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Aggregating Higher Education Demand for Renewables: A Primer
February 14, 2018 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EST
FreeAASHE is excited to announce the release Aggregating Higher Education Demand for Renewables: A Primer, a new publication designed to help groups of colleges and universities use their collective buying power to dramatically scale-up the demand for renewable energy.
Cohorts of colleges and universities are aggregating energy loads to achieve economies of scale when sourcing renewable energy. Both onsite and offsite options can be conducive to a consortium-style approach in which two or more entities aggregate their loads and combine efforts to capture economies of scale. Higher education is particularly well-suited to aggregation strategies, as evidenced by a growing number of cohorts emerging over the U.S. Learn how to structure an aggregation effort for large-scale renewables and hear how a group of campuses in Buffalo, New York is aiming to source at least 100 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020.
For members: Access webinar recording and presentation materials
Presenters
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Julian Dautremont-Smith, Director of Programs, AASHE Julian is one of AASHE’s co-founders and served as Associate Director from 2004 until 2009, when he left AASHE to pursue graduate studies. He rejoined AASHE in 2015 as the Director of Programs. In his work with AASHE, Julian played leadership roles in creating the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) as well as the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Outside of AASHE, Julian served for two years as the Chief Sustainability Officer of Alfred State College and spent another year as Senior Program Manager with GreenerU. He has an MBA and an MS in Natural Resources and the Environment from the University of Michigan and a BA in Environmental Studies from Lewis & Clark College. |
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Chris O’Brien, Director – Higher Education Programs, Edison Energy (formerly known as Altenex) As Director of Sustainability at American University, Chris was responsible for all sustainability functions, including the university’s commitment to climate-neutrality by the year 2020. He executed three power purchase agreements (PPAs), including a megawatt of onsite solar PV and solar thermal, and a 53 megawatt offsite solar PV project, which was the largest non-utility PPA in higher education at the time. Chris teaches about energy, climate, carbon markets and sustainable purchasing the AU Kogod School of Business’s Master of Science in Sustainability Management. At Edison Energy, Chris shares what he learned at AU with other colleges and universities across North America, helping the higher education sector catalyze the transformation of America’s electricity supply to clean and renewable sources. He is also a founding board director of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, and serves on the AASHE STARS Advisory Committee. |
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Ryan McPherson, Chief Sustainability Officer, University at Buffalo In September of 2011, Mr. McPherson was named the University at Buffalo’s first Chief Sustainability Officer. In his role as the CSO, Ryan connects people across the university with information, innovation, and tools to reduce UB’s footprint on the future and enhance quality of life by improving environmental stewardship, increasing economic efficiency and augmenting cultural values and awareness. He specifically works closely with university partners and employs an integrated campus-wide strategy that leverages the university’s operations, curriculum, external engagement and research to further UB’s sustainability efforts. Over the past five years these efforts have resulted in the university being recognized by the EPA’s Green Power Partnership as the top green power user, the US Green Building Council for the best community collaboration, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s winning proposal under the Reforming the Energy Vision Campus Challenge and the Association for the Advancement in Sustainability STARS gold status |