Overall Rating Platinum - expired
Overall Score 86.00
Liaison Jennifer Andrews
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of New Hampshire
OP-5: Building Energy Consumption

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.60 / 6.00 Adam Kohler
Campus Energy Manager
Operations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Figures needed to determine total building energy consumption:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Grid-purchased electricity 23,668.80 MMBtu 182,720.20 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site renewables 0 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) 885,349.70 MMBtu 428,694 MMBtu
Total 909,018.50 MMBtu 611,414.20 MMBtu

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or 3-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2016 June 30, 2017
Baseline Year July 1, 2000 June 30, 2001

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):

FY 2001 is the baseline for our GHG reduction goal as well.


Gross floor area of building space:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area of building space 6,607,433 Gross square feet 4,366,933 Gross square feet

Source-site ratio for grid-purchased electricity:
3.14

Total building energy consumption per unit of floor area:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Site energy 0.14 MMBtu per square foot 0.14 MMBtu per square foot
Source energy 0.15 MMBtu per square foot 0.23 MMBtu per square foot

Percentage reduction in total building energy consumption (source energy) per unit of floor area from baseline:
36.73

Degree days, performance year (base 65 °F / 18 °C):
Degree days (see help icon above)
Heating degree days 5,748 Degree-Days (°F)
Cooling degree days 642 Degree-Days (°F)

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:
Floor Area
Laboratory space 256,805 Square feet
Healthcare space 22,549 Square feet
Other energy intensive space

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
7,781,503 Gross square feet

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

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):

UNH has had a focus on energy conservation and efficiency for over 30 years. The Energy Task Force is constantly developing, implementing and evaluating outreach measures, and the Sustainability Institute consistently promotes and celebrates energy conservation in its outreach efforts. UNH's newly-launched Green Office certification program is another key outreach vehicle for encouraging and educating building occupants about energy efficiency.
In addition, UNH recently became the first campus in the Northeast to join the DOE's Smart Labs Accelerator program; as part of that effort we have committed to an energy consumption reduction target of 20% over ten years, with one significant focus being helping to shift lab occupant behavior to avoid wasting energy.


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

All core campus buildings are tied to our energy management system, which increases and decreases temperatures based on occupancy and time schedules. Typical spaces are heated from 7am-10pm as a maximum M-F and off on weekends. We also use sensors to turn off space heating in some areas. For classrooms, we use the schedule from the registrar’s office to also shut down spaces when unused. If someone is in the space when the system is off, they have an override button that will give them 2 hours of heat. For areas not on the core campus, we employ programmable thermostats which mimic the normal hours for the space.


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

UNH does use LED lighting. More information can be found in the University of New Hampshire Construction and Renovation Standards - Section 16510 Interior Luminaries

Choice of fixtures are made with the following considerations:
a. Energy efficiency and sound rating
b. Quality of lighting
c. Ease of installation and installation flexibility
d. Ease of maintenance
e. Suitability for the specific application
f. Replacement parts availability
g. Consideration of potential abuse
UNH has also moved away from exterior metal halide fixtures and has identified LED replacements as the new exterior fixture of choice. We are already using them in walkway, street, and building exterior fixtures.
More information can be found at http://www.unh.edu/facilities/energy-utilities.


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

UNH has a small solar thermal array on one of our science buildings. but the effect on this on our overall energy load is relatively negligible. We are just on the verge of completing a two-year project to capture waste heat from a dedicated steam line that runs to one of our buildings for heating and cooling; the waste heat will be used to turn a turbine to generate some electricity for that building (Rudman Hall), which will reduce our need for purchased electricity by as much as 500,000 kWh annually.


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

As mentioned above, EcoLine is the primary fuel source for the on-campus cogeneration plant. The cogen plant retains waste heat normally lost during the production of electricity and instead uses this energy to heat buildings, in turn reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions. The installation of the plant resulted in an estimated reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 21%.


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):

As noted above, UNH recently became the first campus in the Northeast to join the DOE's Smart Labs Accelerator program; as part of that effort we have committed to an energy consumption reduction target of 20% over ten years, with one significant focus being increasing the efficiency of lab facilities and equipment. See https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov/accelerators/smart-labs for more information.
We have an energy-efficiency revolving fund to help support and incentivize efficiency projects on campus. For more information, see http://sustainableunh.unh.edu/revolvingfund
One recent such initiative is a program to swap out existing, inefficient ultra-low temperature freezers on campus, used for research, with new extremely efficient Stirling freezers. This program came about as a partnership with the UNH Research Office, Instrumentation Center, Energy Office and Sustainability Institute, after a pilot study in which the Instrumentation Center tested the new technology and found an extremely significant improvement (see http://www.stirlingultracold.com/blog/university-of-new-hampshire-test-confirms-stirling-ult-uses-70-less-energy/).


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

Our grid-purchased energy dropped significantly between our baseline and performance year while energy from other stationary sources increased substantially. This is because we converted our central campus plant to a co-generation facility in 2006, five years after our baseline year, in order to increase our overall efficiency. This shift meant purchasing much less energy from our utility, while increasing the amount of (non-transportation) energy generated for use on campus. Growth between 2006 and 2017 further added to the amount of non-grid, non-transportation campus energy demand.
(2001 was chosen as a baseline for all energy and GHG reporting when UNH conducted its first comprehensive GHG inventory that year.)

http://www.unh.edu/facilities/energy-utilities

http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/buildings


Our grid-purchased energy dropped significantly between our baseline and performance year while energy from other stationary sources increased substantially. This is because we converted our central campus plant to a co-generation facility in 2006, five years after our baseline year, in order to increase our overall efficiency. This shift meant purchasing much less energy from our utility, while increasing the amount of (non-transportation) energy generated for use on campus. Growth between 2006 and 2017 further added to the amount of non-grid, non-transportation campus energy demand.
(2001 was chosen as a baseline for all energy and GHG reporting when UNH conducted its first comprehensive GHG inventory that year.)

http://www.unh.edu/facilities/energy-utilities

http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/buildings

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.