Net Zero Cities: Collaboration, creativity key for campuses

LOVELAND — Campuses — whether they’re home to colleges, technology companies or city departments — are often microcosms for larger structural units like neighborhoods or cities. And if cities are going to achieve the renewable-energy future necessary to reverse the environmental catastrophes climate change will bring, leaders ought to look toward campuses for inspiration.

Municipal and higher-education representatives joined renewable-energy professionals Wednesday at BizWest’s Net Zero Cities to discuss ways of making campuses greener. The event was at the Ranch events complex in Loveland.

“We’re really kind of changing the way we think about buildings,” Fort Collins energy manager Stu Reeves said. That often means moving away from combustion and toward electrification.

It’s not good enough to simply focus on individual buildings. Building net-zero campuses requires consideration of how each building interacts with the others and the wider environment.

“Where I think things are going is toward more connectedness,” Energy Sense LLC owner Carl Lawrence said. 

“People spaces” such as bike paths are far greener connectivity vectors than roadways, he said.

In fact, reducing the need for automobiles is key to achieving a net-zero campus. Therefore, the adoption of automated transportation and delivery systems, particularly those that exist above the ground, will go a long way toward achieving climate goals, Lawrence said.

Another important source of renewable energy for campuses is solar power. However, solar power can’t be a campus’ sole strategy for achieving net-zero emissions, Namaste Solar LLC associate director of strategic accounts Ruby Nahan said.

Solar is “the cherry on top” of a holistic renewable-energy strategy, she said.

Regardless of specifically how a campus moves toward net zero, it’s critical to do so thoughtfully and with the collaboration of a variety of experts.

“We want to get all of the smart people in a room together and ask them to think a little harder,” said Josie Plaut, associate director of the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University.

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