Category Archives: Systems

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New Green Campus Resources Now Available!

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After many years of hard work, we are excited to announce the launch of several new Green Campus Resources, available now on the UMass Campus Planning website.


The LEED Buildings & Green Infrastructure page contains a list of all campus LEED buildings and sustainable infrastructure projects. Click each project to explore an overview, sustainable features, LEED statistics, a green building brochure, videos, and articles.

 

Campus Sustainability Maps offer new ways to view project statistics and energy consumption through an interactive, GIS interface.

Click here to launch the Sustainability Explorer

The Sustainability Explorer provides information on campus sustainability initiatives. Projects fall under eight categories: advocacy, building, energy, food, landscape, recycling, transportation, and water. Zoom in and select an icon to view a description of each project and reveal additional information, including a project website, photos, and LEED scorecards. Zoom out to the campus boundary to view campus-wide projects.

The Building Energy Explorer calculates and compares the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) for UMass buildings and associates this data with a map to visualize and analyze energy consumption across the campus. The application includes navigation icons, printing customization tools, background information options, layers, and a legend in the upper-right hand corner.

The Frank A. Waugh Arboretum Map/Database and Campus Trees Database were developed by the arboretum to showcase the urban forest of the UMass campus and teach tree identification and appreciation.

 

Green Campus Policy Resources provide sustainability and energy conservation initiatives to campus staff, as well as designers and contractors working with the University.

·         Green Building Guidelines v2 and LEEDv4 provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED v4 certification by focusing the conversation on those green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings.

·         Energy Modeling Guidelines were developed in 2015 as a resource on how to: i) generate energy models for campus buildings; ii) provide quality assurance review of current energy models; and iii) share UMass Amherst energy modeling input parameters with project design teams for them to establish a baseline building energy profile.

·         The Building Measurement, Verification, Coordination and Template Plan was begun in 2013 and finalized in 2015 as a resource to project teams that undertake the measurement and verification of building systems during the first year of occupancy of a new building and renovation project, particularly projects undergoing LEED certification.

·         Green Building Guidelines 2013 provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED certification by focusing the conversation on green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings.

Please use these materials as a resource, and share them with friends, family, colleagues, and students. Go UMass!

Campus Planning, Systems

Designing Tomorrow’s Campus: Resiliency, Vulnerability and Adaptation

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UMassChangeModelThe World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities held  September 14-16 at MIT will focus on designing tomorrow’s campus for resiliency, vulnerability, and adaptation.  Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Senior Campus Planner, and Dennis Swinford, Director of the Office of Campus Planning at MIT will be presenting a case study of 15 years of sustainability action at UMass Amherst and discussing how Campus Planning supports a framework to meet greenhouse gas emissions goals over the next 15 years.  Below is a summary of their recommendations:

1. Process, Governance and Internal Leadership:

  • provide comprehensive and integrated strategic, academic, financial & physical plans
  • design an inclusive and transparent planning process
  • integrate Sustainability Reporting systems into planning efforts
  • ensure the continuity and consistency for SD decision
  • develop incentive structures to support progress on sustainability goals

2. Research and Data:

  • ensure cross-departmental engagement in capital project planning that identifies important sustainable development issues
  • develop and apply a rigorous carbon budget for campus development
  • leverage the academic curriculum for project-based learning, operations research and the campus as a living laboratory

3. Leadership for Society:

  • advocate for full commitment to sustainable development and greenhouse gas reduction goals
  • model governance/negotiation strategies to resolve conflicts and pursue smart growth
  • place local/institutional decisions into a regional/ global framework of resiliency activity
  • practice what is taught by leading the change effort to connect academic and physical planning toward meeting the triple bottom line.

https://sustainability.mit.edu/wssd2016

Campus Planning, Landscape, Systems, Transportation, Uncategorized

Draft UMass Green Building Guidelines LEEDv4 for Public Comment

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Green Building Guidelines Draft LEED v4

The University of Massachusetts is dedicated to sustainability in all aspects of Campus Systems. For the past year and a half the Green Building Subcommittee of the Chancellor’s Sustainability Committee has been working with Campus Planning to develop an updated version of our Green Building Guidelines for UMass. Since the University is committed to achieving or exceeding LEED Silver certification for all new construction and major renovation projects, we must continue to evolve and improve our approach to sustainable building to continue to provide innovative design solutions for the future of the flagship campus.

When the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) released the latest version of LEED (v4) in 2014, UMass took the initiative to update the existing campus Green Building Guidelines. The new iteration of the guidelines aims to clarify changes between the previous version (2009) and version 4, as well as provide context and recommendations specific to UMass for each LEED credit.

Sustainable Landscape at Southwest Residential Area
Sustainable Landscape at Southwest Residential Area

The Green Building Subcommittee  has released its Green Building Guidelines Draft LEED v4 for public comment until April 30, and is excited to invite the broader campus community to provide feedback.  The subcommittee took a credit-by-credit approach to analyzing campus infrastructure, policies and practices as they pertain to green building and LEED certification.  For this most recent iteration of the Green Building Guidelines, each credit has been revised and re-written to align with the most recent version of LEED v4.

If you are a UMass student, faculty or staff member, project manager or a consultant who works with Campus Planning and Design & Construction Management or other units within Facilities & Construction Services, please review the document and let us know what you think by April 30!  We value input from our community as we continue to build a beautiful and sustainable campus.

Campus Planning, Systems

Sustainable Building Efforts in the Spotlight

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Setting the Bar High

The UMass Amherst Campus is rapidly adding to its collection of sustainable buildings. Since the university mandated that all buildings achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver designation or higher (in 2008), we are now proud to showcase 4 LEED Gold certified buildings and 12 more that are currently seeking certification at the LEED Silver level or higher.

These efforts to uphold the University’s commitment to sustainable development are garnering recognition in the broader community. This year UMass Amherst was selected to receive the 2014 Climate Leadership Award by Second Nature, a national non-profit that works to create a healthy, just and sustainable society by transforming higher education.

Our chancellor, Kumble R. Subbaswamy accepted the award saying, “Sustainability plays an increasingly prominent role in the curriculum at UMass Amherst, and the true reward of a commitment to sustainability is the awareness it creates among UMass Amherst Students, and the numerous real-world solutions to climate challenges that they will develop in the years to come.”

In the context of this spirited commitment to sustainability, The Green Building Sub-Committee is spearheading the updates to the Green Building Guidelines, a reference for all campus projects, both renovation and new construction. These guidelines, which will be completed in the spring of 2015, follow the requirements of the most recent version of LEED, version 4. Each month, the committee meets to convene our ideas about how UMass Amherst fits into the parameters that LEED has created. Members share their convictions about what the focus of a discussion surrounding critical efforts in sustainable building should be here at UMass, for this campus and this institution. We are currently in the drafting phase, and would love to hear input from the broader community about what is important to you! What sustainable building practices do you envision being incorporated into a Green Building Guideline document on your campus?

LEED-Gold Certified UMass Police Station

 

LEED-Gold Certified CNS Research & Education Greenhouses

 

LEED-Gold Certified Hampshire Dining Hall