This project supported the development of a lab for two Spring 2012 courses in the Physics department: Physics 096, “Physics, Energy, and the Environment", a course recently developed and taught by Dr. Malcolm Sanders, and Physics 202, "Experimental Physics", taught by Dr. Randy Headrick.  A work-study student working with Dr. Randy Headrick helped to prepare the equipment and materials for the labs, and to develop the procedures for depositing the thin films of semiconductors and the aluminum contact layers that comprise the organic solar cells.

The CEF will set aside funds each year to sponsor clean energy-related lectures, talks, symposia, and/or workshops.

The CEF will sponsor student internships dedicated to clean energy on campus. Applications for these funds from internship sponsors and applications for internships from interested students will be received and evaluated on a rolling basis. Possible internships may include: campus energy management, energy accounting, energy mapping, installations & feasibility studies, outreach and marketing, and documentation.

Clean Energy Fund Annual Budget: $25,000

History

Spring 2012: CEF Events Intern, Julia Breul '12

This program will help reduce energy consumption in laboratory buildings through strategic equipment upgrades and peer outreach. The CEF will fund a program manager to run a pilot program that 1) involves individual laboratory members in identifying opportunities for efficiency in their laboratory and promoting efficient behavior among their peers; 2) upgrades inefficient laboratory equipment and techniques and 3) encourages labs to turn equipment off when not in use, and to retire unnecessary or duplicate equipment.

How significant a role can campus-based renewable energy play in UVM’s progress towards carbon neutrality?

This project, approved by the CEF committee in 2010, explored the feasibility of a potential biomass energy system on UVM's Trinity Campus. 

Interns in the Physical Plant Department completed the first phase of the project, an initial feasibility study, in December of 2010.  They found it might be logistically possible to use biomass, and recommended questions for further study. 

The goal of this project was to transform Votey Hall into an integrated, wireless, smart grid and renewable energy laboratory. Specifically, students completed the following engineering tasks (you can view their final presentations below):

In 2010, the Clean Energy Fund voted to support the development of a new course module by Richard Watts of UVM's Transportation Research Center. In Spring 2011, Dr, Watts will link the data points from a UVM solar array with the TRC's plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) as a demonstration tool for a course module, seminar, and class speaking engagements connecting sustainable transportation and renewable energy.

The CEF is supporting the expansion of a building dashboard system similar to the current system in the Davis Center and the system planned for the new Aiken building. This system will display the energy usage of a number of buildings on campus in conjunction with the amount generated by renewable systems on campus.

Clean Energy Fund Award: $0  (originally awarded $44,000)
 

UPDATE 

April 24, 2013: The award for this project was unencumbered due to inactivity.