictured above), located next to the UC Irvine campus.

As Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Keeling Curve, the first measurement of greenhouse gas build-up which was conducted by Scripps scientist Charles David Keeling, the university will soon be generating 7.4 megawatts of green energy, providing 10-15 percent of its annual electrical usage. Producing green energy reduces the university’s use of greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuels that are warming the planet and polluting the air we breathe.  

Researchers and students at UC San Diego are working on a wide range of environmental sustainability projects, including developing biofuels from algae and wood debris. Planners design green dorms with automatic sun shading to save energy and drainage systems that stop all storm runoff from flowing into the nearby ocean. Students and fleet managers have begun a biofuel shuttle bus line, which decreases UC San Diego’s reliance on greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuels. The world’s top climate change researchers and post-docs discover the impact of Asian brown cloud pollution on global climate and of rising temperatures on the western U.S. water supply.

Workers from Borrego Solar, Inc., a national solar power contractor based in El Cajon, CA, install the first solar photovoltaic panels on the East Campus Utility Plant at UC San Diego. Solar panels are going up on buildings and parking garages across the 1,200-acre campus as part of one of the largest sustainable energy generation programs on a university campus.

In addition to the solar photovoltaic project, UC San Diego will produce another 2.4 megawatts of energy from fuel cells powered by renewable methane. The methane fuel will be transported to UC San Diego from the Point Loma sewage treatment plant, where it is produced. Construction begins this fall. Not only does this produce green energy that replaces carbon-based energy, but it also removes pollutants from local air, since the methane is currently flared into the atmosphere at the sewage plant.

UC San Diego also begins a unique program to swap fossil fuel-generated energy for wind power. The university will throttle back its natural gas-powered cogeneration plant at night and replace the power with electricity purchased from California wind farms. This project, the first of its kind in California, will generate up to 3 megawatts of green energy.

The solar photovoltaic and biogas fuel cell construction projects are cost-free for the university. UC San Diego has negotiated power purchase agreements, in which investors construct, install and maintain the photovoltaic panels and fuel cells on campus property, and the university then buys the power from investors through long-term contracts.

UC San Diego has teamed up with local, national and international companies on its sustainable energy project. Three partners are working with the university on the solar photovoltaic project. Borrego Solar, Inc., a national solar power contractor based in El Cajon, CA, is the installer; Envision Solar, Inc., of San Diego, designer of the solar “trees” that will be built on top of UC San Diego parking structures, also is involved. Solar Power Partners (SPP™), Inc., of Mill Valley, CA, is the financier and owner of the solar photovoltaic arrays. The biogas fuel cells are financed, constructed and owned by The Linde Group, an international industrial gases and engineering company.

Related Links
UC San Diego Sustainability
UC Irvine Sustainability
UCSD Environment and Sustainability Initiative
National Fuel Cell Research Center at UC Irvine
Decision Making Using Real-Time Observations for Environmental Sustainability (DEMROES)