Alamo Colleges – Jillian Corley – 2015

Goals

The Alamo Colleges, a network of five community colleges that supports nearly 65,000 students in San Antonio, Texas, enlisted Jillian Corley to help reduce their campus-wide energy use and accelerate progress towards carbon neutrality. As a signatory to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, The Alamo Colleges are devoted to becoming sustainability leaders in San Antonio, a rapidly growing city. To meet these goals, The Alamo Colleges requested a sustainability policy and procedure plan as well as a financial and opportunity analysis for upgrading lighting fixtures. Corley was also asked to work on a solar and storage project proposal.

Solutions

Corley conducted an energy analysis and found that across Alamo Colleges’ campuses the tennis courts, parking and pathway lights and vending machines were drawing a significant amount of energy. Furthermore, these fixtures were not always in use during their operating hours. Corley conducted a financial analysis for potential retrofits, then worked with the local utility and vendors initiating over 20 projects involving LED lighting, photocells and occupancy sensors.

Additionally, Corley analyzed the energy data generated by the 500 kilowatts of solar generation already installed across the campuses and explored opportunities for expansion with the inclusion of storage. Lastly, she consolidated these initiatives, as well as additional efforts, into a sustainability policy and procedure plan that will allow Alamo Colleges’ to effectively manage their sustainability goals.

Potential Impact

Corley identified several areas of opportunity to keep Alamo Colleges on track with its carbon neutrality goal while promoting its education development plan and saving $500,000 in net present value over the lifetime of her recommended projects.