[ad_1]
The Michigan Daily interviewed Shanna Weber, vice president of campus sustainability, on Monday morning. Weber spoke about the University of Michigan’s carbon neutrality goal and how the university plans to reach that goal. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Michigan Daily Report: You are the first person to take on the role of Vice President for Campus Sustainability at your university. What does this position do?
Shanna Weber: Climate action is a top priority for Santa Ono University President and the university. One of the core responsibilities of this position is to help centrally coordinate with other leaders to advance these goals.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: What is your background in this position?
SW: I’m an ecologist by training. During my doctoral program, I focused on climate science. work. Therefore, I am passionate about environmental activities. I was drawn to sustainability efforts many years ago through my students. When I was teaching, students asked me to do sustainability-based projects on campus. This started a chain of events to explore partnerships with institutions and other operational personnel to see how students could be involved in practical projects related to sustainability. That was 25 years ago. Since then, I was hired by him to launch Princeton’s sustainability program in 2006, where he spent 17 years building that program. That’s what led me to the University of Michigan. My family is from Michigan, so it’s a really exciting opportunity to work on a completely different scale and get back to my roots a little bit. I’m excited to be here.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: The university plans to hire a vice president for sustainability, a role similar to yours. How is this role different from your own role, and what kind of partnership do you hope will emerge between her two roles?
SW: The Vice-Chancellor for Sustainability is part of the leadership group that the university is building around sustainability, and their role really focuses on academic experience, research, teaching, and coordination. We actually support that part. While my position is operationally focused, the role is academically focused. But we will continue to work together very closely. The two roles intersect, especially with this campus living lab idea.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: The university plans to reduce Scope 2 (purchased electricity) emissions to net zero by 2025. So far, the university has announced only one major investment to achieve this goal: a wind farm in Isabella County. When should stakeholders expect further investment voices?
SW: The wind farm meets approximately 40% of the university’s electricity needs. We are very close to acquiring a partner to help us develop on-campus solar and additional off-campus solar with renewable energy credits from Michigan-based renewable energy sources. I am. We don’t know when yet, but we look forward to reporting on next steps soon.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: The university uses renewable energy credits to purchase off-site renewable energy that contributes to the power grid. How are these different from carbon credits and offsets?
SW: Renewable energy credits are currently tied to a specific source of electricity, either solar or wind, and it is a regulated market. Carbon credits, on the other hand, are a very diverse and unregulated market. At this time, we are not pursuing carbon credits or offsets of any kind to achieve our goals.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: The university recently announced it will install 25 MW of on-site solar power across three campuses. Why was this decision made? Where will the university install this massive solar array?
SW: That’s quite a bit, but there are two interesting points. Part of our commitment to sustainability in our educational institutions is to make sustainability visible and engage our communities in conversations about what is possible and what the world needs. We use ourselves to demonstrate what can be scaled and iterated. We especially want to give students a closer look at some of these solar arrays. The exact location is still being worked out, but it will primarily be on the parking deck and rooftop.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: Universities are transitioning heating and cooling to GeoExchange in many new construction projects. How will the university renovate existing buildings?
SW: Renovating existing buildings must be part of a long-term plan. While it is certainly possible to put new buildings on geoexchange, migrating existing buildings is a key piece of the puzzle to achieving carbon neutrality. Part of the planning process is interconnecting existing buildings and making the changes necessary for their transition. Certain locations are well suited to a district-wide approach, and although they may be perceived as standalone systems, they are all interconnected. We need every moment between now and 2040 to make that happen. It is potentially devastating, but the costs of not transitioning away from fossil fuels are much higher. This is a necessary part of demonstrating what is needed to move away from fossil fuels.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: The university currently operates a natural gas power plant on its central campus. What role does this power plant play in decarbonizing the campus?
SW: This is an important part of your migration strategy. At the moment, we are not ready to stop it. Converting to geoexchange and other strategies just takes time. So, in the meantime, we will have to really rely on central power plants as part of our migration strategy, and will likely also become a critical backup system in the future. From a resiliency and energy resiliency standpoint, it’s always good to have a backup system. Therefore, we need to consider this facility as an important piece of the transition puzzle.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: The university has deployed a revolving energy fund, an investment to lower energy needs across the university. How has the university been impacted by these investments?
SW: The Revolving Energy Fund is a strategy that answers the question, “How do I start with low-hanging fruit that will pay me back quickly?” The low hanging fruit is common sense and then you start building layers on top of it. Therefore, energy conservation in existing buildings is a very important strategy in all of this. Because if you can increase efficiency on campus, you need to make your on-campus or off-campus renewable systems smaller. This applies not only to electricity but also to heating and cooling. The more efficiency we can achieve in these areas, the smaller our systems need to be to be renewable, or sustainable.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: Your role will report directly to Jeffrey Chatas, Executive Vice President. What does a partnership between sustainability and keeping university finances in balance entail?
SW: It is clear that this is a common problem across higher education and industry. The question is: “What do we need to invest in today, in our case by 2040, to achieve the vision of carbon neutrality?” If you look at all of our peer institutions, the vast majority have carbon targets. This is a very important partnership to ensure that we think about “how do we invest in this future that we envision, and how do we invest today?”
Temporomandibular joint disorder: The City of Ann Arbor is also a key partner in building these solutions. How does the university work with the city?
SW: We are really excited to be working with the City of Ann Arbor. Of course, Flint and Dearborn are all part of this plan. Ann Arbor has the A2ZERO program and we have a great team working on sustainability in our community. We are in regular contact to discuss possible collaborations.
Temporomandibular joint disorder: In 2023, the University’s Scope 1 (on-campus) emissions increased, essentially offsetting the reduction in Scope 2 emissions that year. How does the university plan to ensure that sustainability goals are not simply transferred to other categories?
SW: We will not declare carbon neutral until our campus emissions and purchased electricity emissions are addressed. You can’t buy renewable energy credits to cover 100% of your carbon emissions and call it carbon neutral. The University is committed to reducing substantial direct emissions in every way possible. You can’t just migrate to another bucket to get there. This is something that all of our peer-to-peer institutions are facing, and there is a lot of scrutiny on the appropriateness of strategies. We need to examine our strategies. This is a great field to work in because it’s incredibly collaborative. People across the industry and across higher education are constantly talking about what we’ve learned and the mistakes we’ve encountered, allowing us all to learn from each other and do this in a very rigorous way.
Daily staff reporter Matthew Shanbom can be reached at: shanbom@umich.edu.
Related article
[ad_2]
Source link
