Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 61.25
Liaison Audrey McSain
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2020
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Lehigh University
OP-3: Building Operations and Maintenance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.98 / 5.00 Douglas Spengel
Associate Director Utilities and Engineering
Facilities Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total floor area of building space:
4,547,569 Square feet

O+M Certified Space

Building space must be certified under a rating system focusing on the operations and maintenance of existing buildings (e.g. LEED O+M) to count as certified space for this credit. Sustainability in new construction and major renovation projects (e.g. LEED BD+C certification) is covered in the Building Design and Construction credit.

Floor area of building space that is certified at each level under a green building rating system for the operations and maintenance of existing buildings used by an Established Green Building Council:
Certified Floor Area
LEED O+M Platinum or the highest achievable level under another GBC rating system 0 Square feet
LEED O+M Gold or the 2nd highest level under another 4- or 5-tier GBC rating system 0 Square feet
Certified at mid-level under a 3- or 5-tier GBC rating system (e.g. BREEAM-In Use, CASBEE for Existing Buildings, DGNB, Green Star Performance) 0 Square feet
LEED O+M Silver or at a step above minimum level under another 4 -or 5–tier GBC rating system 0 Square feet
LEED O+M Certified or certified at minimum level under another GBC rating system 0 Square feet

Floor area of building space that is certified under a non-GBC rating system for the operations and maintenance of existing buildings, e.g. BOMA BESt, Green Globes CIEB:
0 Square feet

Percentage of building space certified under a green building rating system for the operations and maintenance of existing buildings:
0

If reporting certified space, provide:

A brief description of the green building rating system(s) used and/or a list or sample of certified buildings and ratings:
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If reporting uncertified space, provide the following:

Uncertified Space 

Indoor Air Quality Management 

Of the institution's uncertified building space, what percentage of floor area is maintained in accordance with a published indoor air quality (IAQ) management policy or protocol? (0-100):
100

A copy of the IAQ management policy or protocol:
The website URL where the IAQ policy/protocol may be found:
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Green Cleaning 

Of the institution's uncertified building space, what percentage of floor area is maintained in accordance with a published green cleaning policy, program or contract ? (0-100):
95

A copy or the green cleaning policy:
A brief description of how green cleaning is incorporated into cleaning contracts:
Lehigh University via its contract with ABM uses ionized water as its primary green-cleaning agent. The Orbio Technologies os3 system is located on campus in Williams Hall. This on-site generation (OSG) technology converts water, electricity and a small amount of salt into two effective cleaning and antimicrobial solutions. It eliminated the need for many packaged chemicals that had been used for years to clean the campus buildings. The technology has not yet been fully adopted in Lehigh's athletic facilities. Additional green cleaning information can be found at https://www.abm.com/greencare/

Energy Management and Benchmarking 

Of the institution's uncertified building space, what percentage of floor area is maintained in accordance with an energy management or benchmarking program? (0-100):
100

A brief description of the energy management or benchmarking program:
All Lehigh campus buildings have energy meters and nearly all of them can be monitored remotely through an online dashboard. The remotely-accessible meters (122 at present) are available for all large buildings powered through the internal electrical distribution system. This functionality is not available in smaller buildings located just off the edges of the main campuses, like row homes, used as residence halls but powered directly from the local electric distribution company. The data are available to all Lehigh University community members with network login credentials. Two different dashboards are available, Grafana and OSIsoft Pi. Staff use the metering data to issue internal monthly electric bills, and to calculate kBTU/GSF figures for each building for each fiscal year. Buildings EUIs are compared by building type and for a single building from year to year versus weather data (e.g., HDD and CDD) and benchmarks. Faculty and students can use the online dashboard data for class projects or research. For example, on-campus student residents can track electrical usage of their residence halls during contest periods when occupants of all residence halls compete to lower their usage versus a baseline established in a previous year. Energy usage data from smaller buildings located off of the edges of the main campuses (that are not available on the dashboard) are tabulated in a spreadsheet.

Water Management and Benchmarking 

Of the institution's uncertified building space, what percentage of floor area is maintained in accordance with a water management or benchmarking program? (0-100):
100

A brief description of the water management or benchmarking program:
Lehigh's Facilities Services department receives monthly and quarterly utility bills for all campus facilities from the local water authority. All usages reported on the monthly and quarterly bills are recorded into a spreadsheet. Usages are divided by the gross square footage of each building, to compare usages between buildings with a common function such as residences halls or academic/classroom buildings. The spreadsheet is provided upon request to students, faculty, and staff interested in studying these data. For Sustainability-related progress, Facilities Services uses the meters on campus and at both Central Plants to monitor usage, to determine if leaks are occurring, and to implement water-saving changes to operations. They also use the meters and water bills as justification for renovations that incorporate low-flow water fixtures in efforts to become more efficient. When constructing new buildings, they use water data to pinpoint specific ways they can reduce unnecessary water-use and make the best possible recommendations for efficient fixtures and boiler adjustments.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.