Stanford University
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency

FY2005 was adopted as the baseline year because it correlates to when Stanford began tracking its building energy consumption in this way.

Performance year data are reported here from 2019 to align with the data reported in the Clean and Renewable Energy credit. Data from 2019 is also being used since it is most reflective of typical campus operations prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The figures used in this credit represent all the electricity purchased by Stanford in the performance year. Any energy use provided to the Stanford Hospital & Clinics (SHC) from Stanford's Central Energy Facility were deducted from the totals used in this credit since Stanford does not have operational control over SHC.

The figure used for district steam/hot water in this credit captures only the hot water production that is generated through the backup hot water generators, since the majority of hot water generated using Stanford's heat recovery chillers is essentially a byproduct of chilled water production and is thus captured in the "purchased electricity" credit field. This figure also captures natural gas used at Stanford's Process Steam Plant.

Please note that the reported Laboratory Space metric has nearly doubled from the last submission, and the Other energy intensive space has also somewhat reduced. These changes are due to improvements in the methodology of identifying these types of space, rather than actual increases or decreases in the GSF since Stanford's prior STARS submission.

Please also note that there is a significant reduction in Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy and a correlated increase in imported and on-site electricity between the Performance Year and Baseline Year (2004-2005). Prior to 2015, Stanford obtained the vast majority of its electricity from an onsite cogeneration facility that used natural gas as its fuel source. However, cogeneration requires a reliance on fossil fuels. Stanford launched a new energy system that came online in 2015 called Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI). SESI transformed Stanford’s energy supply from a natural-gas based cogeneration power plant that provided electricity and steam to the campus to a more efficient central energy facility that replaced steam with hot water generated through heat recovery and sources electricity from the grid with a renewable portfolio. Heat-recovery takes advantage of the 70% simultaneous overlap in heating and cooling demand of the campus, using the waste heat from the campus chilled water system to produce hot water for campus heating. The central energy facility also hosts hot and chilled water tanks for energy storage. As a result, natural gas (a Stationary fuel) only needs to be used for heating on the coldest days of the year. The central energy facility and many Stanford buildings now receive heating and cooling by electricity.

Please note that the "Gross floor area of building space," "Laboratory Space," and "Other energy intensive space" metrics reported in this credit are based on data from 2019 to match the energy data reported. On the contrary, the corresponding metrics reported in the PRE-4 credit is based on the most recently analyzed data, which was done in early 2021. Two of the most notable buildings constructed between the 2019 and early 2021 timeframe are the Escondido Village Residential buildings (~1,851,000 sq ft) and the Biomedical Innovation building (~219,000 sq ft). Additionally, the Terman Engineering building (~44,000 sq ft) significantly improved its EUI between 2019 through 2021. This is why the "Other energy intensive space" metric reported in the PRE-4 credit (~15,000 sq ft), which is based on 2021 data, is significantly lower than the ~59,000 sq ft metric reported in the Building Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions credits, which are based on 2019 data.