Energy Use Continues to Decline

In its third year, the energy management initiative continues to reduce energy use and costs.  This success is driven by actions small and large, from all across campus.  Through the energy incentive program – which tracks and rewards savings by campus operating units – the team has seen all units adopt energy-efficient practices.

During the last academic year, the campus was able to reduce its energy usage by more than 10.4 million kWh. This is the equivalent of reducing greenhouse gas emissions of more than 2,000 tons, or the average use of almost 1,000 single family homes.

Not surprisingly, some of the largest use reductions were achieved by the larger units. In fact, the Library and Research Units, as well as the College of Engineering received the largest incentive payments.  The Colleges of Letters and Science (Biological Sciences) and of Chemistry also tallied significant savings.  Moving forward, the funding for the incentive program has now concluded, but energy performance will still be shared with units. 

This year, the energy management team added rewards for efforts undertaken by individuals or smaller units.  Who are these top performers?  They are mostly within academic units, but all showed initiative and innovation as they implemented a range of energy-saving projects:

FY15 Effort-Based Awards:

Haas Green Team
Nuclear Engineering Department
Bioengineering Department
College of Engineering Facilities Office
College of Environmental Design Facilities Office
School of Information Facilities Office
Law School Building Services
Biosciences Division Services
Demography Lab
School of Optometry Facilities Office
School of Public Health Facilities Office
Data Center Operations and Services
QB3 Institute Facilities and Engineering
CITRIS Facilities and Operations
California Hall Facilities Office
University Libraries Facilities Office

Every winter, the campus mostly closes its buildings over the winter break.  These closures allow a curtailment of energy use – saving $127,000 this year.  Thank you to everyone who turned off lights, shut off radiators, and worked to make the program so successful.  In fact, there were no major failures during shutdown and startup and no comfort complains during or after startup day.  A special thanks to those in buildings who participated for the first time, especially the Genetics and Plant Biology building.