Renewable Energy
A large campus like UW Oshkosh uses a lot of energy as electricity, heating, cooling, and transportation fuels. Our goal is to become independent of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, none of which are found in Wisconsin.
Conservation is our first strategy because it reduces the amount of energy we would need to produce from renewable sources like wind, sun, or biomass.
Wind Power. The largest source of renewable energy is our purchase of renewable electricity from Wisconsin Public Service's NatureWise Program. In 2003, we started with a purchase of 3% of our electricity from green sources, mostly wind power. At the time, UW Oshkosh was the largest purchaser of green power in the state. Today, about 23% of our electricity is from renewable sources: 13% from Naturewise and 10% from a state purchase of wind power. We have been a member of the EPA's Green Power Partnership since 2003, winning awards as the largest purchaser in our athletic conference.
Solar Power: UW Oshkosh has also been installing solar energy technologies on the campus. In 2010, UW Oshkosh installed the first photovoltaic panels to generate electricity on campus. Learn how many watts per hour the panels are currently generating. That year we also installed thermal panels on 4 buildings for 4 different purposes:
- Albee Hall: to heat an indoor swimming pool
- Blackhawk Commons: for dishwashing
- Taylor Residence Hall: to heat showers
- Heating Plant: to pre-heat water for steam production
Biomass: In 2011, we are starting up the first commercial-scale dry anaerobic biodigester in the Americas. Owned by the UW Oshkosh Foundation and designed by BioFerm Energy Systems, the plant will use organic waste from dining halls, yards, supermarkets and farms to produce burnable gas that can be used to generate electricity and heat. The energy output will be about 8% of the campus energy use.
Renewable energy from biomass is also used as wood and paper pellets in our heating plant and with biofuels in our vehicles. We have been purchasing flex-fuel vehicles that can burn up to 85% ethanol, the fuel we stock on campus. We have also replaced 5-20% of the fuel for diesel vehicles with biodiesel.
For more information about how we address energy topics in the Campus Sustainability Plan, select one of the following:
