Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.69
Liaison Deborah Steinberg
Submission Date Feb. 7, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Carnegie Mellon University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.88 / 4.00 Martin Altschul
Director of Strategic Facilities Initiatives of FMCS
Facilities Management Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (all sources, excluding transportation fuels), performance year :
954,403.57 MMBtu

Option 1 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated on site during the performance year and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes:
41.17 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :
CMU has one on-site renewable energy generating system. A 12 KW Photovoltaic system is installed at 407 South Craig Street office building which is currently the largest solar installation within Pittsburgh. The Architecture Department's Intelligent Workplace, located on the 4th Floor of the Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall Building, has a research project utilizing a solar thermal system to provide electricity and thermal energy.

Option 2 

Non-electric renewable energy generated on-site, performance year:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable non-electric energy devices:
The Architecture Department's Intelligent Workplace, located on the 4th Floor of the Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall Building, has a research project that utilizes a bio-diesel generator to provide electricity and thermal energy.

Option 3 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated by off-site projects that the institution catalyzed and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes, performance year:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of off-site, institution-catalyzed, renewable electricity generating devices:
Carnegie Mellon University does not currently operate any off-site renewable electricity generating devices.

Option 4 

Total third-party certified RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products (including renewable electricity purchased through a utility-provided certified green power option) purchased during the performance year:
448,814.40 MMBtu

A brief description of the RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products, including contract timeframes:
Since 2011, Carnegie Mellon University has purchased RECs in an amount equal to 100% of the University's electricity needs. This was also the case in the reporting year of 2018.

Optional Fields

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
https://www.cmu.edu/environment/energy-water/index.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

 

Sierra magazine requests the following information from U.S. institutions that wish to share data with that organization:

Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 20.84
Geothermal 0
Hydro 1.35
Natural gas 41.63
Nuclear 33.94
Solar photovoltaic 0
Wind 0
Other (please specify and explain below) 2.28

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
EIA US Energy Information Administration - Pennsylvania State Profile and Energy Estimates sited from August, 2018. Other includes petroleum fired and non hydroelectric.

Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 0
Electricity 8
Fuel oil 0
Geothermal 0
Natural gas 92
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
---

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
47.03

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The provided data reflects the University's fiscal year 2018 energy consumption.

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.