The Cogeneration Plant of UNH Durham

At UNH in Durham, they have changed their ways of producing electricity and heat so dramatically that across its five million square foot campus, it reduces greenhouse emissions by 21% (from 2005-2006). How is this possible? This energy comes from the plant at Durham, which is powered by methane gas from a landfill 12.7 miles away belonging to Waste Management in Rochester. In fact, up to 85% of the campus will receive energy from this landfill gas from the cogeneration (COGEN) plant and with the help of EcoLine, a power partnership to UNH. “EcoLine make UNH the first university in America to use landfill gas to power its energies,” says Mark Huddleston, the UNH President.

There are two costs that UNH now bears; the EcoLine cost of an estimated $49 million with an anticipated payback of 10 years and the COGEN (with the chilled water plant included) costs an estimated $28 million with an anticipated payback of 20 years. By then, UNH will have cut its greenhouse gas emissions even more; specifically, 50% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Even though these costs are high, UNH is doing the environment a favor as well as themselves because the price of energy will change over time too.

It’s expected that the price of energy will go up higher in years to come but having switched over to this sustainable energy, UNH Durham will benefit from this project more and more. That being said, this project therefore not only saves on emissions but it also benefits UNH economically as the price of energy goes up.  

Source:

http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/ecoline