Energy Upgrades

We track energy and water use from the time these commodities reach campus through their ultimate end use such as:

  • cooling and heating
  • lighting
  • ventilation
  • building water
  • grounds irrigation

We constantly look for better, more efficient ways to handle all of our commodities to reduce costs and wasteful use.

As funds become available the University takes on new energy, water and waste projects. Some of the projects in the last fiscal year include the following:

Recent Energy Projects

Facilities replaced three old and inefficient boilers in the following locations:

  1. Field House
  2. North Science
  3. South Science

The new condensing boilers have an average Thermal Efficiency of 94%. The campus participated in both  the UC-CSU Partnership Program and PG&E's Deemed Rebate Program to earn energy incentives for these projects in addition to the Therm savings.

New roofs on North and South Science and the Library are Cool Roofs complying with the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC). Cool roofs are roofs that have a high solar reflectance and thermal emittance.

Lighting can be very energy intensive and the industry has come a long way to reduce one of the highest energy end uses for buildings. Following suit the University invested in retrofitting many of the fluorescent lighting fixtures in campus buildings from the inefficient T12 to T8s and installing dimmable plasma lighting in a parking lot.

Many of the campus buildings have had the fluorescent tube lighting upgraded from less energy efficient t-12a; to more efficient T-8s. We are evaluating the next step in efficiency - LEDs for our classrooms, common areas and parking lots.

New lighting retrofit projects that are being considered are:

  • Upgrading parking lot lighting to LED technology
  • Upgrading pathway and building lighting to LED technology
  • Adding motion sensors where it would be appropriate to have unused lights turn off
  • Adding watt-miser equipment to office equipment and vending machines to reduce plug load
  • Installing dimmable light sensors to dim lamps when ample outdoor light is available

As a 5-Year Energy Plan for Facilities is developed and put into effect, more of the campus lighting both inside and out will be changed over to LED lighting - the most currently efficient lighting technology.

Further information can be found in the Hayward Campus Master Plan under Section 4, Sustainable Campus Framework. Note: currently the campus buys its power from Shell Energy North America (US). This is an update from the information sited in the 2009 Campus Master Plan.

In principle, fuel cells operate like batteries -- yet unlike a battery -- they don't run down or require recharging.

In 2011, PG&E in conjunction with the campus, installed a fuel cell next to the Music building. This fuel cell, powered by natural gas, creates DC electricity, which is converted to approximately 12,000 volts of AC power, which is then sent onto the California electric grid.

Fuel Cell operations create large quantities of "waste" heat. In the case of the fuel cell located on campus, the waste heat instead of being lost to atmosphere is used to heat water which was previously heated by natural gas fired boilers. The hot water is then used to heat the Theater, Robinson Hall, the Music and the Physical Education buildings. It also heats the swimming pools.

To view more information about the fuel cell, visit the fuel cell Dashboard Kiosk located in the fuel cell enclosure.

Further information can be found in the Hayward Campus Master Plan under Section 4, Sustainable Campus Framework.

Note: currently the campus buys its power from Shell Energy North America (US). This is an update from the information sited in the 2009 Campus Master Plan.