University of California, Merced 2006 Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Application
Category
Four-year and graduate institutions 1,001 – 10,000 student FTE
Contact
Mark Maxwell
Director, Office of Sustainability/Environmental Programs Manager
University of California, Merced
Merced, CA
209-724-4465
mmaxwell@ucmerced.edu
Governance & Administration
UC Merced is the first research university built in the 21st Century and is incorporating principles of environmental stewardship not only in the planning, design, physical operations of facilities and grounds of the campus, but in the educational opportunities that are being offered to its students and the community at large. The physical facilities of the campus are available as a “living laboratory” for resource conservation and engineering study to enhance the academic program.
As stated in UC Merced’s Long Range Development Plan, the master plan for environmental stewardship and sustainable planning and design include elements ranging from energy infrastructure planning and site layout, transportation system planning and road layouts, through the occupancy of individual buildings. The incorporation and integration of these elements will result in environmental, economic, health and community benefits.
One of UC Merced’s commitments is that all new buildings on campus will be environmentally friendly. To help us achieve this, UC Merced is using the LEED-NC rating system to help guide and measure our progress. UC Merced has committed to a minimum of LEED Silver certification through this rating system on all new buildings on campus. In addition, UC Merced will use LEED-EB (Existing Buildings) to guide these buildings through sustainable operations.
We have several sustainability policies in place for the campus and many more planed. A UC System wide policy is the Energy Efficiency Policy which requires all new building projects to be designed to use 20% less energy than required by Title 24. To date all of our buildings are using 30% less and in some buildings 50% less.
UC Merced’s Purchasing Policy includes following our Environmental Stewardship Program through the procurement of goods and services for the entire campus that are not only sustainable, but can also be documented for achievement in the LEED-NC(New Construction) & LEED-EB(Existing Buildings) rating system program.
UC Merced has or is currently drafting policies for recycling, green cleaning and green landscaping with more to come.
UC Merced is currently putting in place a chancellors committee for sustainability to promote environmental management and sustainable development. Other organizations on campus include the Green Club; organized by students to help the campus achieve its environmental goals, help educate students, staff and the community. The Green Campus program, organized by the Alliance to Save Energy program and funded by PG & E, to provide the campus with student interns totaling 40 hrs per week to educate and integrate energy into campus curricula, to cultivate environmental stewardship by raising campus awareness about the relationship between the environmental and energy, to create lasting staff-student partnerships that lead to an even more successful campus, and to design and implement energy programs that have measurable results.
Mark Maxwell is UC Merced’s LEED & Sustainability coordinator responsible for managing its environmental stewardship program.
UC Merced’s memberships include; US Green Building Council, Society for College & University Planning and currently registering to be an AASHE member.
Operations
Energy
All buildings were built with the intent to operate at a savings of 30% – 50% less than Title 24. To insure the design intent, UC Merced has on going commissioning and energy management program through enhanced metering on all buildings and Energy Management Control System that monitors these meters. Through this system in Central Plant, UC Merced is able to monitor and detect when any of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are not running as commissioned or intended per design, reducing the chances of wasting energy. One of the biggest energy savers on campus is the 2 million gallon thermal energy storage tank at Central Plant which houses chilled water that is cooled at off peak hours in the late evening & early mornings, saving approximately 33% in energy costs. This chilled water is then distributed to each building which has water fan coil units to cool down the building saving energy costs by not having to run an air conditioning unit during the day. There is the same process for heating the buildings, through boilers at Central Plant.
Buildings
After being LEED-NC Silver certified, all buildings will continue to be certified through the LEED-EB program. This will help insure that the operational side of the buildings are following a sustainable path, with a way to prioritize, track and measure its success. These operations include but not limited to green cleaning, green landscaping, recycling and purchasing. The entire campus and future buildings were installed with purple pipe for future tie into a reclaimed water treatment plant.
Purchasing
UC Merced Purchasing initiated the inclusion of Environmental Preferred Purchasing (EPP) considerations in System wide Strategic Sourcing Projects which include:
- Environmental sustainability language in System wide Strategic Sourcing RFPs.
- EPP consideration be a part of the quality point criteria.
- Sustainability coordinator is invited to participate on all System wide Strategic Sourcing projects.
Land Use
UC Merced is comprised of 7030 acres. The Main Campus of 910 acres incorporates the entire program element the University currently foresees as being needed for a complete research/teaching institution with a final expected student population of 25,000 students by the year 2027. The Campus Land Reserve covers 340 acres, contiguous to the core campus area, to accommodate additional development beyond the developed campus which is presently unknown and unforeseeable.
The Campus Natural Reserve is 750 acres and will be maintained permanently in an undeveloped state and dedicated to scientific research and education. The area includes vernal pool/grassland habitat with not only rare biological resources but also unique landforms and rare soils of great geological interest.
To further protect and enhance the critical habitat of the vernal pools, the University has conveyed a conservation easement on the remaining 5,030 acres of the campus property to The Nature Conservancy. A nonprofit organization, The Nature Conservancy is committed to preservation of natural environments and will maintain the property in its current natural and undeveloped state. This will protect the vernal pool habitat into perpetuity.
Curriculum & Research
UC Merced currently offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of Environmental Engineering and Earth Systems Sciences. Plans are currently underway for creating a graduate class under these 2 fields that offers students and opportunity to study real-time data from the buildings and collectively generate a “Sustainability Indicators Report” on the environmental impacts that the campus creates. UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara currently produce these reports with graduate student research and a similar model will be used here on campus. Not only will this effort provide baseline information on the campus environmental impacts and information that will help future campus planning in efforts to further reduce theses impacts, but is also bridges the common gap that occurs on higher education campus between academic and physical campus life.
The Sierra Nevada Research Institute will be a cornerstone of research and education at UC Merced and a special research focus of the Institute will be sustainability. With the anticipated significant growth in the population of the San Joaquin Valley, natural resources already under pressure will be stretched even further. Thus, the Valley represents an ideal laboratory to study the constituent natural resources and the phenomenon of growth, while conducting research on the means of sustaining natural resources. The campus and supporting community will constitute an immediately available laboratory for testing new approaches to sustainability.
Community Service and Outreach
UC Merced has many programs and services set up to not only reach the internal campus on sustainability features but also to the community outside the campus.
Campus staff has developed several PowerPoint presentations which they actively present internally, locally, within the UC system and at conferences both nationally and internationally. Topics include LEED case studies, the energy efficiency of the buildings, the history of green development at UCM and LEED management and administration practices in higher education.
Through the Human Resources Department all new employees receive a one hour presentation on the green features and policies of the campus including information on individual practices that promote our sustainability goals. Student Services is currently developing similar presentations for new student orientation, one for students living on campus and another for commuter students. Presentations are currently being given to purchasing people from local governmental agencies; city, county, school, etc. on environmentally preferred purchasing.
Our communications department & students are currently working with a local paper to give updates on sustainable campus events such as trainings, workshops, lectures, etc., that will also invite the community to attend.
Brochure and website information on the sustainable features of the campus have been developed.
The buildings will all have signage at various locations, pointing out green features.