Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.39
Liaison Maria Kirrane
Submission Date July 20, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork
OP-5: Building Energy Consumption

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.20 / 6.00 Pat Mehigan
Energy Manager
Buildings and Estates
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Figures needed to determine total building energy consumption:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Grid-purchased electricity 82,909 MMBtu 66,897 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site renewables 98 MMBtu 0 MMBtu
District steam/hot water (sourced from offsite) 0 MMBtu 0 MMBtu
Energy from all other sources (e.g., natural gas, fuel oil, propane/LPG, district chilled water, coal/coke, biomass) 115,455 MMBtu 170,680 MMBtu
Total 198,462 MMBtu 237,577 MMBtu

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or 3-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year Jan. 1, 2017 Dec. 31, 2017
Baseline Year Jan. 1, 2008 Dec. 31, 2008

A brief description of when and why the building energy consumption baseline was adopted (e.g. in sustainability plans and policies or in the context of other reporting obligations):

Under our national reporting obligations we have chosen 2006-2008 as the baseline period. We will use 2008 for the STARS application


Gross floor area of building space:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area of building space 193,780.92 Gross square meters 173,422.93 Gross square meters

Source-site ratio for grid-purchased electricity:
2.10

Total building energy consumption per unit of floor area:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Site energy 1.02 MMBtu per square meter 1.37 MMBtu per square meter
Source energy 1.49 MMBtu per square meter 1.79 MMBtu per square meter

Percentage reduction in total building energy consumption (source energy) per unit of floor area from baseline:
16.69

Degree days, performance year (base 65 °F / 18 °C):
Degree days (see help icon above)
Heating degree days 603.89 Degree-Days (°C)
Cooling degree days 185.56 Degree-Days (°C)

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:
Floor Area
Laboratory space 48,354.98 Square meters
Healthcare space 1,562 Square meters
Other energy intensive space

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
311,591.87 Gross square meters

Building energy consumption (site energy) per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area per degree day, performance year:
249.02 Btu / GSM / Degree-Day (°C)

Documentation (e.g. spreadsheet or utility records) to support the performance year energy consumption figures reported above:
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A brief description of the institution's initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices in regard to energy efficiency (e.g. outreach and education efforts):

UCC’s energy management program, which is certified to ISO 50001, can be broken down into a 3-pronged approach that focusses on our plant operations, our processes in place to manage energy conservation and finally our people, who play a leading role in our energy conservation approach.
Plant:
Plant (or equipment) encompasses the services that we use in all our buildings, for example lighting, air ventilation, heating equipment and associated pumps. From our learnings over the years it is estimated that these services would account for 50% of the Universities energy consumption and as such need to be closely managed. We achieve this through our building management systems which ensures that the equipment is only running when it is required while the engineering services department ensure that the plant is maintained to ensure efficient operation when running.

Process:

Using our ISO 50001 certified energy management system, the University ensures that the process are in place to manage and promote energy conservation. For example, our energy policy ensures that our significant energy users are closely managed to eliminate energy wastage while our energy audit process ensures that regular energy audits are undertaken where energy saving opportunities are identified and undertaken by our minor projects department. Finally, our design processes ensure that all future buildings or renovation programs have sustainably and energy efficiency as a key design deliverable.

People:

Most important are our people who use or manage the energy consuming equipment on site. From our craft operators, lab technicians, IT services departments to our students each and every one of us have a big part to play in reducing our total energy consumption. It is the aim of the B&E office to engage, encourage and enable our staff and students to conserve energy when they can, whether that’s turning off lights and PC’s when leaving the rooms or switching off lab equipment and services when not in use.
Using the 3P approach described the office is currently focussing on our significant energy users, where any energy efficiency measures implemented, can have a positive impact on our annual energy consumption.


A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution (e.g. building temperature standards, occupancy and vacancy sensors):

Through our extensive BEMS and monitoring package we are constantly reviewing time schedules and setpoints to suit the time of year and occupation loading. Some of the operating strategies include:
Use of CO2 control on HVAC systems
Weather compensation on boiler systems.
Presence detection for lighting controls.
Weekly energy scorecards produced and communicated to our SEU's.


A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:

Over the last 10 years we have seen a significant change out of lighting systems from CFL's / T12 fittings to T5 and more recently LED fittings.
We have a rolling campaign underway to replace all lighting with LED units. Areas are selected based on the age, condition and energy consumption of the existing lighting infrastructure.
Some of the control strategies include:
Presence / Absence detection.
Daylight dimming.
Closing of areas during low occupancy rates and opening as required.
Time schedules.
Corridoors / stairwell dimming.


A brief description of passive solar heating, geothermal systems, and related strategies employed by the institution:

We have a number of technologies rolled out across the University including:
Heat pump operation using local river bed to provide heating / cooling to Glucksman Gallery.
Heat pump operation using local river to provide heating to IT building.
Heat pump operation using local aquifer to provide heating to the ERI building.
Extensive amount of heat recovery from process equipment / data centres / lab spaces.
A number of solar arrays for heating of domestic hot water.
Naturally ventilated buildings.
Use of glazing on south facing buildings to maximise daylight / solar gain.


A brief description of co-generation employed by the institution, e.g. combined heat and power (CHP):

From 2001 to Oct 2017 we have used CHP units to provide on average 5.5 GWh of electricity a year to the main campus while using the waste heat to provide 20% of the Main Campus heating requirements. These units are currently off line and we are in the middle of running a ESCO project to replace the existing HP steam system with a medium pressure hot water district heating system.


A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace energy-consuming appliances, equipment and systems with high efficiency alternatives (e.g. building re-commissioning or retrofit programs):

We are constantly running tailored energy efficiency programs across the University. Our programs focus on understanding the behavioural aspects and needs of the building users. Once these are understood we run campaigns around improving the operation of the buildings to make it a more comfortable and pleasant space for the user while also improving the energy efficiency. The majority of changes focus firstly on managing efficiently existing assets within the building, i.e. ensure equipment runs only when it needs to. Once we have the units running at optimum levels we identify alternative equipment that would be more energy efficient than the existing units, based on the running hours. If viable this equipment would then be replaced with a more efficient alternative.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The % reduction on this STARS submission differs to the % reduction in UCC's reporting to the the Irish PSEEAP. This is due to two reasons:
For this, our first STARS submission, student accommodation and subsidiary companies were not included. The latter includes the Mardyke Arena and Student Centre, some of our more energy efficient buildings.
The floor area of energy intensive space calculation is different in both methodologies. The PSEEAP methodology involved an in-depth analysis of research equivalent floor area, specific to UCC.


The % reduction on this STARS submission differs to the % reduction in UCC's reporting to the the Irish PSEEAP. This is due to two reasons:
For this, our first STARS submission, student accommodation and subsidiary companies were not included. The latter includes the Mardyke Arena and Student Centre, some of our more energy efficient buildings.
The floor area of energy intensive space calculation is different in both methodologies. The PSEEAP methodology involved an in-depth analysis of research equivalent floor area, specific to UCC.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.