Sustainability in higher education (Part 1): Start with a carbon neutral master plan

In 2021, 1,050 universities and colleges from 68 countries joined the United Nation’s Race to Zero commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. And the 2023 Race to Zero report showed that 97 percent of members had a net zero target in 2023. More than 40 percent have published transition plans. Over the past decade or so, voluntary sustainability reporting has begun to catch on with colleges and universities. But it still has a long way to go to become a widespread standard.

Living laboratories: Students can study decarbonizing colleges and universities while in school. Institutions are adding campus decarbonization to the curriculum. They encourage students to research the ways their campus could reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. MIT students did this recently in the course “Technology—Carbon Reduction Pathways for the MIT Campus.” Leading schools are competing for talented students and faculty. They want to tell a story about taking action to take on climate change for recruiting.

Institutions often run their own district energy systems and power plants on campus. However, from an emissions point of view some campuses are quite dirty. In 2022, Reuters produced a special report that looked at how colleges power their campuses. Many still use aging coal-burning technology or fuel oil. In Canada, 75 percent of the universities monitor their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to Universities Canada’s Action for Net Zero. But many struggle to track their supply chain emissions.

Budget and resiliency: Colleges want to stabilize their energy bills. They also want to increase the climate resiliency of their campuses. And they are more likely to invest in decarbonization programs that lower their operating expenses.

For these reasons, institutions need to show progress on decarbonizing colleges and universities.

But what do they need to do it?

Getting started with decarbonizing college and university campuses

Some higher education institutions have asked us to sort their existing buildings from worst to best energy performers. They want to start working on the most inefficient buildings. We recommend a different approach.

We strongly suggest creating a holistic carbon neutral master plan rather than taking a piecemeal approach. In 2023, we completed a carbon neutral master plan for The University of Windsor’s campus. The Ontario campus includes more than 50 buildings and a district energy system.

An institution that completed a master plan but hasn’t accounted for its net zero carbon targets can create a carbon neutral master plan. Right now, we’re working with an institution in this situation. It developed a master plan but had not accounted for its 2030 and 2050 emissions targets.

What is a carbon neutral campus master plan and what should it do?

The carbon neutral master plan is a broad plan for the campus and its buildings. It helps a university meet goals for decarbonization and resiliency while supporting its mission. A carbon neutral master plan for higher education should do the following.

• Create a roadmap to achieving the school’s sustainability goals.
• Give the school an understanding of where its energy use and carbon emissions are taking place. It should point out which systems or buildings are inefficient.
• Identify cost-effective approaches to GHG reduction. And it should show the decarbonization investment.
• Predict potential savings from reducing energy use.
• Reflect the priorities and options for investments in decarbonization.
• Be updated regularly and be flexible enough to adapt to the institution’s changing needs.
• Feature practical guidance for ways to implement the plan.

Decarbonizing colleges and universities is a holistic process

There’s a holistic, circular process for creating a carbon neutral master plan. So, universities and their facilities management can start anywhere in the process. They will need to stay flexible as conditions change.

Wherever they do start, the master plan will need to include the following five elements.

1. Identifying decarbonization goals: What are the institution’s goals for decarbonization? How ambitious are they? Are they targeting net zero carbon by 2050? What are its commitments? And what are the code requirements in its jurisdiction? We need to answer these questions. It’s important that we look at the local or regional mandates regarding GHG emissions.

Here’s an example. The University of Windsor has a commitment to the environment. And its mission includes the aim to be carbon neutral. To achieve this, it asked us to create a carbon neutral master plan.

2. Creating a campus master plan: Before we start to offer decarbonization strategies, we need to know the school’s goals. We start by looking at the university’s long-term master plan. If it doesn’t exist, we need to work with the university and develop it. This master plan should account for the university’s capital budget, building and system life cycles, and development plans. The plan should support the college’s overall mission.

3. Auditing, metering, and modeling campus energy use: We need to know where and how energy is being used on campus so we can establish a baseline to track progress. So, we’ll need to audit their existing buildings and systems to see the hot spots.

At the University of Windsor, we developed a picture of campus energy use through site visits and accessing existing data. When data isn’t available or isn’t reliable as it was on a recent project in Canada, we can turn to another source of data. We have used building archetype modeling based on publicly available data created through federally funded projects. We can use that to audit the campus. By associating each building with an archetype data set, we can produce a useful energy audit.

Colleges need tools and methods to help them monitor and report emissions. They need to track their progress toward decarbonization. And this is where they can use artificial intelligence and data from the internet of things. That information can help them to improve their energy management and reduce emissions.

4. Identifying strategies: The carbon neutral master plan needs to outline the strategies that the institution will use to meet its goals. In our work, we look at four categories of strategies for decarbonizing colleges and universities.

Conservation: To reduce campus emissions, we can lower energy use in daily operations. How? Start by installing LED lighting and upgrading old HVAC systems to more efficient, low-emission models. To help create a consistent approach, we should develop a retrofit guideline.

Energy transition: The university can use combined heat and power (CHP) systems and renewable microgrids on campus. This would enhance energy independence in the district energy systems. It can add carbon capture technologies to its energy centers. Universities often produce their own energy on campus. They can deploy modern low-carbon technologies and energy exchange to all campus buildings. This gives each campus flexibility in how it grows.

Renewables: Can we provide a low-carbon energy source to satisfy the campus energy appetite? Can we use onsite systems? Options include geoexchange systems and solar photovoltaics.

Prominent institutions—including Princeton University in New Jersey—have turned to geoexchange systems to replace their fossil fuel systems. Simply put, these systems use the Earth as a “bank” for depositing and withdrawing heat throughout the year. Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, is building the largest ground-source, closed-loop, district geothermal energy system in the US. At the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, geothermal is also growing. The school is installing 7,000 tons of geothermal closed-loop systems on campus. These systems can meet approximately 50 percent of Notre Dame’s current peak demand during the cooling season.

What if a school isn’t ready to install on-campus renewables? It can look to off-site renewables to bridge the gap in its energy supply.

Carbon offsets: Another option is buying carbon offsets. It can help mitigate the college’s emissions.

5. Presenting options: When we’re working on campus decarbonization, we need to find the right balance. The master plan should harmonize the emissions goals, local requirements, and developmental mission. Then we present a variety of options for meeting targets. These options offer multiple pathways for reaching targets. And they also offer various spending levels and timelines that range from aggressive to longer term.

The first path is conservation. Here, we focus on the reduction of energy use. This often includes both using renewable energy sources and improving the campus buildings. We prioritize reducing energy demand. This usually includes retrofits to lighting, the building envelope, and HVAC systems.

We monitor building energy use. With less energy demand, we convert the district energy system to low carbon. At the University of Windsor, the carbon neutral master plan focuses on conservation and some energy transition. These help in the near term to meet 2030 targets. Later, it phases in complete energy transition measures to hit 2050 targets.

The second path is energy transition. Here, we phase in a switch to low-carbon energy sources across a campus. Buildings are retrofitted to work with the new energy systems as we go. We optimize existing systems and plan for low-carbon energy transition as major equipment reaches its end of life.

We are working with several institutions in British Columbia on carbon neutral master plans. Each is pursuing an energy transition path. Thompson Rivers University (TRU) recently broke ground for a new low-carbon district energy system. This system will help TRU become one of the first universities in North America to reach zero carbon.

And finally, there is a hybrid approach. The carbon neutral master plan combines elements of conservation and energy transition on a path to net zero carbon.

No two campuses are quite the same. Each will need a custom-tailored plan to decarbonize.