Sustainability

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Background

UCR is currently undergoing a period of rapid growth. The 2005 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) anticipates that student enrollment will expand to 25,000 by 2015, a 96 percent increase over 2000 levels. The university plans to construct an estimated 8 million square feet of new facilities to accommodate the anticipated growth. To that end, UCR is beginning an aggressive built-out of the West Campus, which will include housing facilities, academic buildings, and a new medical school.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is the de-facto national rating system for sustainable building design and construction. This program has been embraced throughout the UC system as each campus strives to reduce the environmental impact of its capital projects. UCR is adopting an ambitious goal to design and construct all new and renovation projects to a LEED Gold standard atminimum. The campus is committing to certifying all projects through the USGBC to ensure projects meet the rigorous review afforded through third-party verification. While ambitious, UCR is intentionally pushing the envelope to set a high standard for the construction of the West Campus. By adopting Gold as its baseline standard, the university can take a strategic long-term planning approach that uses the LEED rating system to facilitate the development of an energyand resource efficient West Campus.

Relevant Policies

• UC Policy: All new buildings, except for laboratory and acute care facilities, must meet the
  minimum standard of LEED/UC Equivalent Certified
• UC Policy: All new laboratories must meet the minimum standard of LEED/UC Equivalent
  Certified and Labs21 Environmental Performance Criteria
• UC Policy: All renovation projects over $5 million must meet the minimum standard of LEED for
  Commercial Interiors/UC Equivalent Certified and register with the Savings by Design Program
• UC Policy: Strive to achieve a minimum standard of LEED/UC Equivalent Silver

Best Practices

1. New Construction: The campus has implemented five projects under UC Policy, which requires all new buildings with budget approval after July 1, 2004 to meet the minimum standard of LEED or UC Equivalent Certified.
2. Operations and Maintenance: UCR’s Physical Plant uses low-VOC paints and Green Seal cleaning chemicals to enhance the indoor environmental quality of campus buildings and protect student and employee health.

Short Term Goals

1. Adopt a written green building policy requiring all projects to pursue LEED Gold certification through the USGBC
2. Require all new construction projects to surpass California Energy Code Title 24 by 30 percent or better
3. Complete the campus’s first external LEED NC certification
4. Develop sustainable design guidelines for thermal comfort
5. Develop a comprehensive indoor air quality (IAQ) policy
6. Develop a construction waste management plan
7. Formalize an incentives and training program to increase staff LEED Accredited
   Professionals (LEED AP)
8. Goal 8: Certify an existing building through the LEED EBOM rating system
9. Develop written sustainable operations policies
10. Expand use of Green Seal cleaning chemicals to all campus departments
11. Test environmentally preferable floor finish products

Intermediate Goals

1.   Develop a sustainable renovation program
2. Enhance LEED EBOM policies as campus practices evolve
3. Join the USGBC’s Portfolio Program
4. Create UCR green building case studies and post to the sustainability website

Long Term Goals

1. Adopt the goals of the Architecture 2030 Challenge
2. Construct UCR’s first carbon neutral building
3. Increase the ecological literacy of the UCR campus community