The University of California has committed to buying 20 percent of its grid-purchased electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and to generating 10 megawatts of onsite renewable electricity by 2014.
UCSD's Novel Efforts to Go Green
From Science Today ›
Onsite renewable energy installations
- Solar Photovoltaics
- UC Berkeley, MLK Student Union building, 100 kW
- UC Irvine, multiple campus rooftops, 1 MW
- UC Merced, 8.5 acres, ground-mounted, 1 MW
- UC San Diego, multiple campus rooftops, 1 MW
- UC San Francisco, Mission Bay Parking Structure and Genentech Hall, 250 kW
- UC Santa Barbara, Campus Recreation Center, 155 kW
- UC Santa Barbara, Bren Hall, Carillo Dining Commons, Henley Gate, and Sedgwick Reserve, 81.5 kW
- Landfill Gas
UCLA uses gas captured from a neighboring landfill to partly fuel the campus co-generation power plant and generate 3.48 MW of power. Read more on this landfill gas best practice case study (pdf). - Grid Purchased Renewable Power
- As of January 2008, 18 percent of the University of California's direct access portfolio comes from renewable sources.
- Beginning in 2007, UC Santa Cruz began buying renewable energy certificates (pdf) equal to 100% of the campus's electricity consumption, making UCSC the sixth largest campus purchaser of renewable energy in the nation, according to the EPA. 2007 Best Practice Award Winner
Additional Resources
- The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has a list of campus renewable energy installations.
- US EPA's Green Power Challenge and Green Power Partnership programs.
- National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Program – Energy