1.
Moderator: Amy Longsworth, Director, Boston Green Ribbon Commission
Panelists:
Dennis Carlberg, Sustainability Director, Boston University
Kerry Emanuel, Cecil and Ida Green Prof of Atmospheric Science,
Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, MIT
Paul Kirshen, Professor, School for Environment; Academic Director,
Sustainable Solutions Lab, U-Mass Boston
Robert Manning, Director, Engineering & Utilities, Harvard University
Keynote Panel 9:15-10:30
Partners in resilience – Higher education’s role in
metro-Boston climate adaptation planning
WSSD-U-2016

2.
5 mins
Designing Tomorrow’s Campus:
Resiliency, Vulnerability & Adaptation
September 15, 2016

3.
Approach
 Mitigation
 Preparation
Issues
 Living Learning Lab
 Tools
 Climate Ready BU
 Collaboration

4.
AMERICAN CAMPUSES ACT ON CLIMATE PLEDGE
Living-Learning
Labs
 To use the region,
city of Boston, and
Boston University as
living-learning
laboratories where
our community,
facilities, and urban
fabric become the
object of inquiry to
advance solutions for
mitigation and
adaptation.
BU – N. Phillips

5.
INTEGRATION
Initiative
 Research
 Education
 Communications
 Science

6.
REMOTE SENSING & GEOSPATIAL SCIENCES
Team
GIS Grad Students
Address
 GIS Grad Students
 sustainability@BU
 EH&S
 Emergency Planning
Suchi Gopal

7.
CLIMATE READY BU
Purpose
Inform Decision Makers
 Plan
 Prepare
 Allocate Resources
Address
 Sea Level Rise
 Heat
 Storm Intensity
2015 2016 20172013 2014
Climate Ready Boston
Jun 16 Sep 16
Suchi Gopal
Kickoff Meeting
Dec 13
Issue Report
Jun 15
Faculty Review
Nov 14
Climate Ready Boston
Feb 13

8.
CLIMATE READY BU
Sea Level Rise
 GIS Modeling
 5 Feet (1.5m)
 Area of First Concern
sustainability@BU

9.
CLIMATE READY BU
Recommendatio
ns
 5 Time Horizons
 New Construction
 Renovations
 Planning
sustainability@BU

10.
COLLABORATION
Players
 Green Ribbon
Commission
 Metro Mayors
 Urban Land
Institute
 Trust for Public
Land
 Metropolitan Area
Planning Council
 A Better City
Steve Lipofsky

11.
Thank you
sustainability@bu.edu

12.
Assessing MIT’s Flood
Risk:
Present and Future
Kerry Emanuel
Lorenz Center, MIT

13.
The Problem
• The top of the Charles River Dam is only 1.8 feet
above normal high tide
• Sea level rise coupled with heavier rainfalls could
greatly increase flooding risk in the Charles River
Basin.
• We think that heavy rains from a tropical cyclone
coupled with a modest storm surge in Boston
Harbor poses a significant threat to lower
Cambridge and Back Bay Boston
• MIT has significant assets located underground (e.g.
parts of the new “MIT.nano” building, the control
room of the fission reactor)

14.
Our Approach
• Generate 5000 synthetic tropical cyclones passing
within 150 km of Boston, downscaled from 5 climate
models for both late 20th century and late 21st century
simulations under a realistic emissions scenario
• Use the modeled winds to drive hydrodynamic storm
surge models and modeled rain to drive river and
storm sewer flow models
• Use these to assess the evolution of MIT’s flooding
risk over the next 100 years

15.
Some Early Results

16.
Hurricanes Passing within 150 km of
Boston
Downscaled from 5 climate models

17.
Surge Risk with 1 meter sea level rise

18.
Rain Risk

19.
Paul Kirshen
Professor, School for Environment;
Academic Director, Sustainable
Solutions Lab, U-Mass Boston

20.
Harvard University
District Energy and
Partnering in Resilience
Robert Manning
Director of Engineering & Utilities
Harvard University Campus Services
September 15, 2016

21.
• Boston Green Ribbon Commission
o Higher Education Working Group
o Carbon Free Boston Working Group
• Cambridge Climate Change
Vulnerability Assessment
• Cambridge Compact For A Sustainable
Future
Ongoing Cooperative Efforts
22
See: green.harvard.edu
• Harvard University Climate Preparedness Working Group
• Internal Operations and Design Review
• Project Planning

22.
• Produce, procure and distribute
energy throughout Cambridge and
Allston
• Steam Plant with CHP, two
interconnected chilled water
plants and microgrid
• Fuel input: 1.2 million MMBTUs
• Electric consumed: 236 million kWH
• Central cooling: 1,057,000 ton-days
Harvard District Energy Systems
23

23.
Harvard Microgrid
24
• Multiple district switching
stations, separate upstream
supplies, all distribution is
underground, interconnection
capability
• Two line source selectivity design
for each building, restore then
repair
• Up to 12.5 MW co-gen, duel fuel
with ability to island, and
blackstart if necessary
• Very reliable in severe weather
events

24.
Harvard Microgrid
25
• Flexibility to integrate behind the meter
(cogeneration, wind, solar)
• Aggregation of load allows for net
benefit, manage peaks, demand
response
• Growth / expansion support, temporary
power, relocations, etc
Main Campus kW - Demand Response Event
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
0:00
0:45
1:30
2:15
3:00
3:45
4:30
5:15
6:00
6:45
7:30
8:15
9:00
9:45
10:30
11:15
12:00
12:45
13:30
14:15
15:00
15:45
16:30
17:15
18:00
18:45
19:30
20:15
21:00
21:45
22:30
23:15
7/21/2011 6/21/2012

25.
• District mechanical and electrical spaces that will house energy
production and distribution equipment and support heating,
cooling and electric needs of the SEC and future buildings
• DEF will be resilient to projected storm-surge / climate change
flooding impacts, raised several feet above grade with no
basement.
• Hot water system instead of steam, low temperature supply
• Planned cogeneration and backup power supply
• Thermal storage
• Flexibility for growth and future technology
26
New Allston District Energy Facility (DEF)