2006 Best Practice Awards

The fifth annual UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability Conference was held June 25-28, 2006 at UC Santa Barbara and drew over 600 participants. The two-page case studies below document the outstanding energy-efficiency and sustainability achievements of the 2006 Best Practice Award recipients. The winning projects are excellent examples of innovative and cost-effective green building technologies, design strategies, and building operation practices being implemented on campuses across the state.

Best Overall Sustainable Design

Student Recreation Center

Sonoma State Student Recreation Center
The Student Rec Cen is the first building at Sonoma State to use the LEED rating system as a guideline for sustainable design. The building is 43% more energy efficient than a comparable Title 24 building, uses natural ventilation in nearly 70% of spaces, and boasts extensive use of green materials.


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La Kretz Hall

UC Los Angeles La Kretz Hall
As UCLA's first LEED Silver building, La Kretz Hall is a fitting new home for the Institute of the Environment. Sited on a chilled water reservoir to conserve limited campus space, the building exemplifies environmental responsiblity through use of sustainable materials and energy-efficiency.


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HSW Sixth Floor

UCSF HSW Sixth Floor Major Renovation
Designed for adaptability and easy maintenance, this lab renovation uses interior furnishings from Steelcase’s Green Line, low-VOC materials for superior indoor air quality, and reduces energy use by 32%. The project received a LEED-CI Certified award from the U.S. Green Building Council.


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Integrated Design Process

Early Childhood Education Center

UC Berkeley Early Childhood Education Center
Comprehensive integrated design collaboration between the user group, the design team, and the project delivery team enabled this project to pursue LEED certification and become one of the first childcare facilities in the Bay Area to be LEED certified.


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Best HVAC Design

Price Center expansion

UC San Diego Price Center Expansion
The Price Center expansion is a multi-use facility with dramatically different mechanical demands for each space. The HVAC system will avoid redundant airstreams created by various spaces while enhancing indoor air quality above code and saving energy.


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Salazar Hall

Sonoma State Salazar Hall
Installing an indirect/direct evaporative cooling system in Salazar Hall has enabled the campus to maintain its peak-load demand and avoid expanding the central chiller plant. The highly efficient system does not use chilled water to cool the building, saving the university $30,000 annually.


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Best Lighting Design

Sonoma State Campus Lighting Study
A lighting consultant has created a roadmap to standardize and optimize lighting selections at Sonoma State. The report specifies the most favorable options for buildings across campus for ballasts, fluorescent efficacy, dimming ballasts, photometrics, and energy-efficiency.


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Best HVAC Retrofit

Performing Arts Center

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center
Campus Engineering Services designed and installed a user-override panel to provide PAC staff with direct control of the building’s HVAC system. This has eliminated advanced notification of the Center’s variable performance schedule, and minimized the run time of building systems.


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UC San Diego Cognitive Sciences
Upgrades to the Cognitive Sciences HVAC system have cut the building’s energy consumption in half. Upgrade activities include removing twelve unnecessary exhaust fans; installing VFDs; and programming the central control system for occupied, unoccupied, and night setback modes.


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Best Lighting Retrofit

CSU Dominguez Hills Gym Lighting Retrofit
The 60,000 kW annual energy savings achieved by this project has inspired CSU Dominguez Hills to pursue additional energy-efficiency projects across campus. The Gym now serves as an educational piece that showcases the potential cost savings available through energy conservation.


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UC Davis Student Housing Lighting Retrofit
UC Davis replaced electronic ballasts in two dorms with Axis light harvesting, dimmable ballasts. These fixtures automatically reduce the output of artificial light based on the amount of available daylight. The dimming feature allows ballasts to be set at a percentage of the maximum lumen output.


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Best Load Management Program

UC San Diego Chiller Upgrade & Turbine Addition
Refurbishing the campus's oldest steam-powered chiller has created enough steam savings to power a new 3-megawatt electrical generator without increasing UCSD's natural gas consumption. The project enhances the campus's existing demand response program and saves $1.3 million annually.


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Credits: The 2006 Best Practice case studies were written and produced by Trista Little of UC Berkeley’s Green Building Research Center, with support from David Lehrer of the Green Building Research Center.

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