Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 51.95
Liaison Parker Long
Submission Date July 24, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Virginia Commonwealth University
OP-8: Building Energy Consumption

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.00 / 6.00 Steve Heinitz
Recycling Manager
Physical Plant
"---" 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 1,124,953 MMBtu 774,818.79 MMBtu

Purchased electricity and steam:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Grid-purchased electricity 584,323.07 MMBtu 410,341.82 MMBtu
District steam/hot water 0 MMBtu 0 MMBtu

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 4,819,720 Gross square feet 9,022,822 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year::
Floor Area
Laboratory space 620,110 Square feet
Healthcare space 0 Square feet
Other energy intensive space

Degree days, performance year (base 65 °F)::
Degree days (see help icon above)
Heating degree days 4,184.40
Cooling degree days 1,401.20

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, 2013 June 30, 2014
Baseline Year July 1, 2007 June 30, 2008

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

We are using a baseline for the fiscal year 7/1/07-6/30/08.


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

We encourage our buildings managers to keep thermostat settings between 68-72 F in the winter and 72-76 F in the summer months to reduce heaing and coolling loads to our HVAC systems.


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

LED's lighting is routinely being utilized as we replace old fixtures such as T12 and T8 fluorescent bulbs and ballasts in renovation project through the campus. We have upgraded most of the fixtures in the Parking Decks to LED's since this lighting is on 24/7.


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

Our Physical Plant staff is adding more motion detectors to areas in our buildings that do not have a need for constant lighting for safety/security reason. To include: faculty and staff offices, work rooms/copier rooms, kitchen areas other low activity areas.


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

We utilize large glass windows to take in natural light and to heat spaces in many of our newer buildings. Ex. McGlothin Medical Education Center uses automatice shades to let in light and also shade interior spaces based temperature and the occupancy of the space.


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

VCU utilizes a ground -source heat pump at our LEED Platinum Rice Center.


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

We are not utilizing any cogeneration technologies at this time. We have conducted some feasibioty studies at our main Steam Plan for the use of a combined steam and electric generation.


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

We currently do have a a formal building recommisioning program in place, we are looking into making this a priority item and have requested funding to support in our next fiscal year. 2016.


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

All utilities are metered on the individual building level withsome buildings utilizing sub-metering for select equipment. Metering and billing data for our utilities is stored in the EnergyCAP Energy Management System. This system helps to track interval data and meter readings, calculate cost avoidance, eliminate billing errors, pinpoint wasteful facilities, streamline energy accounting, budgeting, accruals, and bill payment, generate analysis reports, graphs, and benchmarks and track greenhouse gas emissions.


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

Our policy is to replace equipment as needed with an emphasis on installing the most energy efficient equipment that is available.


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

Since we are a urban campus we do not have many green spaces that are open to the general public


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

Canteen VCU's vending contractor installed all new vending machines that have automatic lights that shut-off when the machines are not in use.


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

We utilize a Building Automation System (BAS) scheduling software . We have replaced
constant speed motors with variable


The website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Sent email to Mike Risley in FMD-Energy area to provide information. 6/23/15. Steve H.
Mike has access to the STARS reporting system and eneter directly.


Sent email to Mike Risley in FMD-Energy area to provide information. 6/23/15. Steve H.
Mike has access to the STARS reporting system and eneter directly.

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.