UC San Diego Sustainability
Efforts Honored with Top Sandee Award

March 6, 2008

By Christine Clark

The University of California, San Diego’s response to the October wildfires, its alternative transportation programs and Green Campus program all helped the university win top honors in the fourth annual San Diego Excellence in Energy (SANDEE) Awards.

This is the fourth consecutive year UC San Diego has won SANDEE awards, but it is the first time for it to receive the Outstanding Organizational Achievement award.  Representatives accepted the honor at the SANDEE Awards reception, March 5 at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center.

The SANDEE awards were established in 2004 by the Center for Sustainable Energy and San Diego Chamber of Commerce to recognize individuals and institutions that have achieved significant energy savings.

“UC San Diego is honored to be recognized for its commitment to environmental sustainability,” said Steve Relyea, vice chancellor for Business Affairs. “We have worked aggressively to implement green practices at all levels of campus operation, and have been recognized for our energy-efficient new construction, renovation and retrofit projects, alternative transportation programs, and energy conservation efforts. To now win a top SANDEE Award is a gratifying tribute to UC San Diego’s efforts.”

In 2004, UC San Diego won Project of the Year for its research laboratory retrofit and in 2005 the university was recognized with the Special Achievement Award for retrofitting one of its largest and oldest steam turbine powered chillers. The university was honored again in 2006 with the Special Achievement Award for the Sustainable Fleet Management Plan, a comprehensive program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy and decrease reliance on fossil fuels, while maintaining the highest quality educational and research opportunities for students and faculty.

This year UC San Diego was recognized by SANDEE for its response to the San Diego wildfires. On Oct. 24, 2007, during the height of the San Diego firestorms, the energy situation for the San Diego region was in crisis. UC San Diego received a call from San Diego Gas and Electric requesting help to reduce grid power. The university acted immediately by transforming its energy system through a series of demand-and-supply response measures to first reduce its reliance on grid-supplied power to zero, and then to export up to 3 megawatts of power to the grid.

In addition, the university was honored for its Green Campus Intern Program which has been an integral part of the university’s sustainability efforts. Green Campus student interns have dedicated countless hours to promoting facility energy efficiency both on campus and in the community. The program encourages students to adopt strict, environmentally responsible standards in all campus housing and dining facilities, which last year alone reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 1.5 million lbs. The interns have conducted energy saving competitions between residence halls at three of the six colleges during winter and spring quarters. They exchanged over 1,800 Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) throughout the year, providing a tremendous energy savings in resident halls and apartments.

UC San Diego’s transportation system was also recognized by the SANDEE Awards for saving 23,380 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Forty-six percent of all commuters to UC San Diego used some form of alternative transportation in 2007. The university’s transportation services provide a variety of alternative options, including a Free Bus Zone that provides unlimited free rides to faculty, staff and students on all bus routes that serve campus and the UC San Diego Hillcrest Medical Center; a campus shuttle service that carries more than four million passengers per year on buses fueled by twenty percent biofuel and compressed natural gas; a Pedal Club which provides bicycle commuters numerous incentives, including safe and secure locations to park bicycles, showers and changing facilities; campus bicycle shop discounts and free parking privileges on rainy days. UC San Diego also operates the third largest transit operation in all of San Diego County.

UC San Diego recently became the first campus on the West Coast to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, North America’s only voluntary, legally binding trading system to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. As the first university in California to have been recognized by the California Climate Action Registry as a “Climate Action Leader,” UC San Diego goal is to become a living laboratory for climate solutions by being an early adopter of real-world tools and leading-edge technologies for San Diego and the global marketplace for successfully measuring, certifying and reporting its greenhouse gas emissions to the Registry and the public.

Media Contact: Christine Clark, 858-534-7618