University of California, Davis
OP-1: Building Operations and Maintenance

Here are some of the ways that UC Davis ensures compliance with sustainable building operations and maintenance guidelines and policies, as they relate to the areas in the criteria of this credit: Building maintenance staff service a wide variety of equipment ranging from package AC units, chillers, gas heaters, walk in boxes, ultra-low freezers, supply, return, exhaust fans, cooling towers. They perform weekly, monthly and yearly preventative maintenance checks on equipment. They also repair and install new HVAC/R equipment for better temperature control and energy efficiency. Facilities Management lighting technicians maintain the tens of thousands of lighting fixtures throughout campus classrooms, laboratories, and greenhouses. They provide proper disposal of hazardous waste generated by lamp and ballast replacement. They keep abreast of the rapidly changing technologies in lighting systems and equipment and play an integral role in the Smart Lighting Initiative, the goal of which is to reduce energy used for campus lighting by 60% by the year 2020. Facilities Management works in close collaboration with Utilities, Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability, and the California Lighting Technology Center to improve illumination while saving energy. In 2006-08, UC Davis completed 35 infrastructure projects for an annual savings of 8.5 million kilowatt-hours per year and 2.8 million therms of natural gas. Cost savings for these projects are estimated at $3 million per year. The renovations have included air conditioning, monitoring systems, steam traps, central chilling plant conversion and lighting upgrades. Facilities Management utilizes a holiday setback schedule in December to reduce energy waste during low-occupancy in many buildings. Additionally, many Air Handler Units (AHUs), Exhaust Fans (Efs) and associated zones (room temperature controls) are already being turned off or setback on a daily basis. Custodial Services provides cleaning services for classrooms, conference rooms, halls and lobbies, laboratories, offices, restrooms, and stairways, as well as collect and manage the recycling throughout campus. UC Davis is planning for the entire campus to meet the goal of zero waste by 2020 and Custodial Services provides support services for zero waste events, including set up and clean up of special bins for recycling and composting. They even provide bins for office composting. UC Davis administrative personnel are making an effort to reduce waste with a strategy called environmentally preferred purchasing. Departments are encouraged to consider existing resources, buy surplus or buy recycled products before considering other purchases. The campus purchasing system is online and prioritizes recycled products. Employees are instructed to consider an item's cost over its whole life cycle, including energy use, water efficiency, how quickly the product will need to be replaced and whether it can be recycled. Energy Star products certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are prioritized, and campus has been successful with campaigns to buy back inefficient refrigerators and freezers as well as exchange older Hewlett Packard printers. According to UC Davis Policy, paper purchases and publications should have a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer waste recycled content; e-mail, electronic forms and paperless transactions are encouraged The Davis campus is known for its bicycle culture, and with the surrounding city was the first community recognized as a platinum-level "Bicycle Friendly Community" by the League of American Bicyclists. The campus and community provide an extensive network of bike lanes, off-street bike paths and bicycle underpasses for riders.In 1968, students founded the Unitrans bus system with its iconic double-decker buses. Today 95 percent of Unitrans travel is powered by clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG), in partnership with the City of Davis. On an average weekday, about 40 percent of campus visitors ride bikes to campus, 28 percent carpool or take mass transit, and almost 6 percent walk or skate. UC Davis is committed to fostering sustainable places that wisely steward the campus's natural resources, while creating a healthy, enriching physical environment for learning and discovery. That commitment includes the outdoor campus landscape, gateways to the Davis community and a network of natural reserves elsewhere in California that UC Davis manages. UC Davis has automated and centralized its landscape irrigation control to meet the demands of campus weather. Computerized central controls have trans­formed campus water conservation, saving an estimated 49 million gallons of water per year, almost one-third of total utility water used on campus.

The following buildings are registered for certification using the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance green building rating system: Emerson Hall Giedt Hall Hutchison Hall Mathematical Sciences Building Mrak Hall Vet Med 3A Vet Med 3A-MPT Webster Hall Buildings larger than 5,000 gross square feet are consistently operated and maintained in accordance with similar sustainable operations and maintenance guidelines and policies. There is a team at UC Davis working to obtain LEED EB certification for several buildings, as well as implementing campus-wide policies and programs that comply with LEED standards for building operations and maintenance.