Following up on its own commitment to become a carbon-neutral campus by 2020, as well as a mandate for renewable energy in the District of Columbia, American University (AU) has announced that it is installing the largest solar electricity system to date in the nation’s capital—and the largest urban solar hot water system on the U.S. East Coast.

By July, the Washington, D.C.-based University plans to put in place on an ambitious solar energy program that will include 2,150 or more rooftop solar photovoltaic panels on a student center, a library, an arts center, and three off-campus buildings and 174 solar thermal energy panels on four campus buildings, which will provide hot showers to more than 2,000 students living on campus and hot water to the university’s largest dining hall.

Electricity from the solar photovoltaic panels is projected to eliminate more than 557 tons of carbon per year—the equivalent of preventing greenhouse gas emissions from 57,500 gallons of gasoline annually, or nearly 1 million gallons over 20 years.

The thermal solar system will pump out 5.7 million BTUs a day—or 609 megawatt hours of energy annually. That’s equivalent, the University estimates, to the amount of energy required to produce 20,795 cheeseburgers every year.

“Not only is solar power the right thing to do; it will also reduce the university’s energy costs the day we flip the switches on the new systems, proving that solar can be clean and green,” said Chris O’Brien, director of sustainability at American University. “We are also working to explore other ways to develop even larger-scale renewable energy sources in the Washington region, so stay tuned.”

American University will officially kick-off these solar projects as the grand finale of its week-long Green Campus-Green Community Earth Week Celebration, with a solar groundbreaking ceremony on April 22 led by AU President Neil Kerwin.

Last spring, American University announced its plan to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions and become a carbon-neutral campus by 2020. Released May 14, AU’s plan comes two years after President Kerwin signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. The initiative began in 2006 when 12 presidents gathered at Arizona State University to commit to carbon neutrality, as well as climate change research. To date, there have been 685 signatories.

AU's plan focuses on green power and offsets, as the 84-acre urban campus doesn’t afford the on-the-ground building opportunities that rural institutions may have. Working within the parameters of available solutions, AU will employ these four strategies to achieve carbon neutrality:

Reduce electricity consumption by 1 percent annually; reduce transportation emissions; and eliminate emissions from paper, waste, and agricultural inputs.

Produce renewable energy, including solar and wind energy.

Buy green power for 100 percent of electricity consumption and renewable energy credits (RECs) for 100 percent of electricity. AU recently achieved the latter, purchasing wind-generated RECs that offset 100 percent of its annual electricity usage (53 million kilowatt hours).

Buy-develop offsets for travel and other unavoidable emissions.

The carbon neutrality plan is a dynamic document that will be updated every two years. Along with a sustainable purchasing plan and a zero-waste plan—both forthcoming in the next few the months—it’s part of AU’s “grand sustainability plan,” according to O’Brien.

“As an institution of higher education in the nation’s capital, it’s incumbent upon us to lead climate change mitigation strategies,” he said. “We’re training the next generation of leaders, and it’s critical that our students understand the problems and become a part of the solution.”

Plans also are underway to create renewable energy on campus by installing a wind turbine, designed by an AU professor, to be placed atop a parking garage, along with a generator that runs on used cooking oil from the campus dining hall.

The new solar photovoltaic power system dramatically expands the university’s existing 27 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system installed on the LEED Gold certified School of International Service building. The 505 kilowatt system will be installed by Standard Solar Inc. of Rockville, Maryland, and owned and operated by Herndon, Virginia-based Washington Gas Energy Services Inc. Combined, AU will have more than 532 kilowatts of solar PV, producing about 637 megawatt hours of electricity each year.

As a result of a combination of federal and local incentives, these solar installations will actually reduce American University’s energy bills as soon as the systems are in operation. The projects are financed through power purchase agreements with Washington Gas Energy Services and Skyline Innovations, each of which owns and installs its respective system, and sells the resulting energy to American University through long-term contracts for 20 and 10 years, respectively.

As is to be expected, AU’s sustainability programs are earning recognition. American University earned a STARS gold rating in January from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System developed by representatives from colleges and universities, higher education associations, related nonprofit organizations, businesses, and government agencies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) honored AU as one of the top colleges in its 2010–2011 College and University Green Power Challenge and Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges also cited AU.