Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 54.91
Liaison Andy Mitchell
Submission Date July 17, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Illinois Chicago
OP-5: Building Energy Consumption

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.86 / 6.00 Cynthia Klein-Banai
Associate Chancellor for Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1

This credit is based on energy inputs from offsite sources and electricity produced by onsite renewables. When the institution purchases one fuel and uses it to produce heat and/or power, you should enter only what is purchased. For example, if the institution purchases natural gas to fuel a CHP system and produce steam and electricity, only the purchased natural gas should be reported.

Figures needed to determine total building energy consumption:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Grid-purchased electricity 812,400 MMBtu 226,271 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site renewables 410.43 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) 2,966,921 MMBtu 3,816,666 MMBtu
Total 3,779,731.43 MMBtu 4,042,937 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, 2003 June 30, 2004

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):
This baseline was adopted because the necessary data was unavailable before July 1, 2003. The baseline also aligns with the baseline of UIC's Climate Action Plan.

Gross floor area of building space:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area of building space 1,375,231.31 Gross square meters 1,306,512.54 Gross square meters

Source-site ratio for grid-purchased electricity:
3.14

Total building energy consumption per unit of floor area:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Site energy 2.75 MMBtu per square meter 3.09 MMBtu per square meter
Source energy 4.01 MMBtu per square meter 3.47 MMBtu per square meter

Percentage reduction in total building energy consumption (source energy) per unit of floor area from baseline:
0

Part 2 

Degree days, performance year (base 65 °F / 18 °C):
Degree days (see help icon above)
Heating degree days 2,847.78 Degree-Days (°C)
Cooling degree days 805.56 Degree-Days (°C)

Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:
Floor Area
Laboratory space 127,178.35 Square meters
Healthcare space 101,819 Square meters
Other energy intensive space

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
1,860,592.26 Gross square meters

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

Optional Fields 

Documentation (e.g. spreadsheet or utility records) to support the performance year energy consumption figures reported above:
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):
Outreach and education is done through our Smart Grid education program that utilizes interns to use a community-based assets development approach to understand how people relate to energy use. They then developed programs and communications that appeal to the different sectors of the community - this could be games, films, power point presentations (learning lunches), competitions, etc. Utilities also developed a web-based energy dashboard to show how much energy each metered building is using. We are SMART energy users http://sustainability.uic.edu/green-campus/energy/

A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution (e.g. building temperature standards, occupancy and vacancy sensors):
UIC must comply with the Illinois Energy Code.

A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:
Most frequently used space was retrofit with compact fluorescent light bulbs. All new construction and renovations seek to install LED lighting unless deemed inappropriate for the use.

A brief description of passive solar heating, geothermal systems, and related strategies employed by the institution:
UIC has geothermal ground source heat pumps for about 75,000 sq feet of lecture and academic space. It also has solar PV ato two of those three buildings.

A brief description of co-generation employed by the institution, e.g. combined heat and power (CHP):
Utility Operations runs its own power plants on the UIC campus. Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of heat and power in a single thermodynamic process. Instead of discarding the heat produced by the power production process, it is captured and used to provide space heating and hot water heating, thus eliminating the added expense of burning fuels for the sole purpose of space heating. On the east side the plant can co-generate the production of high-temperature hot water with electricity. The west side plant can co-generate steam with electricity. These plants run primarily on natural gas which is cleaner than coal and fuel oil when considering hazardous air pollutants and carbon dioxide. When operated under certain conditions, cogeneration can be beneficial and helps lower the emission of carbon and sulfur dioxide pollutants into the air.

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):
UIC was driven by gas and electric utility energy efficiency incentives to replace energy-consuming HVAC equipment and lighting. In FY2017, we also utilized the incentives paired with institutional funding to incentivize Principal Investigators with laboratories to replace their inefficient, old ultralow freezers.

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:
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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.