Abstract
In 2012 Michigan State University (MSU) created a plan (MSU Energy Transition Plan, 2012), which attempts to move the university toward 100 % renewable energy sources and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This plan has to overcome special challenges due to the fact that MSU’s 50,000 student campus self-generates almost 100 % of its electricity and building heat, and that approximately three quarters of its annual energy consumption need to flow into heating the buildings. This paper lays out the roadmap for the Energy Transition Plan and describes the first steps taken towards its goals with the implementation of aggressive energy conservation and recycling programs, changing the fuel source for the university’s power plant from coal to natural gas, the construction of a biogas-producing anaerobic digester for cafeteria waste and animal excrements, and the installation of a large (11 MW) solar array. Special attention is given to the integration of the research and teaching missions of the university with the day-to-day operation of the physical plant to ensure reliability of the power supply as well as optimization of the cost structure of the university’s energy portfolio.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bach, M., de Cuveland, J., Ebermann, H., Eschweiler, D., Gerhard, J., Kalcher, S., et al. (2013). A comprehensive approach for a power efficient general purpose supercomputer. In Proceedings of 21st euromicro international conference on parallel, distributed and network-based processing (PDP), IEEE, pp. 336–342.
Bauer, W. (2013). Net energy ratio and greenhouse gas analysis of a biogas power plant. Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, 7, 1656–1661.
Bauer, W. (2015). Biogas beats bioethanol. Asia Pacific Biotech News, 19(8) (Biofuels), 16–17.
Beal, W. J. (1915). History of the Michigan Agricultural College; and biographical sketches of trustees and professors. State Printers, Lansing, Michigan: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co.
Caiazzo, F., Ashok, A., Waitz, I. A., Yim, S. H. L., & Barrett, S. R. H. (2013). Air pollution and early deaths in the United States. Part I: Quantifying the impact of major sectors in 2005. Atmospheric Environment, 79, 198–208.
DOE-EIA. (2015). How much carbon dioxide is produced when different fuels are burned? https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=73&t=11 (Last Accessed January 20, 2016).
Energy Innovation Award. (2015). http://bespartangreen.msu.edu/news.php?id=2015-12-14-msu-recognizes-students-for-solar-innovation (Last Accessed January 20, 2016).
Forsyth, K. (2016). A brief history of east lansing, Michigan. City neighborhoods and the Campus Parks, 1850–1925. http://kevinforsyth.net/ELMI/power.htm (Last Accessed January 20, 2016).
Koenigsknecht, T. (2011). Exhibit—Exploring the evolution of energy: A history of Michigan State University Energy Use. http://onthebanks.msu.edu/Exhibit/1-6-A/history-of-campus-energy-use/ (Last Accessed January 20, 2016).
Lei, Q., Peng, F. Z., & Yang, S. (2011). Multi-loop control method for high-performance micro-grid inverter through load voltage and current decoupling with only output voltage feedback. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 26(3), 953–960.
Lunt, R. R. (2012). Theoretical limits for visibly transparent photovoltaics. Applied Physics Letters, 101, 043902.
MSU-Digester. (2014). Michigan State University South Campus Anaerobic Digester. https://www.americanbiogascouncil.org/projectProfiles/eastLansingMI.pdf (Last Accessed January 20, 2016).
MSU Energy Transition Plan. (2012). http://energytransition.msu.edu/uploads/energy_transition_plan_final.pdf
NRC. (2010). Advancing the science of climate change. National research council. Washington, DC, USA: The National Academies Press.
Qian, W., Peng, F. Z., & Cha, H. (2011). Trans-Z-source inverters. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 26(12), 3453–3463.
Stanford, L. O., & Dewhurst, C. K. (2002). M.S.U. Campus—Buildings, places, spaces: Architecture and the Campus Park of Michigan State University. East Lansing, Michigan: MSU Press.
Suddard-Bangsund, J., Traverse, C. J., Young, M., Patrick, T. J., Zhao, Y., & Lunt, R. R. (2016). Organic salts as a route to energy level control in low bandgap, high open-circuit voltage organic and transparent solar cells that approach the excitonic voltage limit. Advanced Energy Materials, 6, 1501659.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bauer, W., Bollman, D., Ellerhorst, R., Latta, W.J., Verhanovitz, N. (2017). Integration of Research, Teaching, and Practice in the Implementation of the Michigan State University Energy Transition Plan. In: Leal Filho, W., Skanavis, C., do Paço, A., Rogers, J., Kuznetsova, O., Castro, P. (eds) Handbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47889-0_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47889-0_28
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47888-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47889-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)