Level 1
Solar Farm: UC Davis has a 16.3 megawatt solar farm which generates 33 million kilowatt-hours per year, about 14% of the campus’s electricity needs, and reduces the University's carbon footprint by 9%. About 30% of UC Davis' purchased electricity comes from two large off-site solar PV farms in California.
Grid Electricity: The campus purchases electricity from the grid to supplement its electricity needs.
Hydropower: UC Davis has a contract with Western Area Power Administration to purchase electricity generated from large-scale hydro-power sources. The electricity is not considered "renewable" under common definitions, but it is 100% Carbon Neutral.
Natural Gas: The campus purchases natural gas delivered through PG&E pipe lines to heat campus buildings and make hot water.
Level 2
Boilers: The CHCP has boilers that take in natural gas to make steam. This steam is piped around the campus and used to heat our buildings.
Chillers: Chillers at the CHCP use electricity to make chilled water, and send it to the buildings via underground pipes, the same as the steam system.
Chilled water, steam uses: Chilled Water Used for: Cooling; Steam Water Used for: Heating; Electricity Water Used for: Lighting & Plug Loads
Electricity Measures: When energy use is metered, it’s measured in specific units depending on the type of energy. For the most common energy meters on campus, electricity is measured in kilowatt-hours, chilled water is measured in tons, and steam is measured in pounds of condensate.
Level 3
The amount of energy a UC Davis building uses depends on: How the Building is Used, Heating & Cooling Factors, How the Building is Made and Outside Air Temperature.
Building Type & Outside Temperature: Compared to other building types, a lab's energy use is high because they require high ventilation rates and are often operating 24/7. More heating is needed when it’s colder outside. More cooling is needed when it’s warmer outside.
Energy Saving Projects: Energy-saving projects in campus buildings including running the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems when people are in the buildings and turning them down or off when buildings are unoccupied. Engineers create HVAC schedules to match building occupancy, this eliminates energy waste.
Level 4
CEED: We built the Campus Energy Education Dashboard so you can see how much energy your building is using. Check it out!
EUI and how to calculate it: Energy Use Intensities (EUI) can be high or low, but what does the number mean? The numeric value of an EUI can be used to see if a building is performing efficiently or not. One way to use a building’s EUI is to compare it to the average EUI for that building type. A second way to use the EUI metric is by looking at one building’s EUI over several years. EUIs can be compared to target EUIs to determine if a building is on track to meeting a target or goal.
Level 5
An Energy Efficient Building: In an energy efficient building, electricity use at night and on weekends should drop. The graph below shows the electricity demand dropping during the weekend, as well as dipping on a daily basis during the night.
Normal Energy Pattern: Electricity Demand is lower on the weekends compared to week nights.
Potential Energy Waste: When electricity demand remains high over the weekend and/or weeknights, we consider this abnormal and a potential energy waste.
Level 6
Plug Loads: The first thing to be aware of how many things are plugged in. All of the devices connected to power outlets are creating one big plug load. In typical office spaces, computers and monitors tend to account for the majority of plug load devices. People on campus generally have the most impact on electricity usage, because it involves turning on lights and using
plugs. On average, lighting alone accounts for around 15% of an office building's electricity use on campus.
Standby power: also known as vampire load, phantom power, or ghost load, is the electricity consumed by an electronic device while it is “turned off” or on standby mode.
Vampire devices: slowly drain energy from plugged-in devices without you noticing.