Overall Rating Reporter - expired
Overall Score
Liaison Kira Stoll
Submission Date March 2, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of California, Berkeley
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete Reporter Kira Stoll
Director of Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (all sources, excluding transportation fuels), performance year :
1,606,841 MMBtu

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:
13 MMBtu

A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :

This year the campus has installed almost 1MW of solar PV. In 2015, two of the five sites become operational in December of the performance year.

Solar PV systems at MLK Student Union, the new Eshleman, the Recreation Sports complex, and the University Village apartments are now operational. The Office of Sustainability and Energy worked in a collaborative, competitive procurement strategy with 19 other public agencies in the region, led by the Alameda County General Services division, Berkeley secured very favorable pricing for these three rooftop and one canopy/carport installations – 25-40% below market rate. In aggregate these systems will bring cost savings in year one to the campus. The solar will be installed by a purchase power agreement (PPA) - the vendor is covering the costs of installation and operating and maintaining the systems, and Berkeley will pay for the power they generate.

Last year, Jacobs Hall, the new campus building for design innovation in engineering, opened with rooftop solar arrays installed by Sungevity. These arrays are translucent solar panels that not only produce electricity but are an architectural feature.


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

A brief description of on-site renewable non-electric energy devices:

UC Berkeley added a solar thermal water heating system to a residence hall in 2012. The solar thermal serves the hall, the third party vendor retains the renewable attribute.


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

A brief description of off-site, institution-catalyzed, renewable electricity generating devices:
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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:

Berkeley procures RECs for LEED related building projects. In 2015, the performance year, there were no purchases, but some are upcoming.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass 5
Coal 0
Geothermal 5
Hydro 9
Natural gas 24
Nuclear 21
Solar photovoltaic 9
Wind 7
Other (please specify and explain below) 21

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

The public utility that provides electricity for the campus has 21% unspecified in the power-mix and is reported this way as required by the California Energy Commission. The California Energy Commission calls unspecified power “electricity from transactions that are not traceable to specific generation sources.” Unspecified power is electricity purchased on the spot market from someone like a third-party power provider. Each one of those third-parties will have a different mix of generation (and emissions), depending on what their generation portfolio is. The utility includes this power in the greenhouse gas inventory to The Climate Registry using an average emissions factor for the third-party power providers, rather than accounting for each individual electron coming from one of the third-party power providers’ specific power plants or wind farms.


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 17
Other (please specify and explain below) 83

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

The campus uses steam to heat buildings - the steam is primarily generated from natural gas cogeneration facility that produces electricity and steam.


Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
0.04

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.