Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.89
Liaison Allie Schwartz
Submission Date Aug. 29, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Columbia University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.11 / 4.00 Allie Schwartz
Assistant Director, Planning and Outreach
Environmental Stewardship, Columbia University Facilities and Operations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (all sources, excluding transportation fuels), performance year :
2,515,015 MMBtu

Option 1 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated on site during the performance year and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :
N/A

Option 2 

Non-electric renewable energy generated on-site, performance year:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable non-electric energy devices:
Four 2,000-foot deep geothermal wells are installed at Knox Hall. The geothermal wells, each eight inches in diameter provide heating and cooling by drawing ground water from the earth. The wells eliminate the less efficient chillers associated with more traditional systems and the University projects energy savings of 50% - 60%.

Option 3 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated by off-site projects that the institution catalyzed and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes, performance year:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of off-site, institution-catalyzed, renewable electricity generating devices:
N/A

Option 4 

Total third-party certified RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products (including renewable electricity purchased through a utility-provided certified green power option) purchased during the performance year:
68,827.44 MMBtu

A brief description of the RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products, including contract timeframes:
20,184 MWh of RECs purchased in 2017 - Green e certified.

Optional Fields

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://facilities.columbia.edu/sustainability/energyefficiency#geothermal

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Sierra magazine requests the following information from U.S. institutions that wish to share data with that organization:

Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass ---
Coal ---
Geothermal ---
Hydro ---
Natural gas ---
Nuclear ---
Solar photovoltaic ---
Wind ---
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
---

Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass ---
Coal ---
Electricity ---
Fuel oil ---
Geothermal ---
Natural gas ---
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
---

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
2.74

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.