Overall Rating Platinum - expired
Overall Score 85.72
Liaison Marina Zdobnova
Submission Date March 4, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of California, Berkeley
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.89 / 6.00 Kira Stoll
Director of Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Site energy use per unit of floor area

Performance year energy consumption

Electricity use, performance year (report kilowatt-hours):
kWh MMBtu
Imported electricity 38,757,286 Kilowatt-hours 132,239.86 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) 1,327,320 Kilowatt-hours 4,528.82 MMBtu

Stationary fuels and thermal energy, performance year (report MMBtu):
MMBtu
Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy 2,683,140 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water 0 MMBtu

Total site energy consumption, performance year:
2,819,908.68 MMBtu

Performance year building space

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
16,599,236 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:
Floor area
Laboratory space 5,042,963 Square feet
Healthcare space 75,228 Square feet
Other energy intensive space 1,332,775 Square feet

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
28,168,393 Gross square feet

Performance year heating and cooling degree days 

Degree days, performance year:
Degree days
Heating degree days 2,602 Degree-Days (°F)
Cooling degree days 472 Degree-Days (°F)

Total degree days, performance year:
3,074 Degree-Days (°F)

Performance period

Start and end dates of the performance year (or 3-year period):
Start date End date
Performance period Jan. 1, 2019 Dec. 31, 2019

Metric used in scoring for Part 1

Total site energy consumption per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area per degree day, performance year:
32.57 Btu / GSF / Degree-Day (°F)

Part 2. Reduction in source energy use per unit of floor area

Baseline year energy consumption

STARS 2.2 requires electricity data in kilowatt-hours (kWh). If a baseline has already been established in a previous version of STARS and the institution wishes to continue using it, the electricity data must be re-entered in kWh. To convert existing electricity figures from MMBtu to kWh, simply multiply by 293.07107 MMBtu/kWh.

Electricity use, baseline year (report kWh):
kWh MMBtu
Imported electricity 34,327,750 Kilowatt-hours 117,126.28 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) 157,291 Kilowatt-hours 536.68 MMBtu

Stationary fuels and thermal energy, baseline year (report MMBtu):
MMBtu
Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy 2,487,314 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water 0 MMBtu

Total site energy consumption, baseline year:
2,604,976.96 MMBtu

Baseline year building space

Gross floor area of building space, baseline year:
12,167,562 Gross square feet

Baseline period

Start and end dates of the baseline year (or 3-year period):
Start date End date
Baseline period Jan. 1, 2016 Dec. 31, 2016

A brief description of when and why the energy consumption baseline was adopted:
2016 is chosen as a baseline because that is the year the campus established a baseline for energy efficiency to track the UC goal of reducing the EUI per square foot by 2% annually.

Source energy

Source-site ratio for imported electricity:
3

Total energy consumption per unit of floor area:
Site energy Source energy
Performance year 0.17 MMBtu per square foot 0.19 MMBtu per square foot
Baseline year 0.21 MMBtu per square foot 0.23 MMBtu per square foot

Metric used in scoring for Part 2

Percentage reduction in total source energy consumption per unit of floor area from baseline:
20.37

Optional Fields 

Documentation to support the performance year energy consumption figures reported above:
---

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices in regard to energy efficiency:
The Energy Office manages energy usage campuswide to reduce energy costs, optimize building operations and provide feedback on energy usage to building occupants.

The student-run Berkeley Energy Resources Collaborative (BERC) hosts an annual energy symposium.

Residence hall competitions to reduce electricity consumption and bulb exchanges have been held.

The campus offers an online Energy Dashboard that lets anyone see up-to-date reports on building electricity use across the campus.
https://us.pulseenergy.com/UniCalBerkeley/dashboard/#/overview

The campus has been curtailing energy use during the winter holidays since the early 1990's. In 2019, the UC Berkeley Campus curtailed buildings for 12 days, Dec 21st - Jan 1st, curtailing energy use in 60 buildings. The 2019 process included being more stringent when granting exemptions; this paid off with curtailment saving the campus 673 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions and $87,000.

A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution:
The campus's Energy Use Policy which came into effect in 2014 and was updated in 2020, provides a local framework to support energy-efficient decisions. The policy outlines required energy conservation practices for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, equipment, construction and renovation projects.

An energy management system (EMS) that controls ventilation, temperature, lights and operating hours is used in buildings on the main campus. The EMS unit focuses on programming mechanical systems to balance building occupant comfort with energy conservation. The group also provides guidance and assistance in the design and construction of new campus building controls. The EMS group uses proprietary building automation systems to control and monitor 75+ campus buildings. EMS is currently transitioning their automation systems from Web Access (Barrington) to WebCtrl (ALC) which is the new campus standard, meaning all new projects will be using WebCtrl. Currently, 26 buildings are using WebCtrl.

The campus Energy Office (EO) tracks, monitors, and manages energy
usage campus-wide to improve design, performance, and operation of
buildings; reduce energy costs; and increase awareness of energy and
water usage. Through monitoring the operations and maintenance of
campus facilities, OE works with the campus community to develop and
implement projects that reduce electricity, steam, natural gas, and water
consumption.

A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:
The campus installed 800 exterior LED lamps - all of the iconic exterior lampposts - replacing the existing metal halide bulbs. The wattage in these fixtures dropped from 175 to 40 watts.

The campus is in process of retrofitting most campus buildings with LED lighting fixtures. The campus-wide LED conversion project is working
through each building on campus, replacing end-of-life T8 fluorescent lighting with LED technology. In 2019, two large Chemistry lab buildings with complex, sensitive work spaces were completed. The new LED
lighting has an expected lifetime of 70,000 hours and save $50,000 annually.

A brief description of passive solar heating, geothermal systems, and related strategies employed by the institution:
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A brief description of co-generation employed by the institution:
The Cogeneration Plant provides approximately 90% of the electricity and 100% of the steam needs of the main campus. This used to be the boiler plant until its expansion in 1987 when cogeneration was added. Three existing boilers were kept which are now used as back-up for campus steam requirement. The plant operates 24/7/365.

In 2017, the cogeneration plant came under operational control of UC Berkeley, prior to that it was operated by a third party. Under the past third party operation the campus used only the steam energy from the plant and purchased electricity from the utility. Since 2017, the campus is using both the electricity and steam from the plant.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace energy-consuming appliances, equipment, and systems with high efficiency alternatives:
Berkeley has won awards for its green buildings and recommissioning efforts. The Energy Office's RCx program goal is to implement permanent and/or automated operational improvements of equipment or systems that result in energy savings,

An example commissioning project: a recently installed chiller at VLSB lab building that operates 24/7 included no-cost measures with a lockout temperature of 58F. In addition to energy savings, this lockout gives the chilled water system less run time, which results in less frequent downtime and reduced maintenance cost.

Website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Information in this field was provided by the Office of Sustainability and the Facilities Services department.

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.