Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.34
Liaison Jennifer Andrews
Submission Date July 29, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of New Hampshire
OP-9: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.13 / 4.00 Matt O'Keefe
Campus Energy Manageer
Energy Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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Total energy consumption (all sources, transportation fuels excluded), performance year:
899,960 MMBtu

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Clean and renewable energy from the following sources::
Performance Year
Option 1: Clean and renewable electricity generated on-site during the performance year and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes 0 MMBtu
Option 2: Non-electric renewable energy generated on-site 255,086 MMBtu
Option 3: Clean and renewable electricity generated by off-site projects that the institution catalyzed and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes 0 MMBtu
Option 4: Purchased third-party certified RECs and similar renewable energy products (including renewable electricity purchased through a certified green power purchasing option) 0 MMBtu

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A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :
EcoLine is the primary fuel source for the on-campus COGEN plant for heating, cooling and electricity. UNH sells REC's off the EcoLine landfill gas pipeline into our cogeneration plan; we don't purchase them. Even though UNH now sells RECs, we retain the rights and split the renewable non-electric energy three ways: RECs, heat for campus buildings, and surplus electricity is sold back to the grid.

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A brief description of on-site renewable non-electric energy devices:
As mentioned above, EcoLine is the primary fuel source for the on-campus COGEN plant for heating, cooling and electricity. UNH sells REC's off our EcoLine landfill gas pipeline into our cogeneration plan - we don't purchase them. Even though UNH now sells RECs, we retain the rights and split the renewable non-electric energy three ways: RECs, heat for campus buildings, and surplus electricity is sold back to the grid. We use the funds generated to finance the EcoLine project and to reinvest in our revolving energy efficiency fund on campus. While we therefore cannot claim all of the greenhouse emissions reductions from our production and use renewable energy, we are not only lowering our energy use and associated emissions on campus, but we are selling renewable energy and therefore helping our state and region meet stated renewable energy and climate goals. http://sustainableunh.unh.edu/ecoline

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A brief description of off-site, institution-catalyzed, renewable electricity generating devices:
EcoLine is a 12.7 mile underground pipeline that delivers purified methane gas from Waste Management's nearby Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprise (TREE) landfill facility in Rochester. The landfill methane gas is collected from 300 wells in the landfill, purified, and then piped to the on-campus Co-Generation Plant (COGEN). The landfill gas replaces commercial natural gas as the primary fuel in UNH’s COGEN plant. Construction on the EcoLine project began in 2007, and in April 2009 the pipeline came online to begin delivering up to 85% of the campus' energy needs. UNH is the first university in the country to use landfill gas as its primary fuel source. EcoLine cost an estimated $49 million - all internally-funded - with an anticipated payback within 10 years of the project. Both the COGEN plant and the landfill gas projects were financed by the campus through borrowing.

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A brief description of the RECs and/or similar renewable energy products:
As mentioned above, EcoLine is the primary fuel source for the on-campus COGEN plant for heating, cooling and electricity. UNH sells REC's off our EcoLine landfill gas pipeline into our cogeneration plan - we don't purchase them. Even though UNH now sells RECs, we retain the rights and split the renewable non-electric energy three ways: RECs, heat for campus buildings, and surplus electricity is sold back to the grid. We use the funds generated to finance the EcoLine project and to reinvest in our revolving energy efficiency fund on campus. While we therefore cannot claim all of the greenhouse emissions reductions from our production and use renewable energy, we are not only lowering our energy use and associated emissions on campus, but we are selling renewable energy and therefore helping our state and region meet stated renewable energy and climate goals. http://sustainableunh.unh.edu/ecoline

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The website URL where information about the institution's renewable energy sources is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
UNH sells REC's off our EcoLine landfill gas pipeline into our cogeneration plan. We use the funds to finance the EcoLine project and to reinvest in our revolving energy efficiency fund on campus. As a result, we cannot claim all of the greenhouse emissions reductions from our production and use on campus of renewable energy as someone else is "buying" this right. In the end, though, UNH is reducing emissions, helping others to do so, and our state and region meet its renewable energy and climate change goals. http://sustainableunh.unh.edu/ecoline

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