Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.05
Liaison Yumiko Jakobcic
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Grand Valley State University
OP-8: Building Energy Consumption

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.10 / 6.00 Yumiko Jakobcic
Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability Practices
"---" 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 502,042 MMBtu 462,654 MMBtu

Purchased electricity and steam:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Grid-purchased electricity 184,377 MMBtu 186,681 MMBtu
District steam/hot water 14,526 MMBtu 10,522 MMBtu

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 5,320,064 Gross square feet 4,124,730 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year::
Floor Area
Laboratory space 78,999 Square feet
Healthcare space 1,739 Square feet
Other energy intensive space

Degree days, performance year (base 65 °F)::
Degree days (see help icon above)
Heating degree days 7,213
Cooling degree days 768

Source-site ratios::
Source-Site Ratio (see help icon above)
Grid-purchased electricity 3.10
District steam/hot water 5

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, 2005 June 29, 2006

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

Baseline was selected when the university first started reporting and was chosen as a reasonable starting point


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

University uses a BMS (Building Management System) for controlling startup, shutdown, setback, occupied and non-occupied temperature set points.


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

The university has been researching and installing LED lighting for the past 5 years. To date we have installed LEDs into several buildings, some tied to motion sensors. For exterior lighting the university has invested over .5 million dollars into installing over 800 LEDs for parking ramps, lots and street lighting.


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

University makes use of infrared and motion occupancy sensors to control lights and more importantly the volume of conditioned air that is distributed to rooms. This method is used for many of our buildings. Also making use of Demand Control Ventilation (DCV).


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

Solar panels on the roof of an athletic building capture solar energy to help heat the water source in the locker rooms.


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

The amount of ground-source heat pumps employed by the institution is very limited.


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

N/A


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

Recommissioning is done on a case by case basis. It is done by troubleshooting mainly and is not a stand-alone program. However the university has recommissioned some buildings by a third party to provide some energy conservation measures.


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

The University does use a BMS for tracking most of the utilities with regards to utility consumption. Some buildings on some campuses still have manual meters for electricity. Natural gas, water and steam for the most part are metered and either through the BMS or manual reads are compiled into spreadsheets for a variety of reasons (tracking, monitoring, projections, estimates, etc.).


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

Appliances are directed to be purchased as Energy Star compliant. Equipment such as HVAC is partially selected on energy efficiency as well as other factors. Systems are designed with the thought process of being energy efficient for the long term.


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

Landscape design is a project-driven plan. Projects are designed to use as little water as possible and not to rely on irrigation. They are designed to use run-off water whenever possible and to use natural vegetation in the area.


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

The university has researched projects that work off motion sensors, and, after six month of testing, has confirmed that the product has an extremely poor payback.


A brief description of other energy conservation and efficiency initiatives employed by the institution:

The University has a long history of implementing energy conservation and efficiency projects. More than 250 projects and procedures have been completed or established to help provide energy conservation. Those areas include temperature set points and controls, infrastructure improvements, lighting, equipment selections, system optimization and education to our students, staff and faculty. In addition, all new construction is to LEED silver guidelines. Based on the energy conservation projects we have completed, we have accrued a cost reduction of over 2 million annually. In addition, the yearly accumulation of reductions amounts to 1.5 million over the past fifteen years.


The website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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