Campus Crest – Danielle Barrs – 2014

Goals

Danielle Barrs was enlisted to help real estate investment trust Campus Crest Communities progress towards their energy use intensity reduction goal of 20 percent by 2020, as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge.

Solutions

Targeting half of Campus Crest’s 50 Grove-style properties, she devised a plan of action to reduce electricity consumption by 1.6 million kWh and energy use intensity by 35 percent using a combination of solar, lighting retrofits, HVAC improvements, low flow fixtures, occupancy sensors and operational management strategies.

Additionally, Danielle conducted a cash flow model and in-depth sensitivity analysis on existing and potential solar installations to illustrate the implications of six key variables – annual production, installation cost, discount rate, price of grid electricity and miscellaneous incentives (REC rates, tax credits) – on Net Present Value. With this, she developed measures to turn a negative NPV solar project into a positive NPV of over $260,000 by considering location-specific Direct Normal Irradiance and REC rates, array size, derate factor and re-roofing costs.

Potential Impact

To further Campus Crest’s ongoing commitment to the Better Building Challenge, the company will utilize the information and recommendations from Danielle’s work to inform solar installations, interior retrofits and operational strategies for pilot projects and portfolio-wide programs.