George Washington University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

An 18-panel photovoltaic array is operating on a trellis above a walkway, known as the Solar Walk, between Exploration Hall and Innovation Hall at GW's Virginia Science and Technology Campus. Below the Solar Walk is the world’s first walkable solar-paneled pathway which includes 27 slip-resistant, semitransparent panels comprising 100 square feet. In peak conditions the walkable panels, designed by Spain-based Onyx Solar, generate enough energy to power 450 LED pathway lights, while the panels on the trellis generate energy that feeds nearby Innovation Hall. The energy production figure shown in Option 1 above is for the solar panels on the trellis. The walkable solar panel production is not metered.

On GW's Foggy Bottom Campus, a solar charging station was proposed and installed by students in the heart of the Foggy Bottom campus by students as a result of the Charged Up competition. The GW Office of Sustainability invited student innovators to participate in a design competition for a campus solar charging station sponsored by the GW Division of Operations. GW’s “Charged Up” design competition for a solar charging station provided an avenue for student innovators to hone their design and engineering skills while meeting a practical need on campus. The station allows the GW community to engage with renewable energy, first-hand, as they use it to charge their personal devices on-the-go. The station will be part of a broader set of solar panels and displays that explain how GW uses solar energy produced on campus and how it developed the large-scale, off-site Capital Partners Solar Project.

The university installed its first solar thermal hot water system in March 2011 on a residence hall at 2031 F St. (formerly Building JJ). During the summer of 2011, GW installed two more solar hot water heating systems on residence halls at 1959 E St. and Ivory Tower (later renamed Shenkman Hall). A fourth solar hot water system was installed at the Dakota residence hall in the summer of 2015. The energy production figure shown in Option 2 above is the combined output for all four of these systems.

Starting in January 2015, the university began receiving electricity purchased directly on its behalf from the Capital Partners Solar Project. The energy produced from this project is reported in Option 3 above. RECs produced from the off-site solar energy farm are retained by GW.

Capital Partners Solar Project is a renewable energy project that generates solar power for the George Washington University, American University and the George Washington University Hospital. Created in 2014, it was the first significant aggregation of purchasers of large scale renewable energy. The project is comprised of 53.5 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) power— roughly the amount of electricity used by 8,900 homes every year. It shows that large organizations in an urban setting can partner to significantly reduce their carbon footprints by purchasing offsite solar energy.

In previous reporting years, the university purchased RECs from local and/or nationwide wind energy farms as a component of LEED certification applications for several new construction projects. In previous years, some energy suppliers had also donated RECs to the university for Earth Day. Neither of these activities occurred during the current reporting year of FY16. In previous years, these REC purchases and donations were shown in Option 4 above.

The "other" sources in GW's electricity supply mix through its retail electric suppliers include the following:

Captured Methane Gas
Inter-Utility Net Energy Purchases
Oil
Solid Waste - Municipal Solid Waste

In addition, the university has several signs that are lighted at night using solar energy collected and stored during the day, that are not counted in the figures in this section. A photovoltaic panel array above a walkway, known as the Solar Walk, is in use between two buildings at the Virginia Science and Technology Campus.

The "other" entry shown above is purchased steam. Passive solar heat, which is not measured directly, is not included in the figures above.

With the main campus located in a dense urban area, on-site clean energy generation and carbon sequestration options are limited. However, GW is committed to leveraging its urban campuses in the District of Columbia and its Northern Virginia campus to pilot innovative green energy generation and sequestration options that can help reduce carbon emissions, both for the university directly and for its community.

New discoveries, equipment and systems for green energy and carbon sequestration are emerging at a rapid pace, but require testing and improvements. The university is using its campuses as testing grounds for new technologies and to integrate the performance of these options into learning and research opportunities for students and faculty as appropriate. As part of this innovation strategy GW targets a 1,000 MTCO2e reduction in its emissions by 2025 through use of on-campus clean energy sources. Additionally, the university aims to produce 10 percent of its energy needs through on-site low-carbon technologies by 2040.

Many contributors to the GW carbon footprint are out of the university’s direct control. As a single player in a complex system GW realizes it cannot reach carbon neutrality independently or in isolation of other entities affecting carbon emissions for the D.C. area. The university is forging partnerships with other institutions in the Washington, D.C. community to both achieve GW’s own targets and assist the region in reducing its carbon emissions as well. The university is working with partners to decrease the carbon intensity of its electricity fuel mix, as evidenced by the Capital Partners Solar Project, which began to come on line in January 2015.
http://gwtoday.gwu.edu/university-announces-capital-partners-solar-project

In 2018, GW joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership. The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that helps increase green power use among U.S. organizations to advance the American market for green power and development of those sources as a way to reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has nearly 1,700 Partners voluntarily using more than 45.5 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually. GW signed a 20-year solar power purchase agreement with Duke Energy Renewables and also generates green power on-site through several solar photovoltaic systems. As recognized by the EPA, George Washington University is helping advance the voluntary market for green power and development of those sources.