The California Higher Education Sustainability Conference will honor the campus next month with a 2013 Best Practice Award for improving energy efficiency at the Earth and Marine Sciences building on campus.
Installing a new web-based energy management system, and by fine tuning the operation of the building through a process known as commissioning, helped staff reduce the building’s annual electricity usage by 14% and its natural gas consumption by 20.5% -- reducing its carbon footprint by over 300 metric tons per year, while saving so much money that the project could pay for itself in 3 years.
UCSC campus energy manager Patrick Testoni praised the campus’s Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) team for its work on the project.
“This project reflects the importance of using modern technology to improve building performance, resulting in increased comfort, and reduced carbon footprint,” Testoni said.
The campus sustainability project was a team effort involving Testoni, Dan Miceli (HVAC/BMS superintendent), David Ciolino (project manager), and Gabe Sandoval (building management specialist).
The June 23-27, 2013 conference will highlight cutting-edge research at UC Santa Cruz and the other University of California campuses, California community Colleges, and California State University campuses.
