Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.40
Liaison Austin Sutherland
Submission Date Feb. 21, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Pennsylvania
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.80 / 4.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (all sources, excluding transportation fuels), performance year :
2,689,331 MMBtu

Total clean and renewable electricity generated on site during the performance year and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes:
0 MMBtu

A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :
---

Non-electric renewable energy generated on-site, performance year:
0 MMBtu

A brief description of on-site renewable non-electric energy devices:
---

Total clean and renewable electricity generated by off-site projects that the institution catalyzed and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes, performance year:
0 MMBtu

A brief description of off-site, institution-catalyzed, renewable electricity generating devices:
---

Total third-party certified RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products (including renewable electricity purchased through a utility-provided certified green power option) purchased during the performance year:
539,118 MMBtu

A brief description of the RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products, including contract timeframes:

In 2013, the University signed a five-year contract to purchase 200M kWh of wind Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) annually. According to the EPA’s accounting of voluntary REC purchases, this offsets over 50% of the emissions from Penn’s total electrical usage.

In the FY18 academic year, the University intends to begin to evaluate a renewable energy purchase on a scale appropriate to the size and needs of the institution.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass ---
Coal ---
Geothermal ---
Hydro ---
Natural gas ---
Nuclear ---
Solar photovoltaic ---
Wind ---
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
---

Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass ---
Coal ---
Electricity ---
Fuel oil ---
Geothermal ---
Natural gas ---
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
---

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
20.05

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

90%+ of Penn's building area is heated via the district steam heating loop; however, a few old, residential-scale buildings or parts of buildings are heated via independent fuel oil or natural gas fired boilers/furnaces.

While the Morris Arboretum is not included in the boundary for this report, their LEED Platinum Horticulture Center employs a geothermal system for heating.

The University of Pennsylvania is a major research institution, with over 3,000 degrees granted annually from twelve professional and academic schools at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels. Penn is committed to reducing emissions and energy use, as stated in the 2014 "Climate Action Plan 2.0". This submission documents Penn's efforts during the FY17 year and compares them to the FY14 baseline year which corresponds with the University's "Climate Action Plan. 2.0". The submission relies on information related to the main, academic, West Philadelphia campus, but to more fully document efforts across the Penn system, information related to the Morris Arboretum and New Bolton has also been referenced and noted as outside the boundary in descriptions. The information is used to enrich examples of University efforts and is not intended to be the primary justification for credits. The responses for each of the questions and sub-questions are drawn from University materials, both internal and public documents. Each section notes the website where the information can be found.


90%+ of Penn's building area is heated via the district steam heating loop; however, a few old, residential-scale buildings or parts of buildings are heated via independent fuel oil or natural gas fired boilers/furnaces.

While the Morris Arboretum is not included in the boundary for this report, their LEED Platinum Horticulture Center employs a geothermal system for heating.

The University of Pennsylvania is a major research institution, with over 3,000 degrees granted annually from twelve professional and academic schools at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels. Penn is committed to reducing emissions and energy use, as stated in the 2014 "Climate Action Plan 2.0". This submission documents Penn's efforts during the FY17 year and compares them to the FY14 baseline year which corresponds with the University's "Climate Action Plan. 2.0". The submission relies on information related to the main, academic, West Philadelphia campus, but to more fully document efforts across the Penn system, information related to the Morris Arboretum and New Bolton has also been referenced and noted as outside the boundary in descriptions. The information is used to enrich examples of University efforts and is not intended to be the primary justification for credits. The responses for each of the questions and sub-questions are drawn from University materials, both internal and public documents. Each section notes the website where the information can be found.

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.