Description

In November 2013, UC President Napolitano announced an ambitious initiative for a carbon neutral UC system by 2025 (http://www.ucop.edu/initiatives/carbon-neutrality-initiative.html) and each campus must do its part to evaluate strategies for carbon reduction. UC Davis is taking a leading role on several fronts, including the installation of the largest solar PV system on any US college campus (http://dateline.ucdavis.edu/dl_detail.lasso?id=15351). One of the most significant projects we can undertake is the conversion of our natural gas powered steam district heating system to a hot water district heating system which will open the door to a multitude of lower carbon and carbon free heating sources and allow us to cut our large natural gas carbon footprint down to almost nothing. However, this conversion project will require a thorough evaluation of the different scenarios in terms of carbon, economics and feasibility. A base model for the campus has been built in EnergyPro (http://www.emd.dk/energypro/) and a capstone project team can utilize this modeling software to evaluate these scenarios and offer recommendations to the campus as to the best path forward to a ZNE campus.