Overall Rating	Silver
Overall Score	54.78
Liaison	Christa Rieck
Submission Date	Jan. 3, 2024

STARS v2.2

University of Houston
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	5.47 / 6.00	Elizabeth Clark Sustainability Coordinator Facilities Planning

"---" 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	281,723,491 Kilowatt-hours	961,240.55 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems)	21,840 Kilowatt-hours	74.52 MMBtu

Stationary fuels and thermal energy, performance year (report MMBtu):

	MMBtu
Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy	509,100 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water	1,732 MMBtu

Total site energy consumption, performance year:

1,472,147.07 MMBtu

Performance year building space

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:

16,740,264 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:

	Floor area
Laboratory space	1,540,360 Square feet
Healthcare space	83,429 Square feet
Other energy intensive space	305,776 Square feet

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

20,293,618 Gross square feet

Performance year heating and cooling degree days

Degree days, performance year:

	Degree days
Heating degree days	1,600.20 Degree-Days (°F)
Cooling degree days	2,731.30 Degree-Days (°F)

Total degree days, performance year:

4,331.50 Degree-Days (°F)

Performance period

Start and end dates of the performance year (or 3-year period):

	Start date	End date
Performance period	Sept. 1, 2022	Aug. 31, 2023

Metric used in scoring for Part 1

Total site energy consumption per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area per degree day, performance year:

16.75 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	219,510,524.63 Kilowatt-hours	748,969.91 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems)	0 Kilowatt-hours	0 MMBtu

Stationary fuels and thermal energy, baseline year (report MMBtu):

	MMBtu
Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy	443,584.81 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water	375,935 MMBtu

Total site energy consumption, baseline year:

1,568,489.72 MMBtu

Baseline year building space

Gross floor area of building space, baseline year:

6,701,000 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, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011

A brief description of when and why the energy consumption baseline was adopted:

2011 is when the Energy manager for the university was hired and began capturing accurate energy information for the campus.

Source energy

Source-site ratio for imported electricity:

Total energy consumption per unit of floor area:

	Site energy	Source energy
Performance year	0.09 MMBtu per square foot	0.20 MMBtu per square foot
Baseline year	0.23 MMBtu per square foot	0.46 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:

55.69

Optional Fields

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

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A brief description of the institution's initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices in regard to energy efficiency:

UH completed a draft Energy Master Plan to determine energy conservation plans for a resilient and growing campus. These initiatives will be implemented before the University of Houston Centennial in 2027.

A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution:

As of 2016 all new buildings have been certified to a minimum of LEED silver.

A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:

The University of Houston has an active LED transition program. Projects are evaluated on their potential for savings within two years of installing new LEDs. All outdoor lighting has transitioned to LED, the underground tunnel system, and major lecture halls. Further more all new buildings will be LEED certified silver and must comply with related mercury lamp reduction credits.

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:

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A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace energy-consuming appliances, equipment, and systems with high efficiency alternatives:

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Website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency program is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The significant difference in "Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water" reported between Baseline Year and Performance Year is due to the deactivation of the University of Houston Medical Center building. This building, being separate from UH's Central Plant, required the importing of steam, hot water, and chilled water while it was operational. Since Hurricane Harvey in 2019 the building sustained significant flood damage necessitating its closure and drop in needed steam, etc. The remaining reported MMBtu are still for this building but in a deactivated capacity.

Additionally, Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy is drastically lowered from previous years due to these coming from generators that are used as part of a peak demand response program (I.E. the generators are turned on to reduce grid strain.). The mmbtu here are results from the generators being run monthly for maintenance and upkeep as opposed to full service.

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.