Electricity Demand and Opportunity at The Island School Benjamin Bradford, Brooke Chappell, Dawit Hawgood, Alexander Hee, Benjamin Immerman, Maya Lindeman, and Marley Spitler Advisors: Brett Ziter, Grace Alberts, and Gustav Wellin Introduction Methods Discussion Results Acknowledgements Literature Cited There are seven systems that provide electricity to The Island School. Five use renewable sources. The others are diesel back- up and diesel from the grid. This figure provides a visual representation of the electricity systems on campus, categorized by energy source. Not pictured is The Island School’s connections to the local electricity grid. This figure shows the production of each electricity system at The Island School over one representative month. This research aims to lower the school’s dependence on the diesel grid and instead generate more elec- tricity from renewables. • Boathouse solar system has a capacity of 18 kW AC. • Treehouse solar system has a capacity of 12 kW AC. • Hallig solar system has a capacity of 3.3 kW AC. • Wet lab solar system has a capacity of 31 kW AC. • The wind turbine has a capacity of 10 kW AC. Electricity Systems Electricity consumption can be measured using a data acquisition system like The Island School’s proprietary CampIS. This system measures how much electricity is used on campus and how much flows to and from the power grid. CampIS was used here to determine the total amount of elec- tricity consumed at The Island School and how much was generated from renewable sources. This figure shows some of the information available on The Island School’s CampIS Data Acquisition System Next, data from the solar inverters were analyzed to identify trends and patterns. The recorded power output of the inverters was compared to the expected power output based on the number and type of solar panels within each system. This type of comparison allows problems to be de- tected, isolated, and ultimately solved. This figure shows an example of how expected outputs can be compared to real data, to identify problems System Fix Date Result Wet Lab Arc Fault Isolation Feb 1 +11% Hallig Reboot Feb 26 +2% Treehouse Wiring Problem Mar 11 +2% All Solar Grid compatibility improvement Mar 6-10 +5-10% Wind Turbine Blade maintenance & Re-commissioning Future +4% This table provides a summary of the issues identified across The Island School’s renewable energy systems and their associated improvements. *Results indicate percentage of total electricity offset at the school Since The Island School’s founding in 1999, global energy consumption has risen by 50%. The majority of energy is produced using fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. Carbon emissions from fossil fuels have led to rising global temperatures, and the resulting impacts of climate change. Eleuthera heavily depends on burning diesel to generate electricity. Small islands such as Eleuthera are particularly vulnerable to climate change and global warming, as they have many natural risks like rising sea levels and intensified hurricanes. Eleuthera occupies a remote area with limited access to resources and relies on vulnerable natural ecosystems like fisheries and coral reefs. Given The Island School’s position of leadership and access to resources relative to others on Eleuthe- ra, it is important for the school to optimize the way it produces and consumes electricity. Objectives • Measure campus’ total electricity consumption • Determine the amount of consumption coming from diesel vs. renewable sources • Find the potential electricity production if each campus system is optimized • Investigate climate impacts – find the carbon emissions and diesel that can be avoided This figure shows the relationships between fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, and global temperature rise The Island School used 300,000 kWh of electricity in 2023, Requiring 85,000 L of diesel and emitting 230,000 kg of CO2. Several small fixes have allowed the school to increase its prop