Solar and Wind
Energy Project
SEDI
Stanford currently spends an average of $17,000/month on electricity in Tressider Union. As one of the busiest locations on the Stanford Campus, Tressider Union is a symbol of our school and thereby should be representative of our commitment to sustainability. The goal of the Stanford Energy Dashboard Initiative, or SEDI, was to better understand where this electricity is being consumed and to raise awareness about energy consumption on campus. Ultimately we hope to advise the Office of Sustainability some possible energy-saving practices based on our study.
SEDI has successfully installed two energy monitors, which read the total building energy consumption as well as the energy consumption in the Union Square Kitchen. We are working with the Office of Sustainability and the management of Tressider Union to find a time to install the other three monitors (this requires shutting off the electricity to the entire building). The
three additional locations we will be monitoring are Jamba Juice, FedEx, and CoHo Coffee House. While our initial goal was to be able to monitor every vendor, due to the constraints of our budget we chose four locations to monitor that could represent the diverse types of establishments in Tressider. We project that installing the monitoring equipment will be
completed by the end of Summer 2012.
We have also partnered with Lucid to design and display a dashboard with the real-time data. By partnering with Lucid we are able to synchronize our data with the energy data for four other buildings on campus including Y2E2, Huang, Nano, and Storey House and have these comparisons displayed. The dashboard is up and running and one touch screen is mounted in Tressider Union by the Tshirt shop.
This summer (2012) we were able to install the last four energy monitors into Tresidder and get their output displayed on the Lucid dashboard. On the comparison tab of the dashboard, you can now see the energy usage for the Union Square Kitchen, Jamba Juice, Fedex, and CoHo as well as a fifth category for HVAC for CoHo, Jamba Juice, and the Bike Shop rolled into one.
Tape and Scissors
SWEP’s “Tape and Scissors” project, developed in partnership with the Silicon Valley Energy Lab, aims to teach a new generation of K-12 students about the fundamentals of global warming and renewable energy. The team is designing pre-fabricated lab kits for affordable and easy-to-use science experiments that meet California Science Standards. The kits are provided to teachers for free, who only need to use tape and scissors to carry out the lessons. With the EPA grant, SWEP is working to expand the program to more schools and to develop additional lab kits for new renewable energy topics.
In the 2011-2012 school year, Tape and Scissors met with teachers, tested renewable energy activities, and hired two summer interns to help with the project. In the summer months of 2012, T&S tested the lessons in classrooms and continued to work with the Silicon Valley Energy Lab and local teachers to develop the most effective renewable energy curriculum possible.
