Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.99
Liaison Deborah Steinberg
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Carnegie Mellon University
OP-8: Building Energy Consumption

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.24 / 6.00 Martin Altschul
Director of Strategic Facilities Initiatives of FMCS
Facilities Management Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total building energy consumption, all sources (transportation fuels excluded):
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total building energy consumption 848,590 MMBtu 728,795 MMBtu

Purchased electricity and steam:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Grid-purchased electricity 405,198 MMBtu 331,877 MMBtu
District steam/hot water 382,056 MMBtu 349,384 MMBtu

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 6,655,812 Gross square feet 4,679,154 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year::
Floor Area
Laboratory space 664,932 Square feet
Healthcare space 1,551 Square feet
Other energy intensive space

Degree days, performance year (base 65 °F)::
Degree days (see help icon above)
Heating degree days 4,262
Cooling degree days 1,722

Source-site ratios::
Source-Site Ratio (see help icon above)
Grid-purchased electricity 3.14
District steam/hot water 1.20

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or 3-year periods)::
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2012 June 30, 2013
Baseline Year July 1, 2004 June 30, 2005

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

FY 2005 has been adopted because it was originally set by STARS as the default baseline year


A brief description of any building temperature standards employed by the institution:

Building Temperatures are determined so as to meet occupant requirements for asset preservation, experimental requirements and personal productivity.


A brief description of any light emitting diode (LED) lighting employed by the institution:

Currently 5% of all outdoor lighting and 3% of indoor lighting uses LED sources.
During the performance year, approximately 25% of new or replacement lighting installations were LED.
In addition, 98% of incandescent bulbs had been replaced by CFL or other energy efficient technology.


A brief description of any occupancy and/or vacancy sensors employed by the institution:

Carnegie Mellon University utilizes occupancy sensors on 5% of its lighting. The university also utilizes lighting timers technology for all lighting.


A brief description of any passive solar heating employed by the institution:

None


A brief description of any ground-source heat pumps employed by the institution:

None


A brief description of any cogeneration technologies employed by the institution:

Carnegie Mellon University does not currently deploy any co-generation technologies. However, cogeneration is being actively studied for potential installation in 2016-17.


A brief description of any building recommissioning or retrofit program employed by the institution:

In 2011, CMU conducted a pilot retrocommissioning project in 2 buildings. That pilot resulted in zero net savings. However, recommissioning continues to be studied and a larger pilot involving 9 buildings is scheduled to start 3/2/2015,


A brief description of any energy metering and management systems employed by the institution:

All buildings on campus have on-line electric meters monitoring building electric use. Five newer buildings have on-line steam and chilled water meters.
HVAC systems are on direct digital controls (DDC) system, controlling approximately 95% of all building HVAC needs. Chiller plants all operate ultra high efficiency chillers and variable speed pumping with induced draft cooling towers.


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

CMU generally selects EPA Energy Star appliances. All desktop and laptop computers purchased by the university are Energy Star labeled.


A brief description of any energy-efficient landscape design initiatives employed by the institution:

CMU has installed two rain gardens and approximately 41,000 sq ft of green roofs.


A brief description of any vending machine sensors, lightless machines, or LED-lit machines employed by the institution:

Carnegie Mellon University utilizes the Vending Misers technology on 80% of its vending machines.


A brief description of other energy conservation and efficiency initiatives employed by the institution:
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The website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The posted energy consumption numbers for 2005 and the performance year, 2013, use the normalized electricity and normalized heat sources usage amount given in kWh/sf and BTU/sf respectively, given by the "Utility Usage for the Pittsburgh Campus" page of the Carnegie Mellon Factbook 2010 - 11. The electricity consumption is converted using the factor, 1 kWh = 3412.3 BTu, added to heat source usage (BTu), and multiplied by the total area served (sf) to calculate the total building energy consumption. The numbers given in the Factbook accounts for the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2004 and ending on June 31, 2005, and the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2011 and ending on June 31, 2012.


The posted energy consumption numbers for 2005 and the performance year, 2013, use the normalized electricity and normalized heat sources usage amount given in kWh/sf and BTU/sf respectively, given by the "Utility Usage for the Pittsburgh Campus" page of the Carnegie Mellon Factbook 2010 - 11. The electricity consumption is converted using the factor, 1 kWh = 3412.3 BTu, added to heat source usage (BTu), and multiplied by the total area served (sf) to calculate the total building energy consumption. The numbers given in the Factbook accounts for the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2004 and ending on June 31, 2005, and the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2011 and ending on June 31, 2012.

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.