University of California Adopts Green Building and Clean Energy Policy

Diverse stakeholders in the UC system recently came together to develop a new system-wide policy, which tightens building design standards and includes ambitious but attainable goals for "green energy" production and purchasing.
The University of California (UC) system has a new, system-wide set of policies for energy conservation and environmental sustainability. The new "Green Building and Clean Energy Policy" is the result of an 18-month planning process that saw an unusual degree of cooperation among university administration, faculty, and students. The policy, which tightens building design standards and includes ambitious but attainable goals for "green energy" production and purchasing, was approved by the UC president in June 2004 and went into effect on July 1. The massive UC system includes ten campuses, five medical schools, and several acute care facilities; in all, more than 100 million gsf of space accommodating a rapidly growing student population of some 200,000. The system also is California's largest electricity user, consuming up to one% of the state's total peak load. According to Michael Bade, director of capital programs at UC San Francisco, the UC system has traditionally emphasized energy conservation and environmental stewardship. That tradition is reflected in the university's infrastructure: In the 1980s and early 1990s, the university performed numerous energy efficiency retrofits, and six of the campuses boast large thermal energy storage and cogeneration facilities.

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