Sustainability

Green Building

Policy Goals

New Buildings

• Design and construct all new buildings to a minimum LEED BD+C (Building Design and Construction) Gold rating. New parking structures will be designed and constructed to achieve, at minimum, a Parksmart Silver certification.
• Prohibit on-site fossil fuel combustion (e.g., natural gas) for space or water heating in all new buildings and major renovation projects (except those projects connected to an existing campus central thermal infrastructure) approved after June 30, 2019.
• Energy-efficient design:
  • New acute care/hospital facilities and medical office buildings: Outperform the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard 90.1-2010 by at least 30% or meet UC’s whole-building energy performance targets.
  • All other new buildings: Outperform the energy requirements of the California Building Code by at least 20% on all new construction and major renovation projects or meet UC’s whole-building energy targets.
• Achieve at least five points within the available credits in LEED-BD+C’s Water Efficiency and Sustainable Sites: Rainwater Management categories.

Renovations

• Major Renovations - Outperform the Building Code’s energy requirement by 20%. Acute care facilities and medical office buildings will outperform ASHRAE 90.1- 2010 by 30%.
• Other Renovations - Design and construct minor renovation projects (except acute care facilities), that exceed the minimum cost threshold, to achieve a minimum LEED ID&C (Interior Design and Construction) certified rating.

Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (EBOM)

• Seek to certify as many buildings as possible through the LEED EBOM rating system at each campus.

Note: This is a summary of policy goals. Additional details and current requirements are available in the UC Sustainable Practices Policy. See UC's progress toward these goals in the Annual Report on Sustainable Practices.