Sustainability Action Plan 2022

The engineering, maintenance, and operations staff at Foothill and De Anza colleges have been trained to operate energy-consuming equipment and systems efficiently. Ongoing training programs should be developed and implemented to ensure that the staff is up-to-date on equipment, mechanical and electrical systems, and facility operational changes. This will be especially important as the district transitions to a carbon-free operating environment with the associated sophisticated systems.

The district has installed the Gridium Snapmeter Energy Information System (EIS) at both college campuses and the Sunnyvale Center to monitor and track energy usage, evaluate trends in use over time, and develop analytic metrics to assist in managing and reducing energy usage. Currently, the system monitors electricity and natural gas use, solar photovoltaic generation, pool cogeneration systems and a few distinct buildings on the campuses. One of the district’s goals is to install whole-building meters at all campus facilities to benchmark individual buildings and troubleshoot high-energy users for mitigation strategies to reduce usage. In addition, many of the existing meters are currently nonfunctional and should be repaired or replaced to provide accurate data for analysis. As of this writing, the district has started this process at Foothill and will be followed by De Anza.

The district employs Pordis Consulting and Design Services to analyze energy usage data obtained through utility and solar generation meters. Pordis monitors energy consumption and provides recommendations for changes in operations and equipment to improve energy performance and reduce costs. This has been a helpful service to the district and should be evaluated for future needs.

The district has installed several different building management systems (BMS) over the years. These systems are Novar, Tridium Niagara, and Siemens. The systems are installed at various campus buildings and do not communicate with each other or the Gridium or Pordis systems. As of this writing, the district has engaged a controls consultant to troubleshoot and improve the performance of the BMS.

The district can avoid overcooling and overheating by raising cooling temperature set points and lowering heating temperature set points. Implementing hot water reset controls with setpoint changes for the campus central plants would help avoid wasting energy during milder weather.

A good guideline is to heat buildings at or below 68 F and cool buildings at or above 72 F to avoid excessive heating and cooling. To avoid unnecessary heat loss, domestic hot water temperatures should not be set above 120 F. These limits will not apply in areas where other temperature settings are required by law, specialized equipment, or scientific experimentation needs.

Scheduling of building and facility usage should be optimized to reduce the number of buildings operating at partial or low occupancy. To the extent possible, academic and nonacademic programs should be consolidated to achieve the highest building utilization. Campus and district staff should make all attempts to change or update building operating schedules to match the changes in academic programs. Making significant changes in this area will require a concerted education process for building users by district facilities staff.

All air conditioning equipment, including supply and return air fans, should be shut off on weekends, holidays, and for varying periods each night, except where it would adversely affect instruction, electronic data processing installations, or other scientifically critical or 24-hour operations. The district should avoid cooling and heating spaces when unnecessary. This would be accomplished by scheduling HVAC systems off during unoccupied times while implementing a pre-cooling strategy to cool the building in the early morning before outside temperatures warm up. For central plant systems, scheduling lockouts for chillers and boilers could be employed to avoid running this equipment when unneeded. It's important to note that some facilities are used late into the evening and on weekends, and accommodations should be made to ensure these operational needs are supported.

As described above, in March and April 2021, the district performed a benchmarking study of energy usage at the master metered campus level for Foothill College, De Anza College, and the Sunnyvale Center. The results established Energy Use Intensity (EUI) for each site in kBtu/square feet, which were compared to other similar uses and community college campuses as a starting point for energy planning.

Benchmarking energy use at the campus level is an essential first step in identifying high energy use facilities. However, to better isolate excess usage and investigate mitigation measures, the district should install electric, natural gas, and BTU meters (to measure central plant hot water energy) at every building and central plant system on the campuses. The district could then connect the individual building meters to the Gridium EIS and EPA Portfolio Manager to understand usage trends, benchmark them to similar higher education uses, and target measures to improve energy performance at the building level.

For buildings or central plant systems determined to be high energy users through the benchmarking process, the district should implement a Monitoring-Based Commissioning (MBCx) or Retro- Commissioning (RCx) process to reduce energy usage at those facilities. MBCx is a process that optimizes building performance for comfort and energy use by using meters and analyzing system performance. RCx is a process that identifies individual energy efficiency projects to improve the control of the system to reduce energy use. For more information about MBCx and RCx, go to the U.S. Department of Energy Best Practices for MBCx.

The district has employed the MBCx/RCx process in recent years as part of the Proposition 39 program. In 2016, two MBCx projects were completed successfully at the De Anza pool cogeneration system and the S-Quad building complex. These projects save 18,000 kWh and 8,000 therms annually with an avoided energy cost of $9,812 each year. The district should also employ the strategies of Continuous Commissioning of facilities, which is an ongoing process to resolve operating problems, improve comfort and optimize energy use.

Effective preventive and regular maintenance programs keep equipment and systems operating optimally and reduce excess energy use. The district should continue routine maintenance schedules to ensure proper maintenance and revise practices necessary to optimize energy performance. Good maintenance planning includes understanding the life cycle of equipment and when it is better to replace rather than repair, which can also provide excellent opportunities for energy-efficient upgrades.

As the effects of climate change become more evident, it will be important for the district to consider development of a Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Plan to prepare the campuses for current and future emergencies, wildfires and drought. Due to the instability of the electric grid and ongoing PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), the district should evaluate energy supply resiliency options. These could include solar photovoltaic (PV)/battery energy storage microgrid systems, which consist of solar PV generation, battery energy storage, and sophisticated controls that permit the “islanded” operation of certain campus facilities and systems in the event of a utility power outage. These facilities could serve as emergency community gathering spots or cooling centers during extreme heat events.