Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 48.20
Liaison Lauren Poole
Submission Date Dec. 10, 2021

STARS v2.2

Colorado School of Mines
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.01 / 4.00 Lauren Poole
Sustainability Coordinator
EHS
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (electric and non-electric)

Total energy consumption, performance year:
316,025.66 MMBtu

Clean and renewable energy sources

Clean and renewable electricity

Clean and renewable electricity (report kilowatt-hours):
kWh MMBtu
Imported electricity from certified/verified clean and renewable sources (i.e., bundled green power purchases) 0 Kilowatt-hours 0 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, clean and renewable sources (rights retained/retired) 126,033 Kilowatt-hours 430.02 MMBtu

A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable electricity:
Information about Xcel Energy's Certified Renewable Percentage program is provided in the section below.

A brief description of the on-site renewable electricity generating facilities/devices:
In 2020, two solar arrays were installed at Mines:
1) A 74 kW solar system on roof of new parking garage (Oct 2020-May 2021)
2) A 56 kW solar system on the roof of our new residence hall on Jackson Street (May 2020-May 2021)

Source: Solar Edge system production tracking software.

Clean and renewable thermal energy

Clean and renewable thermal energy (report MMBtu):
MMBtu
Clean and renewable stationary fuels used on-site to generate thermal energy 0 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water from certified/verified clean and renewable sources 0 MMBtu

A brief description of the clean and renewable stationary fuels:
---

A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable thermal energy:
---

Unbundled renewable energy products

Unbundled renewable energy products (report kWh):
kWh MMBtu
Purchased RECs, GOs, I-RECs or equivalent unbundled renewable energy products certified by a third party 0 Kilowatt-hours 0 MMBtu

A brief description of the unbundled renewable energy products:
---

Metrics used in scoring

Total clean and renewable energy generated or purchased:
430.02 MMBtu

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
0.14

Optional Fields

Website URL where information about the institution’s support for clean and renewable energy is available:

Sierra magazine requests the following information from U.S. institutions that wish to share data with that organization:

Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass ---
Coal 26
Geothermal ---
Hydro ---
Natural gas 37
Nuclear ---
Solar photovoltaic 5
Wind 31
Other (please specify and explain below) 1

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
Xcel Energy has a Certified Renewable Energy Percentage program for renewable energy mix from the electric grid. Certified Renewable Percentage allows Xcel customers to count the renewable energy portion of electricity delivered to them through the regular energy mix toward customer energy goals. It’s a benefit customers automatically receive and is not something they need to enroll in or subscribe to. Certified Renewable Percentage is the same for all Colorado customers. The Colorado percentage for 2020* is 31.9%. Xcel calculates this based on the total RECs retired (MWh) on behalf of customers, divided by total electricity used by customers from all sources (MWh). Energy generated from voluntary renewable programs - such as Windsource and Renewable*Connect - is deducted from these amounts. One megawatt-hour (MWh) equals 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). Xcel provides a spreadsheet that allows customers to calculate their mix based on usage.

For more details, see https://co.my.xcelenergy.com/s/energy-portfolio/power-generation/certified-renewable-percentage

See also https://co.my.xcelenergy.com/s/energy-portfolio/power-generation (Colorado mix)

Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass ---
Coal ---
Electricity ---
Fuel oil ---
Geothermal ---
Natural gas 100
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
In 2017, Mines renovated an old heating plant and started producing our own steam in April 2017 using 100% natural gas. We imported steam from Coors Brewery from Jan-April 2017 so there was some imported steam shown in baseline year but not the performance year. The data above is for the performance year.

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
We also host a Solar Challenge every year where we invite students to submit solar design projects for prizes. More details at: https://www.mines.edu/sustainability/minessolarchallenge/

he Energy Information Agency stated that Colorado’s electricity generation from renewable energy sources more than tripled between 2010 and 2020. In 2019, Colorado's governor proposed a plan for 100% of the state's electricity generation to come from renewable resources by 2040 See https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=CO

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.