Sustainability in the University of California

1
Sustainability in the University of California

• Towards Sustainability Conference at Chico State
• March 7, 2006
• Matthew St.Clair
• UC Office of the President

2
Outline of Talk

• UC System Basics
• Sustainability What and Why?
• UC Policy Context and History
• Green Building and Clean Energy Targets
• Implementation Successes and Challenges
• Campus Highlights
• Lessons Learned

3
UC System Basics

• 10 Campuses Acute Care Labs
• 200,000 Students
• 100 Million Gross Square Feet
• 1 of California Electricity Use

4
UC System Growth

• 1-2 Million gross square feet added per year
• 130 active new major renovation projects (2003)
• 8 Billion
• 40 Laboratory Buildings (by value)
• 24 Acute Care Facilities
• 17 Housing
• 19 Other

5
Creating The Sustainable Brain
The Sustainable Brain

• The Typical Brain

6
A Look Inside The Typical Brain
Enlarged View

• The Typical Brain

big houses in the suburbs
air pollution
my car
my beautiful lawn
my daughters asthma
cancer
reality TV
local farmers
electricity
the food I eat
pesticides
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A Look Inside The Sustainable Brain
Enlarged View

• The Sustainable Brain

big houses in the suburbs
electricity
my daughters asthma
my car
air pollution
local farmers?
cancer
pesticides
the food I eat
my beautiful lawn
reality TV?!?
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So, sustainability is

• What matters most (consensus)
• The ability to make connections
• Main points common to many/most definitions
• Individual and collective health
• Economic vitality
• Current and intergenerational equity
• Some sort of triple bottom line or three-legged
  stool

9
Practicing What We Preach

• Every Snowflake in the Avalanche Pleads Not
  Guilty
• Think Globally, Act Locally
• We Must Be the Change We Want to See in the
  World

10
Sustainability Movement

• Energy Independence Day 2004 250 campuses
• 2004 North American Conference on Sustainability
  in Higher Education 450 attendees
• 2005 UC/CSU Sustainability Conference 450
  attendees
• Over 100 campuses purchasing clean energy

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Campaign History(Policy Development)

• Or,
• How the Policy Was Passed

12
Policy/Campaign HistoryFall 2002

• Student Grassroots Campaign
• All student governments pass resolution
• Student Regent resolution results in Regents
  action
• Request UC President do feasibility study,
  propose a policy

13
Policy/Campaign HistorySpring 2003

• Steering Committee Working Group
• - UC and California Expert Community
• Campus Vice Chancellors and UCOP Staff
• Steering Committee meets with students
• - Results of student-organized campus forums
  discussed

14
Policy/Campaign HistorySpring 03 cont.

• Feasibility studies drafted
• Staff conversion overcomes internal hurdles
• Regents unanimously approve policy

15
Lessons Learned

• Students are drivers
• Institutional learning crucial
• Need bottom up and top down
• People want to do right thing, feel good

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Policy Targets
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Green Building Policy

• Outperform Title 24 Energy Standards by at least
  20
• New facilities - meet equivalent of LEED
  certified level
• Lab Buildings - LEED certified and Labs 21
  Environmental Performance Criteria

18
Clean Energy Standard

• 10 MW of onsite renewable energy projects by
  2014.
• Reduce energy consumption by 10 by 2014 compared
  to a base year of FY 99-00.
• Green power from grid
• 10 goal in 2004
• 20 goal in 2017

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Timeline

• Dec 2002 - Regents requested feasibility study
  for Green Building/Clean Energy policy
• July 2003 Regents approved Green Building/Clean
  Energy policy principles
• June 2004 Presidential Policy and Policy
  Guidelines issued requiring annual progress
  report
• Sept 2005 Regents authorize President to expand
  Policy to include Sustainability Transportation
• Next?

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Highlights of 2005 Accomplishments

• Green Building Baselines
• Green Building Projects
• Energy Efficiency in New Buildings
• Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings
• Renewable Energy
• Faculty, Staff, and Student Collaboration
• Training
• Transportation
• External Recognition

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Green Building

• 3 Campuses certifying all buildings through U.S
  Green Building Council
• 6 Campus green building baselines approved
  through internal UC equivalency process
• Baseline point totals range from 20 to 33
• All campuses committed to
• Optimizing energy use
• Diversion of 50 of construction waste
• Use of low-emitting materials

LEED (USGBC) Campuses
UC Equivalent Campuses
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Green Building Projects

• 25 projects currently under Policy
• 1 LEED Gold
• 9 LEED Silver or UC equivalent
• 15 LEED Certified or UC equivalent
• 51 projects approved pre-Policy have green
  building goals
• 28 LEED certification
• 14 LEED/UC equivalent Silver or higher

Price Center, UCSD UC Silver
23
Clean Energy Standard Implementation Status -
Outline

• Energy efficiency in new construction
• Energy efficiency in existing buildings
• Onsite renewable generation
• Grid-purchased renewable generation

24
Energy Efficiency in New Buildings

• Goal Beat Title 24 by 20
• Plan Savings by Design mandated for all new
  construction

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Energy Efficiency in New Buildings

• Challenges Resistance to mandate and developing
  working relationship with utilities
• Successes
• 98 projects, 11.9 million GSF registered
• 4.1 M projected incentives
• 5 M projected annual energy savings

26
Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings

• Goal10 more efficient than 2000 baseline by
  2013
• Challenges lack of funds, utility deficits
• Steps
• Strategic Implementation Plan
• CPUC grant with CSU, utilities
• PIER grant for advanced technologies
• Green Campus program for housing

27
UC/CSU/IOU Program

• 15 million from CPUC over 2 years
• 3 Components
• Retrofits
• Monitoring-Based Commissioning
• Training and Education
• Title 24 20, other new construction
• Commissioning
• Building Operator Certification

28
Green Campus Program

• 1.5 million from CPUC to Alliance to Save Energy
• Pilot project on 4 UC, 5 CSU campuses
• CFL exchange, competitions, green eye

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On-SiteRenewable Generation

• Goal 10MW by 2014
• Challenges
• Third-party financing RFP with state
• Bad news UC projects received no bids
• Successes
• Berkeley student union 59kW PV system
• Berkeley student solar site assessment

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Renewable Energyfrom Grid

• Goal 10 renewable content in 2004, 20 by 2017
  (mirror state RPS)
• Challenges
• Regulatory uncertainty
• Need to educate supplier
• Success
• 16 renewable energy in 2006
• 86 wind, 14 landfill gas

31
Student, Faculty and Staff Collaboration

• Chancellor or VC Advisory Committees on
  Sustainability
• Berkeley highlights
• Chancellors Sustainability Summit
• Chancellors Sustainability Awards
• Chancellors Green Development Fund
• Campus Sustainability Assessment

32
Student, Faculty and Staff Collaboration

• Academic Initiatives
• Green Building Research Center at Berkeley first
  in nation
• International prize for student entrepreneurship
  in higher education given to Education for
  Sustainable Living Program

33
Training

• UC PMI offered 51 energy efficiency training
  sessions 780 staff participants
• 4th Annual Sustainability Conference 400 attend
  Best Practice Awards

34
Sustainable Transportation Practices

• Policy initiative highlighted best practices on
  all Campuses
• Policy Guidelines aim to spread and increase
  these best practices by outlining goals for
• Monitoring greenhouse gas emissions
• Increasing transportation demand management
  options

Unitrans, UC Davis
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External Recognition

• Berkeley wins best overall in states 2005 Flex
  Your Power Awards
• Los Angeles and San Diego get honorable mention
• Merced campus sustainability leadership featured
  in numerous press articles

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Some UC CampusSustainability Highlights
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UC Davis

• Waste Reduction/Recycling
• 2005 EPA Environmental Achievement Award
• National Recycle Mania Challenge
• 12th out of 49 across country Berkeley 13th
• PR Plans Video, Green signage on campus
• Olive Oil
• Purchasing
• Students on every commodity team
• Green Building
• Hired green building student intern

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UC Berkeley

• Berkeley Environmental Alumni Network
• Demo Green Dorm Room
• Students
• Conducted solar site survey
• Senior class gift of solar panels
• Masters thesis evaluating UC Green Building
  Policy
• Masters thesis on reducing campus water
  consumption

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UC Santa Cruz

• Annual Campus Earth Summits
• This year, 250 attendees, Chancellor, Mayor,
  Professor David Orr spoke
• Forum for creating Sustainable Campus Blueprint,
  action plan to implement blueprint
• Working Groups on 14 topics meet throughout year
  to implement Blueprint
• Students passed two referenda totaling 6/year
• Provides 200,000 for Student Environmental
  Center

40
Santa Barbara

• Constructed LEED Platinum building
• Chancellor created Office of Sustainability
• 3 Full-Time Sustainability Coordinators!!!
• LEED Silver standard for all new buildings
• Students discovered cost savings from sustainable
  purchasing practices
• Sustainability Master Plan

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Next Steps?

• Purchasing
• Food
• Waste Reduction
• Investments

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ImplementationLessons Learned

• Leadership attracts resources
• Policy is only the start
• Environmentalists among staff empowered to come
  out
• Empowering people to feel good about job
• Mandates and voluntary measures dont achieve
  same results!
• Students are our conscience!

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The Big Picture

• Unfortunately, in many areas, its always the
  bottom line. Its the dollar that drives our
  decisions. Often times our students are our
  conscience. Theyre part of our conscience and we
  know that theyre right. They play a very
  important role in keeping us focused on the
  bigger picture. I think we need to listen more
  and more to what they have to say.
• Vice President for Operations at Dickinson
  College

44
Thank You

• More information
• www.ucop.edu/facil/sustain
• Matthew.StClair_at_ucop.edu