Moving to meet policy goals, the university reported the following accomplishments in 2005:
- Twenty-five UC projects currently fall under the requirement that all buildings in UC's capital improvement program as of July 1, 2004, meet specified green building standards. In addition, the university opted to extend the green building standards to 53 other projects that were approved before the implementation date.
- Committed to having new buildings outperform Title 24 energy standards by 20 percent, the university has registered 98 projects, totaling nearly 12 million square feet of building space, with the Savings by Design Program. Offered by the state's four investor-owned utility companies, the program provides design assistance, energy analysis and financial incentives to offset increased costs associated with more energy efficiency buildings. Incentive payments totaling $4.1 million are anticipated for these projects, allowing the university to reduce annual energy costs by $5 million.
- The university's goal is to reduce energy consumption in existing facilities by 10 percent over the next decade. Through a partnership program with the investor-owned utilities and the California State University, UC received $6 million for energy retrofit and commissioning projects in existing buildings. The funded projects are projected to reduce UC's annual energy costs by $1.8 million. Prompted by the success of the program, a new three-year joint program has been approved that will provide UC and CSU with an additional $38 million, adding another $5.8 million in anticipated annual energy savings by 2008.
- UC also split $3 million from the California Energy Commission for Public Interest Energy Research grant to bring new technologies to the marketplace.
- The university's goal is to build 10 megawatts of renewable energy projects on UC campuses and meet California's renewable portfolio goal of 20 percent green power from the grid by 2010. Toward this goal, UC required its energy service provider, Arizona Public Service Energy Services, to include 15 percent renewable energy in its recent six-month contract, and 16 percent renewable energy in is current contract, including 85 percent wind and 15 percent landfill gas. The UC/CSU joint purchase for renewable energy was the eighth-largest in the country and the largest purchase by a university.
- UC has worked aggressively to encourage participation of students, faculty and administrators to further develop and implement the policy. At UC Berkeley, for example, the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability published one of the most comprehensive campus sustainability assessments of any university in the country; the Chancellor's Sustainability Summit gave awards to individuals and groups whose actions advanced sustainability on the campus; the Chancellor's Green Fund distributed grants to enable campus members to undertake projects; and Berkeley faculty launched the nation's first Green Building Research Center. Other UC campuses have introduced similar initiatives.
- The university developed training programs and course offerings through its Project Management Institute with the goal of promoting and maintaining the goals of the sustainability policy.
- The university has sought to use its purchasing power to promote the availability of more sustainable products and work with regulatory agencies and others to speed development and approval of sustainable products. Recent successes include increasing UC's purchase of recycled content office products and requiring Energy Star rated equipment to be purchased through all new UC contracts.
- Three UC campuses have received awards for their energy efficiency programs from the state's Flex Your Power Program. The San Francisco Chronicle and several trade publications have recognized UC Merced's environmental stewardship practices.
Background
In July 2003, UC adopted a green building design and clean energy standards policy that established the university as a leader in promoting environmental stewardship among institutions of higher education.
In June 2004, a UC presidential policy and policy guidelines were issued requiring that an annual progress report be made to the UC Board of Regents on implementation of the green building design and clean energy standards policy.
In September 2005, the regents authorized the UC president to expand the policy to include sustainable transportation.
# # #