As one of the most sustainable college campuses in North America1  ,UC Davis works hard to make sure campus buildings maintain high standards of sustainability. Leading this effort is the Green Buildings Team, whom we had the pleasure of speaking with about their role on campus.

The Green Buildings team’s main responsibility is to work with personnel at various facilities to gather data such as energy usage or water usage, which they use to determine whether the building can earn LEED certification. Buildings are awarded LEED certification levels (Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum) based on the number of credits they earn from meeting certain sustainability goals, such as using renewable energy or utilizing alternative transportation methods. This certification process is used around the globe to recognize buildings that are designed and operated with sustainability in mind. 

Since July of this year, all new buildings at UC Davis, and in the entire UC system, are required to be LEED certified to at least the “Gold” level (achieved by earning between 60 and 79 credits)2 . The Green Buildings Team keeps busy monitoring and collecting data on campus’s existing buildings and increasing the overall number of LEED certified buildings on our campus! 

The Green Buildings Team is led by Alex Malm, who manages a team of 3 undergraduate interns. Allie Riley, a 4th-year mechanical engineering major and green buildings intern, cites the team dynamic and overall goal as her favorite part of being on the team. Interns are tasked with traveling to various facilities and communicating with building managers to gather data in a specific credit area. Allie, who works in the energy and atmosphere credit area, says her work requires a lot of attention to detail. There is a high volume of data that must be collected to meet each credit requirement, with some credits requiring multiple months of data. Once this data is collected, Alex and the green buildings interns work to perform calculations and write reports to submit to Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the organization that grants LEED certification. 

LEED standards are revised by the U.S. Green Buildings Council (USGBC) every few years to raise sustainability standards. To stay up-to-date with these ever-changing advancements in green building practices, project manager Alex Malm attends various green building training sessions, conferences, and classes. She is also a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP), an advanced professional credential signifying expertise in green building and the LEED rating system.

We thank the Green Buildings Team for all the important work they are doing to further our campus’s sustainability goals!

• 1Easley, Julia Ann. “UC Davis Ranked Among Top Universities Worldwide”. June 27, 2023, ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-ranked-among-top-universities-worldwide-0#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20California%2C%20Davis,university's%20social%20and%20environmental%20impact.
• 2https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3100155/SustainablePractices