Author: Chelsea Kellogg
Although Occidental College ranks an impressive 33rd among liberal arts colleges in the United States (U.S. World and News Report), another ranking lurks in its shadow. The College Sustainability Report Card, an evaluation of campus sustainability efforts organized by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, gave Occidental College a “C-” for sustainability in 2009, making it one of the worst among 18 comparable colleges. The Report bases its rankings on school policies and practices in the following nine categories: Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, Student Involvement, Transportation, Endowment Transparency, Investment Priorities and Shareholder Engagement. The recently released 2010 report cards have Oxy climbing to a “C” grade, thanks in large part to an improved sub-grade in Administration. Specifically, the Report credits the raised grade to the work of The Occidental College Sustainability Group, which has developed a solar array installation proposal.
If you’re an Oxy student, chances are you haven’t heard of the solar array installation proposal the College Sustainability Report Card is referring to. That is because, up until recently, Physics Professor Daniel Snowden-Ifft, UEP Professor Mark Vallianatos and the Sustainability Committee have been quietly working out the details of a proposal that would make Occidental the only private college in the United States with a 2.3 megawatt (MW) solar array – the largest in the nation.
Snowden-Ifft was on sabbatical in the 2009 spring semester and spent much of his time considering solar power at Oxy. “I sort of used Google to fly around campus . . . I’m up at my computer in the middle of the night trying to hold up a ruler to the screen to figure out dimensions,” he said of his research. His presentation to the faculty on Earth Day piqued interest on campus and from there, the idea of a solar array on campus began to look more feasible.
Snowden-Ifft then began to spend his time wading through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) Web site, reviewing the discounts the department provides for renewable energy and water conservation projects.
“I think my biggest contribution was discovering the rebates and figuring out how they worked,” said Snowden-Ifft. The size of the LADWP rebates for the use of renewable energy depends on how widely the Department’s designated solar subsidy money has been used. The more people who take advantage of the subsidy, the less LADWP will provide per project. In order to know how much of a rebate Oxy would receive for its proposed solar array, Snowden-Ifft had to work through some complicated math equations.
Although he has put in massive amounts of work on the solar panel proposal for no additional pay, Professor Snowden-Ifft says he’s happy to do it. “Every night I go home and my kids ask me, ‘Have you found any dark matter?’ and it’s possible I never will find the dark matter I’m looking at . . . I thought, ‘I have skills, why can’t I help the world?’ I feel like this [project] is the most rewarding thing I have ever done,” he said.
The potential location of the solar array on campus was an issue leading up to finalizing the proposal. “We looked at many different locations on campus but settled on Fiji. Initially rooftops looked promising, but there are structural issues with the gym and concerns about modifying Myron Hunt buildings,” said Director of Communications Jim Tranquada.
According to the Facebook group Students 4 Solar @ Oxy, the array will occupy 2.93 acres of the slopes below the summit of Fiji Hill.
Working through the details of installing a solar panel on campus has been an interdisciplinary feat. Professor Snowden-Ifft asked for help from Economics Department Chair Jim Whitney to calculate when a solar array would pay for itself, Physics Professor Hightower, who has taught classes on solar panel installation and maintenance, Facilities, Campus Safety and the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI). “The coolest thing about this project is that I tapped into so many resources . . . I think this highlights some of Oxy’s best features, which are its people,” said Snowden-Ifft.
Indeed, this project offers ample opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and research. “I have no doubt that Occidental professors will take full advantage of the array . . . I will be lecturing on solar cells in my Engineering Physics class and doing a lab on solar cells in Electricity and Magnetism,” said Snowden-Ifft. Professor Vallianatos also has one third of his Environmental Problem Solving class (UEP 246) promoting the array, and Professor Gretchen North of the Biology department is having her class plant trees to compensate for the ones which must be removed to accommodate the array.
Occidental is no neophyte to solar power. Up until a few years ago there was a solar array on the roof of Erdman that heated the dorm’s water. “People have been thinking about solar [here] for years,” said Snowden-Ifft. The solar array on Erdman had to be removed because of the massive amount of damage it had sustained from bullets. (Bullets, apparently, rain down on residence hall roofs every New Year’s Day, when it is customary in Los Angeles to fire weapons into the sky to usher in the New Year.)So how does solar power work? Simply put, sunlight is energy. When sunlight falls on anything, it heats it up. The same is true for solar panels. The sunlight hits the panels and heats up photovoltaic cells. These cells then create electricity. About 20 percent of the energy that initially interacts with the panel is converted into electricity for commercial use. At 19.3 percent, the panels that Oxy hopes to purchase have one of the most efficient conversion rates.
But that power can’t be used yet. The energy that comes directly from the solar panel is still a direct current, or DC, and it needs to be converted to alternating current, or AC. The system that the Sustainability Fund proposes would produce 2.3 MW of DC. When converted to AC, it would become 2 MW.
Solar installations have two options to distribute the power they produce. They can either tie into the wider power grid or be unconnected from it. For Occidental, it is necessary to be part of the Los Angeles DWP grid because the campus doesn’t produce enough power to completely support the college. During the night, when the sun is not shining, we will need to import additional power from elsewhere. This means that the power we supply from the solar array would be fed into the city lines and the city would supply the same amount back to Oxy.
As focus has turned to financing this project, proponents of the solar array have run into a plethora of obstacles. The Sustainability Committee projects that the solar array would provide 25 percent of the college’s current power use. The savings would equate to $360,000 per year.
Here’s where the picture gets a little messier: The project was originally supposed to cost a total of $13.1 million, but is now projected to cost $14.8 million. With the LADWP rebate of $7.8 million, the real upfront cost to the college is about $7 million.
But where should the initial funding come from? “We are hoping there will be donors who would like to be involved with the solar array,” said Tranquada. Given the current economic situation, it seems unlikely to some involved in the project that someone will come forward with a donation large enough to cover the whole cost. The other, more likely option is to finance the project from the college’s endowment. Snowden-Ifft and others on the Sustainability Committee have said this was not an unreasonable proposal, as the solar array could be seen as an investment for the college.
Based upon the initial project cost figures, both the projected generous savings and conservative savings in energy costs – over 20 to 30 years – would provide a greater return than the endowment left alone.However, the panels only have a warranty of up to 25 years, and that investm
ent prediction was made before the unexpected additional $1.7 million in project costs. With these additional expenses, using solely the endowment for the initial funding – even with generous energy savings – is no longer a profitable option.
Snowden-Ifft then proposed a hybrid approach: Using some endowment funds and an additional $2.5 million in donations, the solar savings would yield a greater return than the endowment left untouched in 25 to 35 years. Without sufficient donations, however, the project has no hope for completion.
In an effort to secure approval for the hybrid method of funding, Snowden-Ifft, Vice President of Annual Giving Mike Groner, Director of Communications Jim Tranquada and Co-Chair of the Sustainability Committee Michael Stevens made their presentation to two committees of the Board of Trustees on Monday. The first committee Snowden-Ifft presented to was Building and Grounds, which approves projects that modify the campus. The proposal was approved by Building and Grounds and then proceeded to the Budget and Finance committee. Budget and Finance took issue with the classification of the solar array as a “safe investment” that would yield a reliable return.
But citing a hike in costs from the expected 13.1 million to 14.8 million, the Board decided to send the proposal back to the Sustainability Committee for retooling. “Board members, several of whom have installed solar arrays on their own homes, were uniformly supportive of the idea. True to their fiduciary responsibility as trustees, they wanted to make sure that the project is financially feasible,” said Tranquada in an e-mail statement.
Since the solar panel rebate rate is subject to change, in order to secure the current rate (which would give Oxy $7.8 million), the school would need to pay a deposit of $40,000 to LADWP with an additional deposit to Martifer Solar. The Board did not take action to secure the rebate as they did not come to a decision about the solar panel proposal.
Additionally, the Board of Trustees worried that the solar array would be a blight on the hillside of Fiji. They suggested that the Sustainability Committee improve the aesthetics of the solar array. Professor Snowden-Ifft suggested that possible collaboration with the art department may be the solution. “To use a political phrase, it’s a little bit like putting lipstick on a pig,” said Snowden-Ifft.
The Board also suggested an alternative in which we reduce the size of the solar array to 1 MW from 2.3 MW. If the solar array was 1 MW, it would circumvent some additional charges that are hiking up the cost of the project. Ironically, the rebate from LADWP would actually be greater with a smaller array. With an array this size, it would only produce approximately 12.5 percent of the college’s power. Furthermore, Oxy would no longer have the largest array on a private college in the United States.
If the solar array is to proceed, cooperation with the neighbors may be an issue. Recently, tensions between Oxy and the community surrounding campus have escalated. For example, there have been some neighborhood protests about building on the space above the baseball field. Some involved with the project worry that the four to five houses that could be affected by the solar array will make it difficult to break ground on the project.
Any delays to the project could decrease the rebate rate and make the college’s upfront and total costs more expensive. “We don’t know when this [rebate] is going to blow up on us,” said Snowden-Ifft.
Some estimates have the project taking 18 months, but Tranquada thinks that is an exaggeration. “I would be very surprised if it took 18 months,” he said. “It is an interesting challenge to come up with a proposal that works for everyone.”
Regardless of whether or not the solar array project is ever realized, more sustainability initiatives are required to improve Occidental’s sustainability rating. Professor Vallianatos highlighted three main areas that the sustainability committee is working on to make Oxy a greener campus: transportation, landscaping and paper use. To these ends, Oxy could implement bike renting and car sharing programs; plant more drought-tolerant, and therefore less water-demanding, plants; use better irrigation systems and promote electronic readings. “A lot of it has to do with personal behaviors. And individual choices are the hardest to change,” said Tranquada.
Getting a groundbreaking project like this through the bureaucracy of a college is an extremely difficult task, but the benefits of an Oxy solar array look to outweigh the costs and effort required. As Students 4 Solar @ Oxy points out, “The array would generate approximately 25 percent of Occidental’s annual power usage, removing 2,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – the equivalent of taking 460 automobiles off the road.”
The educational benefits shouldn’t be ignored either. Partnerships with Franklin High School and the community at large may offset some of the ill will associated with more construction and allow a rare educational opportunity for the Eagle Rock community.
As Tranquada and Vallianatos noted, the real way to make Oxy green is to change the mentality and behavior of students. After all, the College Sustainability Report Card issued Oxy a “D” in the category of Student Involvement. Perhaps being able to interact with a green initiative will inspire students to look at our lifestyles with a new lens. Indeed, a physical testament to sustainability at Occidental would provide a welcome public relations boost. As Snowden-Ifft said, “Indeed we will be teaching the local community, the nation and the world about sustainability. That is a lesson worth teaching.”
Given the Board’s failure to come to a decision on Monday, the argument over the future of Oxy’s carbon footprint is likely to continue until January, the next time the Trustees will meet to discuss the issue. Snowden-Ifft hopes that, by then, the proposal will begin its journey to realization, that Oxy will be a beacon for other colleges and for young people hoping to make a difference.
“If we can do this array right, and by that I mean getting the technical, financial and aesthetic sides right, then we will teach our students, by example, what a sustainable future should look like,” he said.
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