George Washington University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Representing over half of GW's electric consumption, the Capital Partners Solar Project is a PPA for solar energy produced by a solar farm in North Carolina, on the same grid (PJM) as GW.

An 18-panel photovoltaic array is operating on a trellis above a walkway, known as the Solar Walk, between Exploration Hall and Innovation Hall at GW's Virginia Science and Technology Campus.
On GW's Foggy Bottom Campus, a solar charging station was proposed and installed by students in the heart of the Foggy Bottom campus by students as a result of the Charged Up competition. It is not metered. The station will be part of a broader set of solar panels and displays that explain how GW uses solar energy produced on campus and how it developed the large-scale, off-site Capital Partners Solar Project.

The university installed its first solar thermal hot water system in March 2011 on a residence hall at 2031 F St. (formerly Building JJ). During the summer of 2011, GW installed two more solar hot water heating systems on residence halls at 1959 E St. and Ivory Tower (later renamed Shenkman Hall). A fourth solar hot water system was installed at the Dakota residence hall in the summer of 2015. The energy production figure shown above is the combined output for all four of these systems.

In previous reporting years, the university purchased RECs from local and/or nationwide wind energy farms as a component of LEED certification applications for several new construction projects. In previous years, some energy suppliers had also donated RECs to the university for Earth Day. Neither of these activities occurred during the current reporting year of FY22.

The "other" sources in GW's electricity supply mix through its retail electric suppliers include the following:

Captured Methane Gas
Inter-Utility Net Energy Purchases
Oil
Solid Waste - Municipal Solid Waste

Passive solar heat, which is not measured directly, is not included in the figures above.

With the main campus located in a dense urban area, on-site clean energy generation and carbon sequestration options are limited. However, GW is committed to leveraging its urban campuses in the District of Columbia and its Northern Virginia campus to pilot innovative green energy generation and sequestration options that can help reduce carbon emissions, both for the university directly and for its community.

New discoveries, equipment and systems for green energy and carbon sequestration are emerging at a rapid pace, but require testing and improvements. The university is using its campuses as testing grounds for new technologies and to integrate the performance of these options into learning and research opportunities for students and faculty as appropriate. As part of this innovation strategy GW targets a 1,000 MTCO2e reduction in its emissions by 2025 through use of on-campus clean energy sources. Additionally, the university aims to produce 10 percent of its energy needs through on-site low-carbon technologies by 2040.

Many contributors to the GW carbon footprint are out of the university’s direct control. As a single player in a complex system GW realizes it cannot reach carbon neutrality independently or in isolation of other entities affecting carbon emissions for the D.C. area. The university is forging partnerships with other institutions in the Washington, D.C. community to both achieve GW’s own targets and assist the region in reducing its carbon emissions as well. The university is working with partners to decrease the carbon intensity of its electricity fuel mix, as evidenced by the Capital Partners Solar Project, which began to come on line in January 2015.
http://gwtoday.gwu.edu/university-announces-capital-partners-solar-project

In 2018, GW joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership. The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that helps increase green power use among U.S. organizations to advance the American market for green power and development of those sources as a way to reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has nearly 1,700 Partners voluntarily using more than 45.5 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually. GW signed a 20-year solar power purchase agreement with Duke Energy Renewables and also generates green power on-site through several solar photovoltaic systems. As recognized by the EPA, George Washington University is helping advance the voluntary market for green power and development of those sources.