| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 71.74 |
| Liaison | Carrie Metzgar |
| Submission Date | March 5, 2021 |
University of California, San Diego
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.61 / 6.00 |
Michelle
Perez Energy and Sustainability Manager Utilities and Sustainability |
Electricity use, performance year (report kilowatt-hours):
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity | 59,841,314 Kilowatt-hours | 204,178.56 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) | 22,277,848 Kilowatt-hours | 76,012.02 MMBtu |
Stationary fuels and thermal energy, performance year (report MMBtu):
| MMBtu | |
| Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy | 3,006,582.10 MMBtu |
| Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water | 0 MMBtu |
Total site energy consumption, performance year:
Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:
| Floor area | |
| Laboratory space | 3,348,211 Square feet |
| Healthcare space | 1,198,650 Square feet |
| Other energy intensive space | 349,929 Square feet |
EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
Degree days, performance year:
| Degree days | |
| Heating degree days | 1,211 Degree-Days (°F) |
| Cooling degree days | 822 Degree-Days (°F) |
Total degree days, performance year:
Start and end dates of the performance year (or 3-year period):
| Start date | End date | |
| Performance period | Jan. 1, 2019 | Dec. 31, 2019 |
Total site energy consumption per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area per degree day, performance year:
Electricity use, baseline year (report kWh):
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity | 46,322,227 Kilowatt-hours | 158,051.44 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) | 28,134 Kilowatt-hours | 95.99 MMBtu |
Stationary fuels and thermal energy, baseline year (report MMBtu):
| MMBtu | |
| Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy | 4,730,362 MMBtu |
| Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water | 0 MMBtu |
Total site energy consumption, baseline year:
Gross floor area of building space, baseline year:
Start and end dates of the baseline year (or 3-year period):
| Start date | End date | |
| Baseline period | Jan. 1, 2008 | Dec. 31, 2008 |
A brief description of when and why the energy consumption baseline was adopted:
2008 is the baseline year because the campus expanded significantly in prior years, making 2008 a good baseline for comparison to today. 2008 is also the first year for which we have third-party verified climate data.
Source-site ratio for imported electricity:
Total energy consumption per unit of floor area:
| Site energy | Source energy | |
| Performance year | 0.16 MMBtu per square foot | 0.18 MMBtu per square foot |
| Baseline year | 0.37 MMBtu per square foot | 0.39 MMBtu per square foot |
Percentage reduction in total source energy consumption per unit of floor area from baseline:
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:
Facilities Management, Sustainability, Procurement, and Housing/Dining/Hospitality all work together to educate faculty, staff, students and community members about saving energy. Examples of outreach programs include the 2019 UC Cool Campus Challenge, a 10-week competition between all UC campuses aimed at reducing the UC carbon footprint and creating a culture of conservation across campuses; plugload reduction and shut the sash education for labs through the university Green Labs Program; plugload reduction and energy conservation behavior change through the university's Green Office Certification program; and outreach to students by the HDH EcoNauts, Sustainability interns, Facilities Management interns, and more.
A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution:
A computerized Energy Management System connects all major campus buildings and centrally monitors and controls mechanical systems — heating, ventilating and air conditioning — based on occupancy. The programmed system reduces energy use during evenings, weekends and holidays. Precise programming reduces peak-time energy demand, maximizes conservation and allows for efficient room temperature management and long-term trending and comparative analysis. Thermostats in offices and labs are centrally controlled for efficient and accurate temperature settings. (See the table below for settings.) In some instances; however, office members can make slight manual adjustments to these controls if the workspace is too warm or cool.
Office/ administrative spaces
Setting: Occupied 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. weekdays
Heating Mode: Keeps temperature above 70°
Cooling mode: Keeps temperature below 74°
No heating or cooling occurs between 70° and 74°
Setting: Standby 4:30–8 p.m. weekdays
Heating Mode: Keeps temperature above 68°
Cooling Mode: Keeps temperature below 76°
No heating or cooling occurs between 68° and 76°
Setting: Unoccupied 8 p.m.– 6 a.m. 7 days a week
Heating Mode: Keeps temperature above 66°
Cooling Mode: Keeps temperature below 78°
No heating or cooling occurs between 66° and 78°
Labs
Setting: Occupied 6 a.m.–6 p.m. weekdays
Heating Mode: Keeps temperature above 70°
Cooling Mode: Keeps temperature below 74°
No heating or cooling occurs between 70° and 74°
Setting: Unoccupied 6 p.m.–6 a.m. 7 days a week
Heating Mode: Keeps temperature above 68°
Cooling Mode: Keeps temperature below 76°
No heating or cooling occurs between 68° and 76° "
A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:
Three parking lots, one parking structure, two gas stations, the Birch Aquarium exhibit areas, and 10% of campus walkways are lit with LED light fixtures, with plans to transition all exterior lights to LED installations for both interior and exterior applications.
A brief description of passive solar heating, geothermal systems, and related strategies employed by the institution:
Two outdoor Olympic-sized swimming pools are heated by solar thermal systems.
A brief description of co-generation employed by the institution:
The cogeneration plant provides 85% of the campus’s annual electricity needs. 54% of the campus’s 60 MMBtu/hr heating load is served by waste steam from the campus's cogeneration plant. Heat recovery from the cogeneration plant also drives 3 steam-expansion chillers that together provide 9,750 refrigeration tons. A 3.8 million gallon chilled water storage tank is connected to the chilled water system, and it permanently load shifts from on peak to off peak 3 to 6 MW per day. The combined heat and power achieves 66% overall simple efficiency. The two gas turbines in the cogeneration plant use a non-ammonia catalytic emission reduction system that produces only 1.5 ppm NOx.
Thanks to recent regulatory authority for piping ""directed biogas"", efforts are underway to contract for supplies of remote sources of biogas for use in the gas turbines as a substitute for natural gas.
In addition to the gas turbine cogeneration plant, UC San Diego has a 2.8 MW fuel cell that runs on directed biogas from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. Construction is currently underway on a 350 ton absorption chiller that will run on the exhaust heat of the fuel cell.
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace energy-consuming appliances, equipment, and systems with high efficiency alternatives:
In the last five years, UC San Diego’s energy efficiency program has prevented energy use totaling 42 million kilowatt-hrs and 2.7 million therms of natural gas, saving $7.4 million per year on our energy bills. Since 2008 we have invested over $100M in energy efficiency projects, and we plan on doing nearly $100M more through 2025 and beyond. Total cost to implement these projects was $42.9M, of which $11.5M was offset by incentives from the UC/CSU/IOU Partnership, delivered by SDG&E.
The program includes the following, among other projects: (1) major HVAC retrofits in all major lab buildings built prior to 1992 – seven completed and eight more underway; (2) recommissioning of 26 buildings; (3) elimination of all T12 fluorescent lighting on campus; (4) several LED and induction lighting installations, with occupancy sensor control; and more.
Website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Note that this includes the Main Campus in La Jolla (including East Campus), but NOT the Hillcrest campus or other off-site facilities. This sum includes gas input for the onsite cogeneration plant (since UC San Diego owns the plant), electricity output of the fuel cell (since UC San Diego purchases the electricity from a third party through a power purchase agreement), electricity purchased from the utility, electricity generated by onsite solar panels, and gas purchased from the utility.
Note that this includes the Main Campus in La Jolla (including East Campus), but NOT the Hillcrest campus or other off-site facilities. This sum includes gas input for the onsite cogeneration plant (since UC San Diego owns the plant), electricity output of the fuel cell (since UC San Diego purchases the electricity from a third party through a power purchase agreement), electricity purchased from the utility, electricity generated by onsite solar panels, and gas purchased from the utility.
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.