Magliaro: How would you describe the current state of energy in the United States?

Holmes: Well, speaking from the electric side, obviously there are concerns about what’s happening in California and will those concerns spread to other areas of the country. The concern in California revolved around not having sufficient electric supply during peak times. That’s been affected by deregulation of the market place and having to buy power-by-the-hour as opposed to purchasing long-term contracts, which was the traditional method when the utilities were regulated. What’s happening in New York State is that we are partially deregulated because the utilities are in fact still selling some power through the regulated venue. The latest news is that our local utility is planning to raise energy rates by 8-12 percent, while decreasing transmission rates by 2-4 percent. There will be considerable debate on this for sure.

Magliaro: How will this affect RPI?

Holmes: Well, there is a clear uncertainty for all customers, including large customers like RPI, on how we will purchase energy as we go forward. There is the possibility that this upcoming summer we could see a similar situation to California’s in terms of extremely high pricing. I feel pretty sure that there will be sufficient power, at least in upstate New York. The situation might be different down in Manhattan, however, where there has clearly been large increases in (energy) consumption in the last several years to the point where the (New York) Power Authority has purchased a number of gas turbine generators to be installed under emergency measures for this upcoming summer.

Magliaro: What steps has RPI taken to address energy concerns?

Holmes: On the electric side we’ve gone ahead and secured a long-term contract that has been very stable for us in terms of projecting our total cost across the academic campus. We’ve done a lot of work in energy conservation through our energy awareness program and made significant investments in capital projects to reduce energy use in all of our lighting and HVAC systems.

Magliaro: RPI has recently undertaken the design and construction of two new buildings. What energy-related matters are you most concerned about?

Holmes: As we look forward and start designing the new buildings, we realize they are going to have a significant energy impact on our campus. The Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies building may, in fact, be similar to the CII. When we brought the CII online, it became the building that used 25 percent of the entire electric consumption for the academic campus. The biotech building could in fact do just the same thing. The performing arts center is not as large but obviously will have an impact, given that it will be a high-technology facility with lots of lighting, audio-visual systems, and a significant amount of HVAC to handle all the folks that would come to our events. We will be considering a variety of technology-driven energy systems to reduce energy costs, including ice storage for our chiller systems.

Magliaro: What energy-generating sources does RPI purchase its energy from?

Holmes: Most of the electricity that we are purchasing from upstate New York is coming from either hydro power, nuclear, or fossil-fuel plants that utilize natural gas or fuel oil, with a small but increasing percentage of electricity coming from wind, solar, and biomass power. In terms of purchasing natural gas for our steam plant that we use to heat the campus, the price has doubled in the last year. Many people have undoubtedly noticed this on their personal heating bills. The interesting thing is that the growth rate for natural gas is only about five percent over what was out there last year, so it is hard to imagine that just a five percent increase in usage caused a 100 percent increase in the unit cost. The companies that are the major players in the natural gas futures market have profits up 300 percent, which tells you that what’s going on in the marketplace is not entirely driven by supply issues, but in fact these companies have bid up the price of natural gas in anticipation of this being a cold winter and there not being sufficient supplies. There has been no curtailment of natural gas this winter for RPI, which would indicate a supply shortage, yet the price is still sky high.

Magliaro: Do you foresee RPI generating its own power from renewable energy sources, such as solar power, wind turbines, or fuel cells, in the next decade?

Holmes: There is the possibility that RPI will be generating some of its own power in the future from perhaps a cogeneration (combined heat and power) facility if the economics turn out to be appropriate, which is not renewable but nonetheless a very efficient system. Fuel cells, I think, are going to play a more important part within the next 10 years. There are not a lot of facilities that have engaged in this, a risky first step with very large capital right now.

Magliaro: Given the amount of highly technical research conducted at RPI, can one person really make a difference when it comes to energy conservation?

Holmes: Well, there have been a lot of examples about how, if everyone participates, you can make a difference. For instance, if everyone just made sure they had power management software enabled on their computers, and turned them off when they left at the end of the day, that would save 300 watts per machine, per hour, per person. If you multiply that by 7,000 people, then all of a sudden that’s a savings of over $400,000 per year. But it’s not only the cost—every watt of energy saved also prevents fossil fuels from entering the atmosphere. For instance, the example above would translate into about 2,000 tons of avoided carbon dioxide emissions over a year, and that’s something everybody benefits from.

Editor’s Note: Jeremy Magliaro is the RPI Conservation coordinator—part of the Greening of Rensselaer Initiative and also a graduate student in Ecological Economics, Values, and Policy. If you notice an area of the campus where we can conserve energy or water, please e-mail energy@rpi.edu or call 276-8234.