Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Stanford is at the forefront of innovative energy initiatives, setting the standard for best practices that inspire change. Through cutting-edge advancements in IT infrastructure, building automation, and reliance on renewable electricity, the university is creating a smarter, more connected, and more efficient campus.
As Stanford’s campus continues to grow, building energy efficiency becomes essential to support expanding research and teaching needs. By prioritizing energy-efficient designs and systems, Stanford reduces its carbon footprint and ensures new and existing facilities are equipped to foster innovation and collaboration, aligning with the university’s commitment to sustainability and academic excellence.
With Stanford’s advancements in building energy efficiency, all of the students, staff, and faculty that drive the academic mission of the university can focus on studying, researching, and teaching with optimal comfort within Stanford’s facilities.
Stanford has reduced the energy demand from campus buildings by 50% since 2011 despite campus growth.
Cutting Costs, Saving Energy
By improving Stanford’s processes, new energy initiatives cut energy demand and costs.
- Through new strategies like the Ongoing Commissioning Program (OCx) launched in 2023, high-energy use areas are pinpointed and continuously monitored for lasting improvements. Over 100 issues in iconic campus buildings were tackled, leading to impressive savings, such as $4,000 in Wallenberg alone, achieved through zero-cost changes to control systems.
- The Whole Building Energy Retrofit Program (WBERP) is expected to save the university $6.5 million a year and cut energy use in buildings by 24%. The WBERP includes the top 27 most energy-intensive buildings on campus, representing 60% of campus energy use. Some buildings in the program have even reduced energy by as much as 50%.
- The holiday closure program aligns energy operations with building managers across campus to shut down HVAC systems over campus breaks, saving the university a cumulative $5 million in net energy costs.
Optimizing Energy Performance
Imagine a system where IT infrastructure integrates seamlessly with building energy controls. Stanford demonstrates improved building energy performance through automation processes that identify energy savings and energy maintenance opportunities.
- One example of this is building automation initiatives that harness natural daylight and implement automatic sensors that minimize the use of artificial lighting.
- Airflow management has also been optimized, which helps to slash HVAC-related energy consumption in campus energy giants, such as labs. Clever combinations of scheduling and smart sensors dramatically reduce air changes during unoccupied hours within buildings, saving energy without compromising occupant comfort and safety.
- The Return Temperature Optimization (RTO) project optimizes heating and cooling usage through strategic mechanical improvements and smart controls programming. By replacing outdated gas-powered systems with electrically powered heat recovery chillers as part of Stanford Energy System Innovations, optimal return water can be recovered after heating and cooling campus buildings. Through implementing smart controls in over 45 campus buildings, the average return water temperature has improved by 8°F!
Synergy with Campus Research
Stanford is paving the way for the future of building energy efficiency by implementing new discoveries and ideas from the academic side of campus. Through leveraging state-of-the-art technology, from smart building control systems to advanced data management platforms, the university is revolutionizing systems to provide optimal comfort and thermal management.
- The Cooler research project experiments with chilled water load management in various buildings, even down to individual rooms, enabling precise control and gradual demand reductions in non-critical areas while preserving critical zones.
Building a Resilient Campus
The university supports the resilience capacity of the campus by researching and optimizing daily and hourly building energy needs. This ensures the energy system can support the campus as it continues to expand, and embeds resilience in the system in case of emergencies. More energy use will be needed to support a growing campus, and continuing to cut energy demand is a critical responsibility of the university.
- One of the most remarkable features of Stanford’s energy systems is the accomplishment of procuring 100% renewable electricity to match the university’s annual consumption – so why is it important to still save energy on campus? Although Stanford meets its annual energy needs by contributing more than it consumes to the California energy grid, any energy usage requires infrastructure and has associated emissions.