Overall Rating	Silver - expired
Overall Score	53.77
Liaison	Stephen Ellis
Submission Date	Oct. 7, 2021

STARS v2.2

Boston University
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	3.73 / 6.00	Stephen Ellis Director, Data Analytics BU Sustainability

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Site energy use per unit of floor area

Performance year energy consumption

Electricity use, performance year (report kilowatt-hours):

	kWh	MMBtu
Imported electricity	185,751,331.34 Kilowatt-hours Date Revised: Dec. 2, 2024 Boston University requested that AASHE Staff correct a mistake in this reporting field for the reason specified below. Previous Value: 189934511 Kilowatt-hours Explanation: Facilities Management, Business Affairs, and Sustainability identified properties with the utilities that either had faulty meters or incorrect values and have since corrected these values.	633,783.54 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems)	0 Kilowatt-hours	0 MMBtu

Stationary fuels and thermal energy, performance year (report MMBtu):

	MMBtu
Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy	815,454.62 MMBtu Date Revised: Dec. 2, 2024 Boston University requested that AASHE Staff correct a mistake in this reporting field for the reason specified below. Previous Value: 810705 MMBtu Explanation: Facilities Management, Business Affairs, and Sustainability identified properties with the utilities that either had faulty meters or incorrect values and have since corrected these values.
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water	154,829 MMBtu

Total site energy consumption, performance year:

1,604,067.16 MMBtu

Performance year building space

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:

15,221,297 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:

	Floor area
Laboratory space	672,331.80 Square feet
Healthcare space	70,684.20 Square feet
Other energy intensive space	226,335.50 Square feet

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

16,933,664.50 Gross square feet

Performance year heating and cooling degree days

Degree days, performance year:

	Degree days
Heating degree days	5,084 Degree-Days (°F)
Cooling degree days	988 Degree-Days (°F)

Total degree days, performance year:

6,072 Degree-Days (°F)

Performance period

Start and end dates of the performance year (or 3-year period):

	Start date	End date
Performance period	July 1, 2019	June 30, 2020

Metric used in scoring for Part 1

Total site energy consumption per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area per degree day, performance year:

15.60 Btu / GSF / Degree-Day (°F)

Part 2. Reduction in source energy use per unit of floor area

Baseline year energy consumption

STARS 2.2 requires electricity data in kilowatt-hours (kWh). If a baseline has already been established in a previous version of STARS and the institution wishes to continue using it, the electricity data must be re-entered in kWh. To convert existing electricity figures from MMBtu to kWh, simply multiply by 293.07107 MMBtu/kWh.

Electricity use, baseline year (report kWh):

	kWh	MMBtu
Imported electricity	200,415,800 Kilowatt-hours	683,818.71 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems)	0 Kilowatt-hours	0 MMBtu

Stationary fuels and thermal energy, baseline year (report MMBtu):

	MMBtu
Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy	932,112 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water	178,326 MMBtu

Total site energy consumption, baseline year:

1,794,256.71 MMBtu

Baseline year building space

Gross floor area of building space, baseline year:

13,426,870 Gross square feet

Baseline period

Start and end dates of the baseline year (or 3-year period):

	Start date	End date
Baseline period	July 1, 2005	June 30, 2006

A brief description of when and why the energy consumption baseline was adopted:

For consistency, Boston University uses a Fiscal Year 2006 baseline for its sustainability metrics.

Source energy

Source-site ratio for imported electricity:

Total energy consumption per unit of floor area:

	Site energy	Source energy
Performance year	0.11 MMBtu per square foot	0.19 MMBtu per square foot
Baseline year	0.13 MMBtu per square foot	0.24 MMBtu per square foot

Metric used in scoring for Part 2

Percentage reduction in total source energy consumption per unit of floor area from baseline:

19.89

Optional Fields

Documentation to support the performance year energy consumption figures reported above:

---

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices in regard to energy efficiency:

Campus Planning & Operations (CPO) works to achieve a balance between comfort and efficiency when installing lighting retrofits and advanced HVAC technology. The University purchases its electricity from third party suppliers and the local distribution company, Eversource Energy. Through Eversource, CPO has taken advantage of incentive programs to help fund and encourage the replacement of aging, inefficient equipment with new energy-saving technology. For example, occupancy sensors, which can potentially save about 30% of energy for lighting, were installed at 33 Harry Agganis Way, FitRec, Walter Brown Arena, Mugar Library, in the garages at both 700 and 730–750 Comm. Ave., and the College of Arts & Sciences.

A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution:

Seven buildings employ unoccupied modes in their Building Management Systems. BU has Schneider and Siemens BAS systems. 25% of all building space (square footage) is equipped with schedules.

A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:

LED lighting has been and continues to be a major part of the University's energy efficiency program with new LED fixtures being installed daily across campus.

A brief description of passive solar heating, geothermal systems, and related strategies employed by the institution:

N/A

A brief description of co-generation employed by the institution:

N/A

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace energy-consuming appliances, equipment, and systems with high efficiency alternatives:

Buildings with existing building energy management systems (EMS) undergo independent 3rd-party engineering studies to determine and quantify savings related to introducing setbacks and controls, occupancy schedules, VFDs, efficient lighting, etc. that are connected to the EMS to be monitored and controlled for optimization.

Website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency program is available:

https://www.bu.edu/sustainability/projects/improving-energy-efficiency/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

This represents FY2020 BU Metrics.

Boston University's approach and progress on energy efficiency can be found on the following websites:
https://www.bu.edu/sustainability/projects/improving-energy-efficiency/
http://www.bu.edu/facilities/what-we-do/energy/

Calculating energy, water, and greenhouse gas metrics involves an ongoing process of validation. This process resulted in a refinement of our data from 2005 through the present.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.