University President Kristina M. Johnson discussed the need for carbon reduction and future plans for the combined heat and gas plant currently under construction on West Campus. She said the plant will save about 200,000 tons of carbon per year for the next 10-12 years and at that point the university may be able generate steam via electricity, but that option is not currently feasible. Credit: Sarah Szilagy | Campus Editor
University President Kristina M. Johnson discussed the need for carbon reduction and future plans for the combined heat and power plant currently under construction on West Campus at a Faculty Council meeting Thursday.
Johnson said the combined heat and power plant will save about 200,000 tons of carbon per year for the next 10-12 years. She said at that point, the facility will have paid for itself in energy efficiencies and the university may be able to switch to other energy sources, but that option isn’t currently feasible.
“The question is, where would we invest our research and development dollars so that 10 or 12 years from now, after we’ve saved 2 million tons of [carbon dioxide] and we’ve gotten the payback on this plant, that we could switch to electricity,” Johnson said.
The primary goal of the combined heat and power plant is to provide heat for campus, especially the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State. The existing McCracken power plant supplies steam now, but she said there is concern the plant could fail. If the plant failed, the hospital could only operate “in a few areas” with backup emergency facilities.
Johnson said the combined heat and power plant allows the heat produced through electricity generation to be captured and used throughout the university, reducing the carbon footprint that would result from generating them separately. This will allow the university to supply about half of its electricity needs, relying less on power from American Electric Power, which she said has about 30-40 percent coal content, helping the university go carbon neutral earlier than projected.
“We are in a race to decarbonize as fast as we can,” Johnson said. “People talk about 2050? That is so 10 years ago when I was Under Secretary of Energy. My view is we’ve got to pull that back. We’ve got to decarbonize by 2040.”
In the future, the university may consider a “blend and extend” approach that decreases natural gas use and phases in more renewable energy sources.
Johnson said she read Ohio State’s Climate Action Plan and expects the university will be able to meet the 65 percent energy-use reduction easily. She said she has requested additional calculations with regard to the combined heat and power plant and will discuss the facility with the Faculty Council after reviewing the data.
“I’m a very passionate, rabid environmentalist. So I’ll look forward to getting the answers then coming back and we can have further conversation,” Johnson said.
