University of Connecticut
OP-3: Building Operations and Maintenance

The Green Restaurant Certification (GRC) standards apply to operation and maintenance of existing buildings. Also, GRC standards are formally adopted, third-party verified (by the Green Restaurant Association), comprehensive standards for the sustainable operation and maintenance of existing facilities. It qualifies as a non-GBC rating system for O&M. Because these standards cover exclusively dining and kitchen facilities, they tend to be more rigorous and precisely applicable to these unique operations, thus, serve as a better metric than LEED O&M for operation and maintenance of this particular building type on college campuses. Here is a list of some of the GRC categories (note how they are parallel to LEED O&M standards but more detailed with respect to sustainable food and dining operations): Energy, Water, Waste, Disposables, Recycling, Composting, Chemicals, No Polystyrene Foam, Annual Education, Continual Change, Building. To our knowledge, UConn is the first public university in the nation to have all of its main campus dining halls be Green Restaurant certified. UConn has 8 dining halls: Northwest, Towers/Gelfenbein, Whitney, Putnam, McMahon, South, Buckley, and North. Collectively, these dining halls amount to more than 222,000 SF of Green Restaurant Silver Certified building space. Founded in 1990, The Green Restaurant Association, an international nonprofit organization, has pioneered the Green Restaurant® movement as the leading voice within the industry, encouraging restaurants to green their operations using transparent, science-based certification standards. With its turnkey certification system, the GRA has made it accessible for thousands of restaurants to become more environmentally sustainable in Energy, Water, Waste, Food, Chemicals, Disposables, & Building. Similar to LEED O&M, GRA is a third-party verified, four-tiered system: Entry-Level, Silver, Gold and Platinum. GRA certification is made up of over 500 environmental standards, including 40 from external science, environmental, and governmental organizations. Each standard earns a restaurant a certain number of GreenPoints™ towards becoming a Certified Green Restaurant®. The GRA has assessed the relative environmental impacts of each step to determine the number of GreenPoints™ each step earns. The GRA has used its 25 years of experience to synthesize seemingly disparate environmental issues into one cohesive set of standards to make the process of environmental change easy for restaurants and other food service facilities. Operating in 41 States and Canada, the GRA works with restaurants, manufacturers, and distributors to fulfill its mission of greening the restaurant industry. The GRA has been recognized in thousands of media over the years, including Time Magazine, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Fox News, & NBC Nightly News.

In late 2007, the Connecticut Legislature passed Public Act 07-100, which mandates that cleaning products used in State buildings must meet environmental standards set by a state-approved environmental certification program (e.g., Green SealTM). UConn has enforced this state law since that time.

According to Section 15.4: Electrical Metering Requirements and Section 15.16 Building Automation and Utilities Management Systems of the UConn Design Guidelines and Performance Standards, “The University utilizes the Square D PowerLogic system for metering buildings throughout campus." PowerLogic is used to “monitor consumption, power quality, demands, as well as other variables of our electrical systems.” http://paes.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1525/2016/04/Design-Guidelines-and-Performance-Standards-March-2016.pdf

According to Section 14.17 of the UConn Design Guidelines and Performance Standards “The University supplies chilled water, steam, and potable water to the main hub of the Storrs campus. Such utilities supplied by the University shall be metered and monitored utilizing the preferred electronic software which will be compatible with what electronic monitoring already exists in the building or the area around a new building.” Furthermore, “Meters shall be connected to the building management system for monitoring consumption.” The University also monitors area streamflows and issues water conservation notices to campus users during drought conditions. http://paes.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1525/2016/04/Design-Guidelines-and-Performance-Standards-March-2016.pdf

Indoor Air Quality Protocol for uncertified buildings: UConn’s Indoor Air Quality Protocol is encompassed in a Building Management System (BMS) and a corresponding Preventive Maintenance (PM) Program, which have been adopted and are implemented by Facilities Operations, Trade Services/Energy Management and HVAC Shops. The BMS is not publicly accessible but the IAQ protocol is summarized in writing (see below) by UConn's EMS/HVAC Shop Supervisor, Peter McQueeney, who included the linked copy of a relevant screen shot from the BMS. In summary, all occupied buildings on campus have HVAC systems. Many include air handling units (AHUs) which have air filters. In most of these buildings, HVAC systems are centrally-monitored/controlled through the BMS (Building Management System), which utilizes Andover Controls (Continuum), Schneider Electric (EcoStruxure), or United Technologies (Automated Logic WebCTRL). These systems monitor building conditions and control building HVAC to maintain comfort and air quality in the most energy efficient manner possible. In accordance with UConn’s Preventive Maintenance (PM) Program, filters are changed at regular intervals, additionally the BMS alerts Facilities Operations should filters have an excessive pressure drop indicating the maintenance schedule needs to be adjusted. Ventilation rates can also be increased in response to BMS monitoring that shows elevated CO2 concentrations in occupied areas. For certain contractor serviced high-occupancy buildings, Facilities manually updates a spreadsheet recording when vendors changed out air filters. Periodicity is determined based on manufacturer's recommendations and system requirements. The PM Program in Facilities is a proactive program designed to minimize failures and customer complaints. Facilities Control Center also responds to proactive and corrective work order requests, which allows employees and other members of the campus community to submit work requests relevant to IAQ or any other building issue related to comfort and/or building condition. Other UConn programs, policies and procedures include provisions explaining how the University prevents or mitigates common IAQ issues (smoking policy, mold guidelines, asbestos management plan, Contractor EHS Manual, High Performance Building Construction Standards—section 2.6 ). https://policy.uconn.edu/2011/06/02/smoking/ http://media.ehs.uconn.edu/Occupational/RegulatedBuildingMaterials/MoldCleanupGuidelines.pdf http://media.ehs.uconn.edu/Occupational/RegulatedBuildingMaterials/AsbestosManagementPlan.pdf http://media.ehs.uconn.edu/PoliciesProceduresForms/ContractorEHSManual.pdf https://updc.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1525/2016/10/Volume-One-DESIGN-GUIDELINES-September-2016-rev.pdf Facilities work order request https://fo.uconn.edu/