Engineering Commons^™

Solar-Powered Microgrids In Northern California: An Opportunity For Resilience, Marina Riddle

Master's Projects and Capstones

Planned and unplanned power outages have been increasing in frequency and duration, negatively impacting all public sectors, and threatening public safety. These outages are deadly to those who rely on medical devices. As climate change-fueled extreme weather events (wildfires, earthquakes, storms, etc.) also increase in frequency, our electrical grid must be prepared to bounce back. Microgrids provide necessary redundancy and reliability. Through a novel GIS suitability analysis, based on solar radiation, land use type, local energy demand, distance to transmission lines, distance to roads, and slope, optimal locations for solar-powered microgrids throughout Northern California were determined. The counties of Fresno, …

Clean Energy At The Crossroads Of America: An Integrated Resource Plan For Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Llc (Nipsco), Saad Z. Khan, Shend Boshnjaku

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper outlines an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for the Indiana electric utility company, NIPSCO, looking forward to the year 2050 and evaluating different pathways to net zero emissions from the power generation sector. It is a plan for the future, identifying the most cost-effective and reliable mix of resources to meet the energy needs of NIPSCO's customers and reaching decarbonization goals by mid-century.

Reduction Of Embodied Carbon In Buildings Through Use Of Low Carbon Strategies And Standardization And Enforcement Of Life Cycle Assessment, Bhargavi Sai Sudhakar

Master's Projects and Capstones

The building and construction industry is energy intensive and as of 2021, this industry is responsible for 37% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. In previous studies of conventional buildings, the operational energy of a building contributed to 80% and the embodied energy contributed to 20% of the total life cycle energy. With increase in policies and standards that focus on reducing the operational energy, low energy and certified green buildings have emerged where the operational energy has considerably reduced. The relative and absolute share of embodied energy in these energy efficient buildings have increased due to excessive use …

Energy Efficiency Retrofit And Decarbonization Of Old And Historic Buildings In California, Daria Nikolaeva

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and the retrofitting of existing buildings is an essential part of solving the problem. About 75% of buildings in Californian were constructed before the first energy-efficiency building code was adopted in 1978. Old buildings are inefficient, responsible for large carbon footprints and must be retrofitted to stay on track with the state's climate targets. However, current policies do not require substantial changes and tend to favor historic preservation over energy efficiency, missing improvement opportunities. Recognizing the significance of carbon intensity, the 2019 California Energy Efficiency Action Plan shifted …

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …

A Circular Economy Approach To Improve E-Waste Recycling In California: Economic Potential And Policy Options, Kripa Shah

Master's Projects and Capstones

The higher consumption rates of electronic devices along with their short life cycles and few repair options poses a huge challenge for E-waste industries to manage them effectively. E-waste comprises of hazardous materials and toxic constituents that can affect the environment and public health through improper disposal. However, they also contain few valuable materials that, if recovered, can reduce the dependence on virgin raw materials. Circular economy has the potential to utilize these valuable materials and gain environment and socio-economic benefits. The research explains how the adoption of a circular economy approach can help improve the E-waste recycling in California …

2050 Integrated Resource Plan For Public Services Company Of Colorado, Rehana Aziz, Josh Litwin

Master's Projects and Capstones

Our IRP aims to determine the optimal resource mix that will meet the forecasted load in 2030, 2040, and 2050. This report models a Reference or “business-as-usual” case and four alternative scenarios that deploy renewable energy resources or carbon capture technologies at varying levels to meet load at the beginning of each of these three decades. We assumed zero-carbon emissions targets for all four alternative scenarios, which go above and beyond Colorado’s current RPS. We are also retiring coal before 2040 for all four alternative scenarios in alignment with Xcel’s current plan.

The forecasted load in the Reference scenario is …

An Integrated Resource Plan Public Service Company Of Colorado (Psco), Angela Paola Ortiz Cely

Master's Projects and Capstones

This report presents an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for Public Services of Colorado (PSCo). PSCo is a rate-regulated investor-owned electric utility (IOU) incorporated in 1924 and a subsidiary of Xcel Energy. PSCo largely serves the metropolitan areas of Colorado.

Policy Changes Impact In Deforestation Of The Brazilian Amazon, Iara Silva Jaques

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since discovered and inhabited, the Brazilian Amazon has been explored and impacted negatively by human activities. The conversion of forest to pastureland and farmland, as well as mining activities, road opening, wood and ore extraction and fire are historically the main causes of environmental damages and forest loss in the region. This project overviewed the latest changes in environmental policy and practices towards environmental protection conducted by the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, since he took office in 2019, and analyzed the progress of deforestation in the recent years under the new federal administration. Geographic Information System analysis were used to …

Integrated Resource Plan For Portland General Electric (Pge), Mary Biswal, Alejandro Castelan

Master's Projects and Capstones

An integrated resource plan (IRP) for Portland General Electric (PGE) is developed in this master’s project. The IRP is based on capacity expansion modeling for zero-carbon emission scenarios. PGE is a public electric utility based in Oregon and serves around 887,000 customers across a territory of 4,000 sq. miles. The utility’s resource mix is currently heavily dependent on natural gas making up almost 50% of its capacity. While the state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) require Oregon power utilities to derive 50% of their generation from renewable sources by 2040, PGE plans to move rapidly into a clean energy mix by …

An Integrated Resource Plan For Arizona Public Service Electric (Aps), Irene Boghdadi, Randy Chiu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Our Masters Capstone Project is an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for Arizona’s largest electric utility, Arizona Public Service Electric (APS).

An IRP is developed by utilities to identify the optimal combination of demand- and supply-side resources needed to reliably meet forecasted demand for energy and capacity, including a planning reserve margin, over a future period.

In addition to APS’s obligation to serve the growing load in Arizona while minimizing costs, it is required by the state to adhere to the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) policy of 15 percent retail sales from renewable energy resources by 2025.

The analysis described in …

How Can Occupancy Modeling And Occupancy Sensors Reduce Energy Usage In Academic Buildings: An Application Approach To University Of San Francisco, Paloma R. Duong

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are amongst the highest energy consumers relative to industry and transportation. They account for 40% of the world’s energy consumption, due to the need for lighting, equipment, heating, cooling and ventilation. Academic buildings are multi-purpose buildings that create a challenge on energy reduction. Most are old and have fixed occupancy schedules, resulting in high energy consumption because these buildings experience significant occupancy variation throughout the day. Five academic buildings were analyzed; their building information, energy consumption data and methods to project energy savings have been analyzed. The case studies presented different strategies on predicting energy savings, but these have …

Potential For Biofuel Production From Algae Based Wastewater Treatment In California: Can Algal Biofuels Be Cost-Competitive With Traditional Petroleum Based Diesel?, Amanda Rupiper

Master's Projects and Capstones

Neither the use of algae to clean wastewater, nor the use of photosynthetic organisms to generate biodiesel, are new concepts on their own. By combining these two processes, algal-based wastewater treatment with algal biofuel production, additional benefits can be derived, among which could be a cost-savings. In California the average estimated base production cost per gallon for algal biodiesel is $5.98/gallon. Compared to the adjusted production cost of petroleum-based diesel of $1.53/gallon, biodiesel is not cost-competitive. Coupling wastewater treatment and algal cultivation reduces the net energy use of the two processes separately and, if accounted for, greatly reduces the production …

An Exploratory Scenario For San Francisco To Become A Walking, Bicycling And Transit City, Chaowen Huang

Master's Projects and Capstones

The effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on global warming and climate change have become increasingly evident, and the transportation sector is a dominant contributor to GHG emissions which responsible for 13% of the world’s total GHG emissions and more than 21% of overall energy-related CO₂ emissions. Cities need sustainable transportation system that integrate new technologies and strategies to provide efficient and effective transit service while reducing its GHG emission and improving its livability. This paper explores a suitable and sustainable transportation scenario for San Francisco to achieve its 2035 goal which is to reduce 1,767,500 metric tons GHG emissions …

Evaluation Of Methods For Control Of Vegetation In Utility Corridors, George V. Rancea

Master's Projects and Capstones

Vegetation management programs are now one of the largest budget items for most of the utility companies in the United States. Control methods used in line clearance activities include mechanical trimming, planting management, or use of tree growth regulators (chemicals that suppress the production of gibberellins, the plant hormones that control stem elongation). Choosing the appropriate control method is a decision that vegetation program managers should take based on many factors, like costs, environmental impacts, existing agreements with the landowners, terrain, public perception etc. To find a balance between competing interests – a reliable and economic electric system on one …