University of Connecticut
IC-2: Operational Characteristics

Purchased electricity from the local utility (ConEd) was comprised of 40% renewable energy during the performance year, including Landfill Gas/Refuse Methane. 1.8% of the ‘other’ category comes from the on-campus hydrogen fuel cell, which generates electricity through an electro-chemical reaction rather than through combustion of fossil fuel. Compared to a conventional gas-fired turbine generating the same amount of energy, UConn’s 400 kW fuel cell reduces CO2 emissions by 800 tons per year and eliminates other air pollutants like NOx, VOCs, SO2, particulates and air toxics. The fuel cell also avoids the need for cooling water, saving nearly 4 million gallons of water per year compared to a similar-sized combustion turbine. Under CT’s renewable portfolio standard law, a hydrogen fuel cell is classified as a class 1 renewable energy source. More information: http://ecohusky.uconn.edu/energy/fuel-cell.html (Note: while coal is part of the ISO grid fuel mix in CT at a very small percentage, and therefore shows up as .30% of UConn’s energy mix, based on our purchase of 8.65% of campus electricity from ConEd, it is doubtful that any electrons generated by a coal-burning power plant are making it to UConn’s campus. There has not been a coal-burning source of energy on UConn’s campus for several decades and the nearest coal plant in CT is very far away from our campus.)