The goal of the energy management program is to develop and maintain an adaptable plan to stabilize, reduce, and offset campus energy requirements in a fiscally responsible manner that will continuously meet the campus wide environmental and sustainability goals.
In 2015, CU Boulder signed the White House American Campuses Act pledging to maintain the ACUPCC goals for Greenhouse Gas Reductions against a 2005 baseline. CU is committed to reducing energy consumption per square foot by 2% annually and at least 12% by 2020 over a 2015 baseline.
Even with substantial growth of campus square footage greater than 28% growth since 2005, CU Boulder to date has realized a 17% reduction of energy use per square foot through stricter energy standards and LEED Gold driven designs in new construction and renovations.
Also in 2015, Facilities Management proposed a campus energy reduction goal which took into account square footage growth and weather. This normalized strategy is directly related to a Campus Energy Management Plan, which focuses on optimizing the operation of existing and new facilities. These proposed campus wide goals are:
- Energy- 20% reduction per square foot (EUI weather normalized); set “optimized” EUI for each building against a 2014 Baseline of FY14 btu/gsf/HDD of 15.76
- Carbon- 20% total reduction (campus goal) against 2005 baseline as defined by the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).
By proactively addressing the substantial growth CU Boulder is experiencing, Energy Services is committed to optimizing the sustainability goals of the Boulder Campus.
