Virginia Tech
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Institution supports the development and use of clean and renewable energy sources, using any one or combination of the following options:

Clean and renewable electricity

1. Purchasing or otherwise importing electricity from certified/verified clean and renewable sources. This includes utility-provided green power purchasing options, power purchase agreements (PPAs) for electricity generated off-site, and equivalent products that bundle physical electricity with the right to claim its renewable energy attributes.

2. Generating electricity from clean and renewable sources on-site and retaining or retiring the rights to its renewable energy attributes. In other words, if the institution has sold Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or the equivalent for the clean and renewable energy generated, it may not claim such energy here. The on-site renewable energy generating devices may be owned and/or maintained by another party as long as the institution has contractual rights to the associated environmental attributes.

Clean and renewable thermal energy

3. Using clean and renewable stationary fuels on-site to generate thermal energy, e.g., using certain types of biomass for heating (see Standards and Terms).

4. Purchasing or otherwise importing steam, hot water, and/or chilled water from certified/verified clean and renewable sources (e.g., a municipal geothermal facility).

Unbundled renewable energy products

5. Purchasing RECs, Guarantees of Origin (GOs), International RECs (I-RECs), or equivalent unbundled renewable energy products certified by a third party (e.g., Green-e or EKOenergy).

Energy on the grid is indistinguishable by source. Therefore, neither the electric grid mix for the region in which the institution is located, nor the grid mix reported by the electric utility that serves the institution (i.e., the utility’s standard or default product) count for this credit in the absence of RECs, GOs, I-RECs, or equivalent products that document the renewable electricity delivered or consumed and give the institution to right to claim it as renewable.

Technologies that reduce the amount of energy used but do not generate renewable energy do not count for this credit (e.g., daylighting, passive solar design, ground-source heat pumps). The benefits of such strategies, as well as the improved efficiencies achieved through using cogeneration technologies, are captured by the Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Building Energy Consumption credits.

Transportation fuels, which are covered by the Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Campus Fleet credits, are not included.

This credit applies to all institutions. 

An institution earns the maximum of 4 points for this credit by obtaining energy from clean and renewable sources (Options 1-4) and/or by purchasing unbundled renewable energy products (Option 5) equivalent to 100 percent of total campus energy consumption. Incremental points are awarded based on the amount of clean and renewable energy generated or purchased compared to total campus energy consumption. For example, an institution that obtained an amount of energy from clean and renewable sources equivalent to 50 percent of its total energy consumption would earn 2 points (half of the points available for this credit).

Points for this credit are calculated automatically in the STARS Reporting Tool as follows:

Timeframe

Report the most recent data available from within the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission. Institutions may choose the annual start and end dates that work best with the data they have (e.g., fiscal or calendar year), as long as data are reported from a consecutive 12-month period.  

Sampling and Data Standards

Report all electricity, raw fuels, and other energy products used on-site by the institution (as the institution is defined in the overall STARS institutional boundary). Transportation fuels are excluded. Reporting on a sample or subset of energy generation and consumption is not allowed for this credit.

All reported energy figures should be based on site energy (the amount of energy consumed on campus) rather than source energy (the amount of energy consumed on campus plus the energy used off-site to generate and transport the energy to the institution).

Institutions that convert fuel on-site (e.g., on-campus cogeneration facilities and boilers) should report only the amount of fuel purchased/converted toward the total energy consumption figure, not the resulting heat, steam, hot/chilled water, or electricity.

MMBtu (one million British thermal units - a standard measure of energy) is used to aggregate energy consumption data from multiple sources. An institution must report electricity data in kilowatt-hours, which are converted to MMBtu automatically in the Reporting Tool using a factor of 0.003412. All other figures (i.e., for stationary fuels and thermal energy) must be converted into MMBtu using the following equivalents prior to being entered into the Reporting Tool:

AASHE publishes a unit conversion tool that includes more detailed conversion factors (e.g., for liquid fuels). See also the International Energy Agency’s unit converter.