Buildings

Introduction

Buildings are generally the largest user of energy and the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions on campuses. Buildings also use significant amounts of potable water. Institutions can design, build, and maintain buildings in ways that provide a safe and healthy indoor environment for inhabitants while simultaneously mitigating the building’s impact on the outdoor environment.

Featured Resources

932 resources

Architecture-Engineering-Construction Management (MS)

  • Carnegie Mellon University (PA)

The AECM programs prepare building-delivery professionals for careers in capital project delivery dealing with the entire life-cycle of capital projects, from pre-design to design, construction, commissioning, operation, and maintenance stages ...

  • Posted Dec. 17, 2020
  • Academic Programs
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Architecture-Engineering-Construction Management (PhD)

  • Carnegie Mellon University (PA)

The PhD-AECM degree program is intended for practitioners, researchers, and educators in engineering, architecture, construction management fields, and other professionals in the building industry who wish to be pioneers and ...

  • Posted Dec. 17, 2020
  • Academic Programs
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Better Buildings Challenge Learnings: 3 Ways to Reduce Energy Use on Campus

  • Evolution Energy Partners (PA)

Universities across the country are committing to reduce their energy usage to save money, create jobs, and avoid significant emissions of CO2. By joining the Better Buildings Challenge, universities commit ...

  • Posted Oct. 23, 2020
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Methods and Effects of Mechanical Ventilation, Ultraviolet Light and Bipolar Ionization on Airborne and Surface Borne Pathogens

  • Evolution Energy Partners (PA)

The advent of SARS-CoV-2, the strain of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has changed the way building owners and operators must look at treating the air in their buildings. In ...

  • Posted Oct. 23, 2020
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Universite Laval - Aerial view photograph

  • Université Laval (QC)

Aerial view of the campus.


UMass Amherst Olver Design Building

  • University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)

The atrium of the Olver Design Building and students studying while overlooking the Olver Design Building Atrium.


Washington and Lee University Individualized Energy Dashboard for Students

  • Washington and Lee University (VA)

2020 Sustainable Campus Index submission - Washington and Lee

Individualized energy dashboards for students - Following the installation of Lucid Energy Dashboards and submeters on upper division housing, Washington & Lee University ...


CSU Monterey Bay - Living Community Challenge - Biophilic Design Study

  • California State University, Monterey Bay (CA)

In partnership with an environmental studies research course, CSU Monterey Bay developed a Biophilic Design Framework Study. With this study, we will be able to inform future projects, ensuring that ...


Humber College - Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation

  • Humber College (ON)

The 93,000 sq. ft. Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation was opened. It is built to achieve LEED-Platinum certification (currently under review) and is a net-zero energy building, offset by ...


Humber College - 700 KW solar array

  • Humber College (ON)

Select photos of highlighting Humber College's Sustainability program, in relation to our STARS 2019 report, and for inclusion in 2020 SCI publication.

Opened in 2019, a new Commuter Hub ...


Humber College - Deep energy retrofit

  • Humber College (ON)
  • Morrison Hershfield (ON)

NX building retrofit project - Building NX at Humber College underwent a major retrofit to become one of the most energy efficient buildings in North America, while also claiming the title ...


University of Wisconsin-Madison - Campus Photo

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

The downtown Madison Isthmus and the Wisconsin State Capitol, along with Monona Bay and John Nolen Drive, are pictured in an early morning aerial taken from a helicopter on Oct ...

  • Posted Sept. 29, 2020
  • Photographs
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ASHRAE Guidelines & Solutions for University Energy Programs Going Forward

  • Weber State University (UT)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • DLR Group (WA)

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing university energy and sustainability teams to overcome new challenges in managing energy costs and reaching reduction goals. All three course delivery formats, in-person, remote, and ...

  • Posted Sept. 24, 2020
  • Videos & Webinars
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Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Digital Construction

  • Swinburne University of Technology

Civil infrastructure research at Swinburne is undertaken within the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Digital Construction (CSI). Infrastructure is critical to the economic wellbeing of Australia with some $30 billion ...

  • Posted Sept. 22, 2020
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies

  • Concordia University (QC)

The mission of the CZEBS is to reduce the environmental impact of buildings while enhancing their safety and comfort. This is accomplished by advancing knowledge through research and the building ...

  • Posted Sept. 22, 2020
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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The House at Cornell Tech

  • Cornell University (NY)

The House at Cornell Tech is the largest Passive House residential building to date, integrated within an 800,000 square foot campus designed to push the boundaries of sustainable city ...

  • Posted Sept. 11, 2020
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Cost Savings and Carbon Reduction through DERs -- GridMarket Facilitated Project at Paul Quinn College

  • Paul Quinn College (TX)
  • GridMarket (NY)

GridMarket worked with Paul Quinn College to help them identify and maximize their unique DER opportunities.

GridMarket -- an energy consumer advocate and distributed energy resources project facilitation platform -- conducted a ...

  • Posted Sept. 11, 2020
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Butterworth Outer Ring Road Community Engagement Day

  • Universiti Sains Malaysia

Community engagement day held at the Bagan Dalam Butterworth. The community is a B40 community from different ethnicity such as Malay, Indian and migrant workers. Migrant workers include Rohingya, Nepalese ...

  • Posted Sept. 11, 2020
  • Outreach Materials
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Webinar: Managing Surplus Property for Zero Waste

  • College & University Recycling Coalition (DC)

CURC learned in a 2019 survey that managing surplus property was a key interest of members to learn about. What strategies for managing surplus property work on different campuses, public ...

  • Posted Sept. 11, 2020
  • Videos & Webinars
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Factors Impeding the Integration of Sustainability Elements in Built Environment Academic Curricula

  • University of Uyo (Akwa Ibom State)

Development within the construction industry shows that higher education is critical in the sector’s skills improvement. However, research findings are also explicit about absent and shadow integration of core ...


First Net Zero Carbon Building certification for a retrofit in Canada: Humber College NX building

  • Humber College (ON)

Located in the center of Humber’s North Campus in Toronto, Building NX has transformed from one of the campus’ most inefficient buildings, to an industry-leading example of zero carbon ...


Enhancing Growth in Rooftop Gardens with CO2 from Human Respiration Inside Buildings

  • Boston University (MA)

Cities are essential areas for human society. They face many environmental challenges while providing opportunities for integrating human infrastructure with the surrounding environment. This study proposes a system whereby carbon ...


A Machine Learning Based Tool for the Assessment of Energy Consumption in K-12 Schools

  • Florida Institute of Technology (FL)

Energy costs are the second highest operational expense for K-12 schools in the United States. Improving energy efficiency and moving towards sustainable school buildings not only result in substantial cost ...


Converting Miami University’s Goggin Ice Center from Steam to Heating Hot Water & HP Chiller: Reduced Energy Use, Carbon Emissions and Utility Costs

  • Miami University (OH)

We recognize that this innovative large scale project is replicable only at other universities that have ice arenas. Ice arenas tend to be very energy intensive. We show that converting ...


ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN K-12 SCHOOLS: A CASE STUDY IN FLORIDA

  • Florida Institute of Technology (FL)

Buildings are one of the largest energy consumers in the United States. K-12 schools are responsible for nearly 8% of energy consumption by commercial buildings which is equivalent to 1 ...


Impacts of technology-guided occupant behavior on air-conditioning system control and building energy use

  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Occupant behavior is an important factor affecting building energy consumption. Many studies have been conducted recently to model occupant behavior and analyze its impact on building energy use. However, to ...


Understanding facility management decision making for energy efficiency efforts for buildings at a higher education institution

  • University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
  • Institut Teknologi Bandung (Jawa Barat)

Education buildings, as the third highest consumer of energy in the United States, provides significant opportunities to lower greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency (EE). Higher education institutions (HEIs ...


Measuring Up: a Case For Redrawing the System Boundaries of Sustainability At the University of Kentucky

  • University of Kentucky (KY)

The primary goal of this paper is to examine the role that sustainability assessment and reporting plays in creating a sustainable campus for academic excellence. A prototype sustainability assessment and ...


Evaluating the performance of a decentralized graywater treatment system in a living building at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, USA

  • Hampshire College (MA)

Decentralized graywater treatment systems are growing in popularity as the threat of water scarcity rises and wastewater's potential as a resource is recognized. In 2016, Hampshire College in Amherst ...


Sustainability Impacts of Installing Low-Flow Toilets in a University Residence Hall

  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (IL)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

This study evaluates the sustainability impact of replacing inefficient toilets with low-flow units in a residence hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A graduate student initiated this project through the ...


Estimation of energy efficiency for educational buildings in Hong Kong

  • City University of Hong Kong
  • Dalian University of Foreign Languages (Liaoning)

In this paper, we estimate the energy efficiency of educational buildings with the case study of buildings in City University of Hong Kong by constructing an energy demand stochastic frontier ...


Benchmarking Energy Use at University of Almeria

  • Universidad de Almería (Almeria)
  • Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR) (la Rioja)

Several factors impact the energy use of university campus buildings. This study aims to benchmark the energy use in universities with Mediterranean climates. The University of Almeria campus was used ...


Sustainable construction in Turkish higher education context

  • Middle East Technical University

As the construction industry is one of the dominant contributors to the world’s total CO2 emissions and it has huge negative impacts on the environment, sustainable construction has become ...


On-site Energy Manager Program

  • SUNY Jefferson Community College (NY)
  • New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) (NY)

In February of 2019 Jefferson Community College began a one-year commitment to provide a one-half time FTE On-site Energy Manager position in partnership with NYSERDA under project code OsEM17-C, (PON ...


Pay As You Throw: Testing a New Waste Reduction Strategy at Yale University

  • Yale University (CT)

In the spring of 2019, Yale launched a Pay As You Throw (PAYT) pilot program, the first of its kind among American institutions of higher education. From inception to development ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
  • Case Studies
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Solar Energy on Campus (Part II: Solar Purchasing Options and Communicating Renewable Energy Use)

  • Center for Resource Solutions | Green-e (CA)

This report examines the solar purchasing options available to higher education institutions, and the fundamental components of each deal that affect renewable energy certificate (REC) ownership, claims, and the environmental ...

  • Posted April 17, 2020
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The Impact of Biophilic Learning Spaces on Student Success

  • Morgan State University (MD)

The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent the design of the physical learning space, enhanced with biophilic design, contributes to student stress reduction and improved learning ...

  • Posted April 16, 2020
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Are Electric Buildings a Feasible Carbon Neutrality Strategy?

  • University of California, Office of the President (CA)
  • AASHE (PA)
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (CA)

The path to campus carbon neutrality is becoming clearer: electrify everything and procure renewable electricity. Electrifying campus energy infrastructure is a complex undertaking that requires a significant financial investment. While ...

  • Posted March 18, 2020
  • Videos & Webinars
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Designing a Resilient Campus

  • APPA: Leadership in Educational Facilities (VA)

The term “resilience” has increasingly been heard in conferences, project proposals, design charrettes, or from emergency managers. This is an emerging hot topic for those who work within the built ...

  • Posted March 6, 2020
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The relationship between energy use and space use of higher educational buildings in subtropical Australia

  • Griffith University (Queensland)

With an aim to understand the impact of a variety of space usage on the building energy consumption in university campuses, this study selected 122 university buildings located in subtropical ...

  • Posted March 5, 2020
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Opportunities and Benefits of a University-Based Weatherization Assistance Program: The Case of Furman University's Community Conservation Corps

  • Furman University (SC)

Weatherization assistance programs have been in existence in the United States for decades, but they are commonly managed and implemented by local government organizations. Furman University, a small liberal arts ...

  • Posted March 4, 2020
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A review of empirical data of sustainability initiatives in university campus operations

  • University of Coimbra

Given the need to actively address the challenges of climate change, university leaders have a growing interest in reducing their campuses’ environmental impact. This article carries out a comprehensive literature ...

  • Posted Feb. 10, 2020
  • Publications
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TrojanSense, a participatory sensing framework for occupant-aware management of thermal comfort in campus buildings

  • University of Southern California (CA)

This paper describes the development of TrojanSense, a participatory sensing framework developed to collect, analyze and report user assessments of thermal preference at the campus scale with room-level spatial resolution ...

  • Posted Feb. 10, 2020
  • Publications
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Strategies for thermal comfort in university buildings - The case of the faculty of architecture at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

  • Universidade Federal da Bahia, Escola Politécnica (Bahia)

Buildings constructed according to bioclimatic architectural principles in amenable climates have often experienced posterior interventions that have closed ventilation openings for the installation of air conditioning units.

The present work ...

  • Posted Feb. 10, 2020
  • Publications
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Accelerating the Circular Economy Through Commercial Deconstruction and Reuse

  • Google, Inc (CA)
  • Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Google team up to explore how a circular economy approach can address the systemic challenges of reuse, particularly in the built environment.

Deconstruction presents a ...


Environmental Design (BS)

  • University of Houston (TX)

The Bachelor of Science in environmental design follows many of the degree plans of architecture degrees with less of an emphasis on professional practice and more on an emphasis on ...

  • Posted Dec. 6, 2019
  • Academic Programs
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7th Workshop on Research for Sustainability: Investigating Mass Timber as Green Alternative

  • University of Arkansas (AR)

Wood is an age-old construction material, first used around ten centuries ago in the building of Neolithic long houses with crude joints that barely held up a roof. Today wood ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Improving Health in the Built Environment Through a Class-Based Approach to Chemicals of Concern

  • Harvard University (MA)
  • Center for Environmental Health

This panel introduces purchasers (and manufacturers) to the targeted chemical class-based approach to help provide clarity grounded in science about how to avoid the most common chemicals of concern in ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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From Zero Energy to Energy+: Community-University-Industry Partnerships for Sustainable Housing

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)

From community design charrettes to international student design competitions, two housing research organizations at Penn State have collaborated with local affordable housing organizations and home builders to address long-term housing ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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Achieving Resilient, Low Carbon Campuses via a Sustainable Economic Model

  • Pratt Institute (NY)

We are developing a Roadmap to achieve a resilient, low carbon campus as well as upgrade our infrastructure, and have been working to find private partners who can help us ...

  • Posted Dec. 4, 2019
  • Conference Presentations
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.

All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.

OP 3: Building Design & Construction

OP 4: Building Design & Construction

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

Buildings Partners