CAP FAQs
What were the key takeaways of the CAP steering committee from previous climate action goals and projects that missed the mark?
We realize we fell short of our goals in our failure to meet the 20% reduction by 2020.
Note that during the 2005 to 2020 timeframe, the campus grew by more than 3 million square feet (29%) and the number of days during which heating and cooling were required increased (2% increase in days needed to heat buildings and 19% increase in days needed to cool buildings). The fact that we kept energy consumption relatively level in spite of these factors is a good thing.
During that time, we made many strides in improving the efficiency of our buildings on campus, reducing emissions by 15.6% over 15 years based on the 2005 baseline. (Note: 2020 was impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns of campus operations, and after resuming on-site operation, the 2021 reduction from the 2005 baseline was 10.1%.)
Also of note is that the cogeneration plant (West District Energy Plant) that started operating in the early 1990s was in operation during 2005 and produced a substantial amount of heat and approximately 40% of the campus electrical consumption during our baseline year. This action kept campus emissions substantially lower than if we were buying all of our power from the grid. Because these emissions cuts were already accounted for in our baseline year, they did not count toward our 2005 to 2020 reductions percentage.
Are you working with local governments or the state to coordinate a synergistic climate action plan across the area?
We work closely with the city of Boulder and other local partners.
For the city to achieve their goals, we need to achieve ours. They recently wrote a letter of endorsement in support of our grant proposal to conduct a geothermal exploration on campus, as well as other grant opportunities we have pursued.
We meet with them regularly and we have even more opportunities to collaborate.
They gave the university a seat on an advisory panel on which they're working with Xcel. A lot of initiatives extend to citizens of Boulder to help with electric vehicle support.
We are working with various partners – city, BVSD, Via, others – to build a shared transit facility that would be a charging/repair/maintenance/training facility.
We are also working on collaborative grant-funding opportunities.
The CU Boulder Environmental Center has also done a lot of work within the community.
I see other universities – including in-state universities such as Colorado State – moving faster with their carbon neutrality efforts. Why can’t we??
Peer universities in the state doing some great things.
We’ve been in close touch in particular with CSU, which is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2040
While they’re a few years ahead of us, they are undertaking a similar strategy with regard to upgrading their district energy loop/infrastructure in a holistic way.
They will be converting about 4.5 million square feet from steam to hot water as part of this process.
Separately, they’re looking at how to convert another 4 to 5 million square feet of buildings that are separate from their district energy loop.
Third, they have three buildings on a geothermal/ground source heat pump system – an avenue we’ll be exploring as an option through a new study we’ll be conducting on campus.
They are also working through upgrading existing gas-fired boilers in their district energy plant to meet new state emissions regulations, similar to the upgrades we must undertake with WDEP.
We continue to collaborate with and learn from them and other peer institutions of similar size, age and scale as us.
An important role of the new Campus Sustainability Leadership Team is to look for opportunities and resources to accelerate our transition to carbon neutrality.
Why can’t we start electrifying all new construction, including the new residence halls north of Boulder Creek?
The CU Boulder plan for carbon neutrality includes North Boulder Creek in the strategy of providing heating through low-temperature hot water and cooling through chilled water. Chilled water in North Boulder Creek will be all-electric from day one of the two new residence halls that are planned to open in 2026 and 2027. Hot water will initially be provided through the existing connection between NBC and the campus steam system, and will transition to an electric source on the same timetable as the rest of Main Campus. Residence One and Two will also have all-electric food service facilities, the first of their kind at CU Boulder.
We have targeted no later than 2050 for zero energy emissions as part of a plan to bring all campus facilities up to renewable/clean energy, not just new construction. One of the keys to our plan for zero energy emissions is converting our steam system to low-temperature hot water. Each new building or major renovation will be designed to use low-temperature hot water, allowing the building to connect to the planned renewable/clean energy system as it comes online.
Equipping new construction projects with 100% renewable/clean energy prior to conversion of the campus steam loop would require stand-alone heating and cooling equipment to be constructed in each building; adding first cost and future maintenance costs to each project. Investing in a full-campus conversion is a better use of constrained resources and aligns with our long term plan for achieving carbon neutrality.
Why isn’t divestment part of the climate action plan?
In the course of addressing climate and sustainability on our campus, we recognize the concerns held by students, faculty and staff regarding this issue and encourage continued conversation around bringing greater transparency to this issue. Although as a Scope 3 category the campus has no direct control over it, we can support efforts to bring solutions forward.
How can faculty and staff make an impact to achieve our CAP goals?
Engage with the Sustainability Leadership Team and existing sustainability council.
Use the sustainability suggestion box on the main sustainability web page
Engage with your shared governance groups for students, faculty and staff, who are actively working on improving our campus sustainability and climate.
There are a number of ways we can all get involved in our own lives by changing habits, decarbonizing our commutes, etc. The Environmental Center’s Sustainable Buffs webpage includes a number of ways in which we each can reduce our impacts on climate in our daily lives.
How will CU Boulder fund these CAP goals?
That is one of the major objectives of the newly formed Sustainability Leadership Team: to determine how we prioritize resources to ensure we achieve our climate goals and accelerate their progress. It’s why we’ve brought together leaders and decision makers from across the university.
It is no small task. The full cost of implementing the CAP is currently estimated in the $800M to $1.4B range.
We will need to explore all avenues, including:
Federal grants and rebates
State capital construction/renewal funding
Our own existing resources
Leveraging our ability to issue debt
A strong partnership with our Advancement team
How much of campus is run on renewable energy? What are plans to grow that?
We currently have approximately 2.4 MW of solar generating capacity on campus. This supports our daytime peak power demand of 20MW and our average daytime power demand that ranges from 12-15 MW.
We are exploring adding more solar power to our energy portfolio.
We are working to finalize contracts with a third party to subscribe to two offsite solar projects through Xcel Energy’s Virtual Net Metering Program. This initiative will provide us with an additional 5 MW of solar energy for the campus.
Pending Board of Regents approval this year, we have plans to construct a 1.1 MW solar array on East Campus.
We are looking at future capital projects to add solar to structures like parking garages that could provide the campus with another 1-2MW of renewable energy.
How do you determine which Scope 3 categories are within the University’s influence and control?
We do so through the nature of the category itself. While we have some control over working with supply chain goods providers, for example, we have no “downstream leased assets” as indicated in another. Please access the full CAP for complete information on all Scope 3 categories and the approach being recommended.
When is the base year for the emissions reductions outlined in the CAP?
The emissions reduction targets identified in the 2024 CAP are based on a 2019 baseline, as recommended by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Why can’t the campus achieve carbon neutrality faster?
The Climate Action Plan update will lay out a clear path to carbon neutrality by no later than 2050, with a 50% reduction by 2030.
The plan calls for at least a linear reduction from now until 2050 or sooner so that every year we will be decreasing our carbon emissions.
We want to do it as fast as possible.
The new Campus Sustainability Leadership Team creates the leadership structure and accountability necessary to meet this goal, as well as look for and prioritize opportunities to accelerate those efforts.
Why is CU Boulder investing in natural gas burning technologies if you’re claiming to pursue carbon neutrality?
Colorado recently changed emission standards for facilities like the WDEP to limit air pollutant emissions such as nitrogen oxides, which are from the combustion of fossil fuels in air and have significant health impacts. If we were to run the WDEP at capacity we would be in violation of these lower emissions standards.
In addition to the emissions reductions compared to the current technology at the WDEP, these upgrades allow the campus to plan, invest in, and execute a holistic strategy of converting the campus buildings, utility distribution systems and central plant equipment to lower temperature hot water that can be made with renewable energy sources (e.g. electricity made with solar and wind, geothermal, etc.).
Campus leadership shares our community’s values and desire for urgent climate action, and recognizes we have a lot of progress to make to achieve it. At the same time, we must ensure campus maintains the redundancy and resilience necessary to ensure our academic and research mission thrives without interruption in the event of electrical grid outages.
Before we can fully effect the thermal transition for campus forward from natural gas, we must first complete the difficult work of converting approximately 180 campus buildings, utility distribution systems and central plant equipment from steam to lower temperature hot water.
Most buildings on campus will need to be retrofitted in order to make use of alternative sources of heating and cooling. This transition will take time.
Retrofits needed include replacing steam piping internal to the buildings, heating coils, heat exchangers, HVAC controls and in some cases air handling units in our buildings.
In addition to building retrofits, this transition will require a major undertaking that includes replacing campus steam distribution lines with hot water supply and return lines, installing large heat recovery chillers or heat pumps in the East District Energy Plant, and building large hot water and chiller water storage tanks to support the main campus heating and cooling demands.
These upgrades are currently estimated to cost between $500 million and $700 million.
These are transitions that the campus must plan for and finance over an extended period, during which it must rely upon existing technologies to ensure the campus remains operational.
This work will take a significant amount of time and financial investment to complete, so it is important that we are simultaneously working on ways to gain efficiencies in our aging campus heating and power systems.
WDEP creates adequate redundancy to ensure campus heating, cooling and electricity needs are met while the campus transition to greener energy sources takes place, which will include taking various campus systems and equipment offline while energy-efficiency upgrades occur.
In addition, replacing the existing 30-year-old combustion turbines will ensure that the WDEP is able to provide reliable heating and power to campus to ensure the continued health and life-safety of the campus community.