Setting Enhanced Performance Targets for a New University Campus: Benchmarks vs. Energy Standards as a Reference?

Karl Brown, California Institute for Energy Efficiency

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Abstract

Most efforts to improve energy performance use efficiency standards as the reference point. Programs often specify energy use at 50% to 80% of the ASHRAE 90.1 or California Title 24 levels. Planning for the new University of California (UC) campus at Merced takes a different approach. Campus goals include not only reduced energy use, but also appropriate design of infrastructure and minimizing peak load on the electricity grid. UC Merced’s environmental stewardship principles emphasize monitoring of energy use toward continuous improvement in campus operation and design.

Energy codes and standards do not generally address peak demand. Though otherwise very successful, efficiency standards are often not effective in guiding the sizing of cooling equipment. Codes and standards typically control design, with limited mechanisms for correlation with measured use. Building standards are hard to apply to laboratories, which are a hybrid of building HVAC and process systems.

While being careful to meet California Title 24, our efforts to do more have been focused not on the code itself as a reference point, but rather on benchmarking measured use of existing UC and State University campuses. We developed models for campus energy use and demand, correlated to climate and laboratory density. This approach has been successful in coordinating building and infrastructure design toward an integrated system, as well as motivating efficient design to meet campus goals. Benchmark-based targets have also been useful in fostering positive change in the design process.