UC Merced has committed that all new construction and remodeling projects integrate a high degree of energy efficiency into design. Campus energy efficiency is a key part of overall campus environmental stewardship, and is also crucial in order to provide high quality learning, research, and working environment at a reasonable cost.

Campus efficiency requirements have been developed to:

• reduce operating costs toward minimizing life-cycle cost of campus facilities;
• achieve maximum subsidies for energy efficiency;
• contribute as many points as practical to facility LEED™ ratings;
• minimize infrastructure costs;
• minimize impact of the campus on the environment and on the energy infrastructure;
• maintain high quality energy services in campus facilities.

Within this context, UC Merced is also committed to pursuing use of renewable energy resources and other strategies to reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions, with an eventual goal of climate neutrality.

Campus energy activities focus on three areas:

• Building Energy Performance Targets – to ensure that new buildings are significantly more efficient than required by code or compared to other university buildings in California.
• Ongoing Monitoring of Energy Use – to facilitate continuous improvement in campus operational efficiency and design, as well as serve as a primary component of UC Merced’s “living laboratory” for the study of engineering and resource conservation.
• Climate Neutrality - to pursue use of renewable energy resources and other strategies to reduce and offset greenhouse gas emissions with an eventual goal of climate neutrality.

Building Energy Performance Targets

Campus efficiency standards include requirements relative to both California Title 24 efficiency codes and benchmarks developed across all University of California and California State University campuses. Requirements relative to Title 24 are used in subsidy and incentive programs, as well as for LEED™ credits. Requirements relative to UC/CSU benchmarks extend campus efficiency standards to systems not regulated by Title 24. Thus, the UC/CSU benchmarks are a supplement - not a replacement - for Title 24 standards. (Link to Benchmarks)

The building energy performance targets are for buildings to use 30% less energy than required by Title 24, and meet energy budgets set at 50% of the UC/CSU energy performance benchmarks. These targets are being phased in gradually, with interim targets for the first group of campus buildings set at 80% of UC/CSU energy performance benchmarks and the second group of campus buildings (completing the first 1.2 million gross square feet of the campus) set at 65% of the UC/CSU energy performance benchmarks. In practice, all buildings to date have exceeded these interim targets. Kolligian Library and the Classroom and Office Building designs exceed Title 24 by more than 40% documented through their energy analysis. This has been achieved through efficient lighting systems, high-performance window glazing, architectural shading, and advanced building mechanical systems.

Load management also plays an important factor in keeping UC Merced utility bills low and in minimizing impact on the state electric infrastructure. To this end, building energy performance targets include budgets for peak chilled water use, electricity demand, and natural gas demand. Project compliance with energy budgets is essential for affordable campus infrastructure to adequately serve the entire campus. These targets complement UC Merced’s Central Plan that features a Thermal Energy Storage tank: energy is used during off-peak hours to chill water for distribution to buildings for cooling during the day, when electricity is more expensive.

Finally, UC Merced is a founding Pilot Partner of Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21), a program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL). This partnership program works to improve the energy efficiency and environmental performance of laboratory facilities. This is an important component of UC Merced’s energy efficiency strategy, since laboratory facilities are expected to comprise a significant portion of the campus and laboratories typically consume three to five times the energy of a typical building.

Ongoing Monitoring of Energy Use

UC Merced has installed an advanced building energy management and control system that allows centralized monitoring and control of all building functions. This includes monitoring at the whole-building level as well as at every building sub-component (air handler, pump, lighting zone, etc.). This will allow UC Merced to:

• Ensure that buildings continue to meet design energy performance targets
• Identify and troubleshoot equipment malfunctions that waste energy
• Update energy benchmarks for future building and infrastructure design
• Provide data for building energy research

This level of monitoring and control provides a unique opportunity to manage the campus efficiently and equip a living laboratory for faculty and students to study and advance building energy science.

Climate Neutrality

UC Merced is also implementing UC policies related to climate, which includes:

• Registering with the California Climate Action Registry to annually report and verify greenhouse gas emissions
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2014 and 1990 levels by 2020 (or an equivalent scheme appropriate for a new campus!)
• Creating a plan to become climate neutral as soon as possible while maintaining the University’s overall mission. Climate neutrality is achieved by minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the remaining emissions.

Development of renewable energy resources is a recognized component of UC Merced’s long range development plan and will play an important role in implementing these climate policies.

Contact:

John Elliott
Campus Energy Manager
Facilities Management
University of California, Merced
PO Box 2039, Merced, CA, 95344
Phone: 209-228-4124
Cell: 209-658-1080
Fax: 209-228-4261
jelliott2@ucmerced.edu