Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.04
Liaison Larry Cook
Submission Date Feb. 29, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of South Carolina
OP-8: Building Energy Consumption

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.74 / 6.00 Namita Koppa
Assistant Director for Program Management
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total building energy consumption, all sources (transportation fuels excluded):
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total building energy consumption 1,493,579 MMBtu 1,206,165 MMBtu

Purchased electricity and steam:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Grid-purchased electricity 760,532 MMBtu 632,991 MMBtu
District steam/hot water 553,647 MMBtu 1,713,895 MMBtu

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 10,615,885 Gross square feet 9,831,897 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year::
Floor Area
Laboratory space 1,231,799 Square feet
Healthcare space 51,389 Square feet
Other energy intensive space

Degree days, performance year (base 65 °F)::
Degree days (see help icon above)
Heating degree days 2,299
Cooling degree days 2,747

Source-site ratios::
Source-Site Ratio (see help icon above)
Grid-purchased electricity 3.14
District steam/hot water 1.20

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or 3-year periods)::
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2014 June 30, 2015
Baseline Year July 1, 2006 June 30, 2007

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

n/a


A brief description of any building temperature standards employed by the institution:

In our University Energy Policy we condition building spaces to +/- 3 degrees of 72 for heating and +/- 3 degrees of 75 for cooling. The only exception to these standards are lab spaces, vivariums, and any other space that may require special conditioning.


A brief description of any light emitting diode (LED) lighting employed by the institution:

LED lighting has been installed in buildings and parking garages on campus.


A brief description of any occupancy and/or vacancy sensors employed by the institution:

Several buildings on campus employ this technology to control lighting, air ventilation rates.


A brief description of any passive solar heating employed by the institution:

In one of our dormotories we have a passive solar heating sytem that provides hot water.


A brief description of any ground-source heat pumps employed by the institution:

There are none.


A brief description of any cogeneration technologies employed by the institution:

There are none.


A brief description of any building recommissioning or retrofit program employed by the institution:

We have an Energy Performance Contract with Johnson Controls and progressively under the contract, they have been retrofitting old building controls with new ones that are all integrated into one system.


A brief description of any energy metering and management systems employed by the institution:

The University of South Carolina Facilities manages and tracks energy consumption through the Metasys system. The system was provided by Johnson Controls, Inc.


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

n/a


A brief description of any energy-efficient landscape design initiatives employed by the institution:

Over the past 10 years we have eliminated many parking spaces and replaced them with green spaces, reducing the heat island effect of the campus


A brief description of any vending machine sensors, lightless machines, or LED-lit machines employed by the institution:

The University has installed the VendingMiser software to help reduce operating costs of vending machines on campus.


A brief description of other energy conservation and efficiency initiatives employed by the institution:

The following energy conservation measures are employed here at USC. Revised Building temperature standards, On-going upkeep and repair of our steam condensate system which will result in energy and water savings, Installation of pressure independent control valves on the air handling units of all our major buildings saving on energy, Installation of M2G boiler controls on all of our smaller independent boilers that are not on the central distribution system, Two new efficient 27,600 lb/hr boilers with economizers replaced an old inefficient water tube boiler, Plate frame Heat Exchangers in East, North,West and South Plants to provide free cooling during certain parts of the year, Installation of electrical sub-metering on almost all of our buildings, We have had numerous lighting projects to replace older T-32 with T-8 lighting, and we are currently testing LED lights to see where we can install them, Converted some of our Pneumatic T-stats to DDC control, We have installed VSD drives on almost all of our pumps, major air handlers, cooling towers, and chillers, and distribution equipment, Installation of low NOx burners for the East and West energy plant boilers, The on-going installation of the Metasys® Building Automation System to monitor energy use, control building HVAC and Lighting equipment by scheduling to save energy, An Energy Performance Contract with Johnson Controls with a savings target of $3.8 million dollars a year, Installation of LED lighting in the Bull, Senate, and Blossom Street parking Garages which will save more money in comparison to the High Pressure Sodium lights used before.


The website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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