Overall Rating Platinum - expired
Overall Score 88.31
Liaison James Gordon
Submission Date May 31, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Thompson Rivers University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 James Gordon
Environmental Programs and Research Coordinator
TRU Office of Environment and Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (all sources, excluding transportation fuels), performance year :
103,833.75 MMBtu

Option 1 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated on site during the performance year and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes:
40.83 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :
A 10 kW solar photovoltaic system for the TRU Student Union building has been operational since 2014, and is now producing TRU's first electricity! The system is tied-in with the grid. A 1.28 kW DC solar photovoltaic sidewalk system started operating in August 2017. The estimated annual electricity production is around 1312 kWh/year.

Option 2 

Non-electric renewable energy generated on-site, performance year:
1,383.69 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable non-electric energy devices:
Solar arrays have been installed on the Campus Activity Centre, Old Main, and Culinary Arts in order to heat water and reduce reliance upon non-renewable sources of energy. A geothermal heat pump system is used to provide heating/cooling at the House of Learning building.

Option 3 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated by off-site projects that the institution catalyzed and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes, performance year:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of off-site, institution-catalyzed, renewable electricity generating devices:
---

Option 4 

Total third-party certified RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products (including renewable electricity purchased through a utility-provided certified green power option) purchased during the performance year:
103,232.41 MMBtu

A brief description of the RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products, including contract timeframes:
TRU has purchased 5000GJ of Renewable Natural Gas each year from FortisBC since 2016. Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) is a locally produced, carbon neutral energy source. When bacteria breaks down organic waste from sources - primarily farms, landfills and wastewater treatment facilities - biogas is created. The gas is captured and purified, leaving only methane and is then injected into natural gas distribution pipelines and delivered to homes, businesses, transportation fleets, and industry. Because RNG is interchangeable with conventional natural gas, customers don't need to upgrade furnaces, water heaters and other equipment to use it. TRU has started purchasing Bullfrog power's green electricity and green natural gas. Their third party audit prepared by Deloitte confirms that Bullfrog power only sources EcoLogo certified green electricity certificates (equivalent to Green-e for low-impact renewable electricity products in Canada) and green natural gas certificates produced at facilities that meet the ICF standard.

Optional Fields

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.tru.ca/sustain/initiatives/reporting.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

 

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 ---
Geothermal ---
Hydro 98
Natural gas ---
Nuclear ---
Solar photovoltaic 2
Wind ---
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
---

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 88
Other (please specify and explain below) 12

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
10% of TRU's natural gas is purchased through Fortis BC's Renewable Natural Gas program, 2% is from the geo-exchange system in the Brown House of Learning.

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
100.79

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.