University of Connecticut
IN-3: Innovation 3

In the summer of 2012, the Director of Environmental Policy, Rich Miller, visited the University of Freiburg for two weeks in an effort to build an international sustainability alliance. Part of the trip's objectives were to develop a relationship with sustainable growth experts in Germany, bring Germany’s model of green investment and development to UConn, and integrate Germany’s plans for climate change mitigation and adaptation to augment UConn’s Climate Action Plan and Environmental Policy Advisory Committee (EPAC). During his stay, Mr. Miller was hosted by Dr. Juergen Steck, the “Umweltschutz” director overseeing both environmental compliance and sustainability (and one of the university project leaders charged with meeting the 550 kW goal of the Solar Uni initiative). Our Director was given tours and briefings of the renewable energy in campus operations. Many management practices were shared, including solar energy use programs and the use of groundwater for geothermal cooling of half of its buildings. The practice of using geothermal cooling from groundwater is both a non-consumptive and non-contact cooling use of the naturally cold water drawn from the aquifer underlying the university’s campus. Once it has cooled the buildings, Dr. Steck and his team monitor the temperatures and ensure that the water returns to the aquifer free of contaminants and no more than 5 degrees Celsius warmer than when it was pumped out. In addition to the use of solar and geothermal, Freiburg University also just recently switched from burning coal at its central utility plant to burning biomass, comprised of wood chips from a sustainably-harvested local forest. This exchange of information is crucial to the growth of UConn as we move forward with the implementation of the Renewable Energy Strategic Plan developed in the Spring of 2011. This exchange also allowed our Director to gain insight into potential action items for the Climate Action Plan of the University, more specifically the Climate Adaptation section recently added in the Spring of 2012. As a country that has been at the forefront of Climate Adaptation research over the past twenty years, Germany is a essential alliance for UConn.