To ensure that the momentum behind zero energy buildings (ZEBs) and other low-energy buildings will continue to grow, this guide assembles recommendations for replicating specific successes of early adopters who have met their energy goals while controlling costs.

Many universities have aggressive energy-reduction and climate action plans. To reach these goals, leading universities have developed a suite of common energy-efficiency and renewable generation strategies. This paper presents a common set of approaches across the following areas: zero energy campus definitions and planning, best practices for including energy targets in new construction procurement contracts and design guidelines, implementing pilot new construction zero energy projects, aggressively implementing best-in-class laboratory energy-efficiency strategies, planning for and optimizing on-site and off-site renewable energy projects, and high-performance district energy systems.

This white paper offers a guide to writing an outcome-based RFP for decarbonization projects.

Tufts University partnered with Ecosystem to develop a Carbon Neutrality Framework and Action Plan in order to progress towards their goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

For Tufts, a strategic pathway to carbon neutrality by 2050 required not only a change in utility infrastructure, but also a comprehensive set of policies, guidelines, green building standards, and procurement strategies to guide decision making. The report clarified these standards and strategies to help the campus assess upcoming asset renewal, to ensure that all projects contribute to the carbon neutrality goal.

The first projects aligned with the strategic pathway are in process, starting with a project at the Carmichael Residence and Dining Hall on the main campus.

UC Davis needed to meet some ambitious system-wide sustainability goals: to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, despite an ever-growing campus, and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. The university was also contending with separate heating and cooling networks, which required costly regular maintenance.

As the university defined the future of its campus heating and cooling network, Ecosystem was proud to be a member of the team steering the master planning process. The goal was to determine the best path for a dynamic, growing campus – whether it would be preferable to invest in the existing steam system or to move to another technology.

A Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) helped to determine which solution, or combination of solutions, was the most economically beneficial in the long term.

One of the largest public universities in the United States, the Ohio State University (OSU) enrolls 60,000 students and employs 40,000 staff. Its sprawling 25M ft2 campus in Columbus, Ohio, encompasses 485 buildings, including three hospitals, museums, libraries, classroom buildings, laboratories, residences, and a 120,000-seat stadium.

OSU sought both to expand its utility systems and make a major shift toward sustainable development. It wanted a partner to take over campus energy management and to improve energy costs and use — the campus was spending $115M annually on energy, including 110 MW of peak demand and 2.9 million MMBtu of steam. Ecosystem was selected as a key member of the partner team led by Ohio State Energy Partners (formed by ENGIE North America and Axium Infrastructure). In a first-of-its-kind project in North America, the partner team will operate and maintain the heating, cooling and electricity infrastructures on campus and sell the energy back to OSU for 50 years.

Over seven to ten years, Ecosystem will help reimagine the buildings’ energy ecosystem to meet OSU’s goal of cutting energy use at the building level by 25% at an estimated cost savings of $250M.

Founded in 1789, Georgetown University is a major international research university. Located in Washington, DC, the university has more than 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 46 buildings on its main campus.

With aging assets and infrastructure, Georgetown needed to address its asset renewal needs within budget while maximizing ROI and reducing future carbon emissions, leading toward a net-zero campus. To do so within the allocated budget, the university set an energy use intensity (EUI) reduction target of at least 35%, with the potential to increase savings with a campus-wide steam to hot water conversion, renewable energy sources (solar thermal and solar PV), and additional capital improvements.

As a first step towards achieving campus goals, Ecosystem, in partnership with ENGIE, has developed an Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) Program to assess 11 buildings for EUI reduction in 2021 and 2022. These buildings represent 25% of total campus buildings and account for approximately 33% of total campus energy consumption.

Construction will commence at the end of 2022.

Reusing and/or repurposing existing infrastructure components is often overlooked as an option for energy projects. This white paper shares the potential benefits of reusing and repurposing existing assets.

DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, enrolls almost 2,000 students on its 655-acre campus. The university had specific goals related to its energy infrastructure: replace aging assets, reduce the environmental footprint, lower energy bills by at least 25%, and improve operational performance. To achieve these goals, they partnered with Ecosystem Energy to develop a campus energy management plan and integrated design-build project with performance guarantees.