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This is a great post. Thank you to share. How do you know so much about this Stanford University system? > A $22 million renovation -- completed in 1999

by throwaway2037 2y ago

This is a great post. Thank you to share. How do you know so much about this Stanford University system? > A $22 million renovation -- completed in 1999 -- converted it to its present form, which saves the university a reported $500,000 a year on energy bills. So, it takes at least 44 years to repay? This sounds like a terrible investment. Normally, energy saving projects repay themselves in about 7-10 years. Also, this system sounds incredibly complex. What is the annual maintenance cost? Surely greater than zero.

shagie 2y ago
I am aware of using phase change of water for various cooling purposes. Finding references again on them isn't difficult if you know what you're looking for. Many years ago there was a green building series on KQED that featured such approaches. Shifting when you are using energy is part of conservation. As to how it works... it's a cubic rather than planar ice skating rink. You freeze a block of water at night, and then during the day, slowly melt it as you transfer waste heat from the building into it (rather than rejecting the waste heat with a compressor during peak energy use hours). https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/air-conditioner-integrated-phase-change-composite-material https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/air-condition...
immibis 2y ago
This is a major university, so they could be expected to be a little on the wild side with projects like that. If they're the only one with a system like that, it raises the cost.
- therealdrag0 2y ago
  Why? I would rather the university conserve spending to reduce cost of tuition. Instead department s of energy, for R and D, or companies flush with cash and wanting to virtue signal can splurge on such projects.
  - shagie 2y ago
    Different budgets can go to different things. Grants for X can't be spent on Y. An endowment may be for a specific goal and likewise can't be spent on some other things. Stanford is a research institution - and some money that it receives will be going to research rather than trying to reduce enrollment costs. Alternatively, "hey, they spent $22M on that project... maybe we should shut down the Stanford Liner Accelerator ( https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/budget.html https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/budget.html ) which had a project cost of $315M." There are many good institutions of higher learning out there that do not have research as part of their goal. There are 116 different community colleges within California that do not have research as part of their program and the California State University system (as opposed to University of California system) deemphasizes research. Stanford itself is a private school and not part of either of those systems. On the other hand, people who go to Stanford often want to study under and participate in the research that is being done in a given field - and that implies that research is being done (and money is being spent on it). As for the School of Sustainability - https://sustainability.stanford.edu/giving/research https://sustainability.stanford.edu/giving/research

shagie 2y ago

I am aware of using phase change of water for various cooling purposes. Finding references again on them isn't difficult if you know what you're looking for. Many years ago there was a green building series on KQED that featured such approaches. Shifting when you are using energy is part of conservation. As to how it works... it's a cubic rather than planar ice skating rink. You freeze a block of water at night, and then during the day, slowly melt it as you transfer waste heat from the building into it (rather than rejecting the waste heat with a compressor during peak energy use hours). https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/air-conditioner-integrated-phase-change-composite-material https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/air-condition...

immibis 2y ago

This is a major university, so they could be expected to be a little on the wild side with projects like that. If they're the only one with a system like that, it raises the cost.

therealdrag0 2y ago
Why? I would rather the university conserve spending to reduce cost of tuition. Instead department s of energy, for R and D, or companies flush with cash and wanting to virtue signal can splurge on such projects.
- shagie 2y ago
  Different budgets can go to different things. Grants for X can't be spent on Y. An endowment may be for a specific goal and likewise can't be spent on some other things. Stanford is a research institution - and some money that it receives will be going to research rather than trying to reduce enrollment costs. Alternatively, "hey, they spent $22M on that project... maybe we should shut down the Stanford Liner Accelerator ( https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/budget.html https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/budget.html ) which had a project cost of $315M." There are many good institutions of higher learning out there that do not have research as part of their goal. There are 116 different community colleges within California that do not have research as part of their program and the California State University system (as opposed to University of California system) deemphasizes research. Stanford itself is a private school and not part of either of those systems. On the other hand, people who go to Stanford often want to study under and participate in the research that is being done in a given field - and that implies that research is being done (and money is being spent on it). As for the School of Sustainability - https://sustainability.stanford.edu/giving/research https://sustainability.stanford.edu/giving/research