Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.92
Liaison Caitlin Steele
Submission Date June 8, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

San Francisco State University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.04 / 4.00 Nick Kordesch
Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (all sources, excluding transportation fuels), performance year :
207,505 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:
1,815.97 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :
The Mashouf Wellness Center has a 295 kW rooftop photovoltaic system that helps offset 33% of the building’s energy consumption and 25% of the building’s energy cost. The 19,000 square foot photovoltaic system produces 354,000 kilowatt hours/year. https://cpdc.sfsu.edu/mwc-energy The Estuary and Ocean Science Center (formerly the Romberg Tiburon Center) has a photovoltaic system that can provide up to 100% of the electricity needed for its conference center. It also has a new solar panel array in the parking structure that provides up to 65 kwh/day to their main laboratory. SF State also hosts 3 demonstration fuel cells on campus. Our local utility operates the fuel cells and uses the electricity generated, while SF State uses the heat and water produced by the process.

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:
---

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:
---

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:
0 MMBtu

A brief description of the RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products, including contract timeframes:
---

Optional Fields

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

 

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 1.90
Coal 1.80
Geothermal 4.80
Hydro 35.40
Natural gas 16.70
Nuclear 4.10
Solar photovoltaic 9.60
Wind 19.10
Other (please specify and explain below) 6.80

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
SF State is on a direct access agreement with Shell North America for the majority of its electricity purchases. The campus purchases electricity from PG&E for some of its buildings. This electricity mix data is based on Shell North America's 2016 Power Content Label. That label lists 45% of our electricity as "unspecified," so we used the State of California's power content label to determine the source of that electricity. "Other" includes electricity of unspecified sources. No coal-generated electricity was directly purchased. "Hydro" as listed here includes 34.5% from large hydroelectric and 0.9% from small hydroelectric.

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

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
The campus gymnasium is heated by using the waste heat from PG&E's on-campus Fuel Cell.

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
0.88

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Had help with collecting data from Scott Kern at SF State's Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies. Used NREL PVWatts Photovoltaic system calculator for location based kWh generation. 294.3 kW DC system, standard module, fixed array, 14% system loss, 96% inverter efficiency. Latitute: 37.62° N and Longitude: 122.38° W. Result: 405,665 kWh per Year. Purchased electricity based on 2016 Power Content Label for Shell Energy North America, direct access agreement.

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.