Ohio University plans to produce its energy without depending on coal by 2016 if the Board of Trustees approves funding.
OU’s new heating plant will completely overtake the Lausche Heating Plant.
Facilities Management reviewed two proposals Sept. 6 from Energy Services Group and Frank Lill and Son, Inc., for the new plant. Both offered coal-free options, said Mike Gebeke, executive director of Facilities Management.
Gebeke said he hopes to choose between the two by Sept. 20. An OU representative will present the proposal and ask for funding at the next Board of Trustees meeting. Previous construction estimates proposed to trustees at their January 2012 meeting totaled $91 million.
The new plant will be “tri-generational,” providing cooling, heat and power. It will be in line with OU’s Sustainability Plan, which mandates that 20 percent of OU’s energy use will come from renewable resources by 2020.
“As a steadfast steward of our community and the greater environment, Ohio University is committed to alternative energy solutions that further our sustainable values,” said OU President Roderick McDavis in a statement. “This includes the eventual adaption of the Lausche Plant to alternative energy sources if and when they are developed, cost effective and can meet the energy demands of our campus community.”
Initially, the new plant will run on natural gas with the potential to operate using alternative fuel sources such as biogas, Gebeke said.
“We’re not locked into natural gas but that’s the only thing available to us right now,” he said.
Historically, coal has been the less expensive energy source, though natural gas has been the cheaper option as of late, Gebeke said.
Scott Miller, director of the Consortium for Energy, Economics and the Environment at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, said that while the future price of natural gas is unpredictable, it’s likely to continue to be in abundance and therefore cheaper in the economic market.
“Hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry is opening up vast amounts more natural gas on the market worldwide; it is really happening quite a bit in North America, the Northwest and increasingly in our backyard, Southeast Ohio,” Miller said.
Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding met with Facilities Management, the Office of Sustainability and the OU Sierra Student Coalition to receive feedback on the two proposals on Friday.
Caitlyn McDaniel, president of the Sierra Student Coalition, said she will campaign against the use of natural gas to power OU, as her organization is against the practice of fracking to obtain the natural gas.
“I’m going to fight this thing until it’s pretty much on the line, and even after that I’m not going to like it,” she said.
dk12311@ohiou.edu
@DanielleRose84
