UVA set a goal ten years ago to save 20% on energy across its extensive building portfolio. This goal was met and surpassed by 7%! Read on to find out what it took to get there.
The University of Virginia was recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Buildings Challenge for achieving a 27% reduction in energy use across our portfolio of 550+ buildings comprising 15.3 million square feet of building space. UVA set the goal ten years ago at 20%, shortly after the Office of Sustainability was officially founded at the University.
Andrea Trimble joined other higher education and sector leaders including Morehouse College, Volvo of North America, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the White House campus on October 23rd as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi recognized the Goal Achievers.
“The University of Virginia has made a dedicated commitment to sustainability, and this achievement marks a significant milestone in our journey toward carbon neutrality,” said Andrea Trimble, Director UVA’s Office for Sustainability.
“Ten years ago, we set out to reduce our energy use and thanks to our university community, from our students and faculty to our dedicated staff, we did it. We are truly honored to stand alongside other climate leaders and partner with the DOE to advance a just and more sustainable future for us all.”
DOE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Jeff Marootian said, “Our Better Buildings Goal Achievers are leaders in their industries—demonstrating that we can reach the nation’s ambitious climate goals if we work together and commit to excellence.” To date, Better Buildings partners have saved $18.5 billion in energy costs, resulting in nearly 190 million metric tons of avoided carbon emissions.
Jesse Warren, the Associate Director of the Officer for Sustainability along with energy engineers, sustainable labs, and special projects staff members shared in the celebration.
“Meeting this goal demonstrates the collective effort, unwavering commitment, and the shared vision that continues to define UVA’s climate leadership,” said Warren. “Energy efficiency in our buildings is a key strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.”
Building Efficiency is Key to Success
Driving energy efficiency improvements across Grounds enabled UVA to meet the ambitious Better Buildings Challenge goal.
UVA’s Building Efficiency Program (BEP) utilizes a revolving fund to upgrade building controls and retrofit lighting to improve energy efficiency with no upfront costs. Energy engineers in UVA’s Office for Sustainability prioritize projects based on buildings with the highest energy use intensity (energy use per square foot) and with the most opportunities for reductions. The utility savings from those projects repay the project costs to fund the next energy efficiency investment. From 2019-2021, BEP invested $6.3 million in new energy efficiency projects on Grounds. With 10 years of similar investments, the program has achieved $21.6 million in energy cost savings in those three years.
UVA’s Sustainable Labs program collaborates with department heads, principal investigators and their lab researchers to optimize safety and energy efficiency through identifying and implementing infrastructure improvements like controls upgrades and ventilation optimization. They also work with researchers directly to implement sustainable lab operations such as cold storage best practices and Green Labs Certification.
UVA has also developed Green Building Standards for all new and existing buildings. The Standards include process-oriented requirements (energy modeling, life cycle cost analysis, goal-setting) and prescriptive requirements (energy targets, non-fossil fuel requirements). These standards are essential to ensuring that new construction and major renovations are coming online with integrated energy efficiency and sustainability measures.
Congratulations to Other 2023 Higher Education Goal Achievers
UVA was honored to share this recognition with three other institutions this year. Congratulations to Allegheny College, Community College of Allegheny County, and Morehouse College on achieving their ten-year goal! Read about their success in the Better Buildings Beat Blog.
Lastly, we want to thank our dedicated staff, faculty, and students across UVA Grounds, without whom we could not have achieved this goal. UVA’s Green Labs, Green Workplace, Eco-Leaders programs (to name a few) allow us to engage our university community at a deeper level to achieve mutual goals of efficiency, cost-savings, and other non-energy, relevant sustainability goals like waste and water reduction.
We look forward to continuing our partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy through the Better Climate Challenge, where UVA has committed to a 50% reduction in scope 1 and scope 2 emissions without the use of offsets by 2030 (in addition to UVA’s own goal for carbon neutrality by 2030).