Sustainability

Green Building

Policy Goals

New Buildings and Renovations

• Design and construct all new buildings and major renovations to a minimum LEED BD+C (Building Design and Construction) Silver rating and meet the prerequisites of the Laboratories for the 21st Century Environmental Performance Criteria.
• Design and construct other renovation projects (except acute care facilities) with a cost over $5 million (CCCI 5000) to a minimum LEED ID&C (Interior Design and Construction) certified rating.
• Energy-efficient design:
  • 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 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.
• 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.

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.