In 2008, Santa Clara completed our first greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Energy, in the form of electricity and natural gas, is the primary contributor to our campus’ greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity purchased from Silicon Valley Power accounted for roughly 50% of our annual emissions.

University Operations targeted our buildings as opportunities to use energy more efficiently. Retrofits to existing buildings improve their mechanical efficiencies, and new buildings are designed to be as energy efficient as possible. While these projects help to reduce campus energy consumption, the University needs your help! Your committed participation will help us further reduce energy demand.

Academic Buildings

Though twice the size of the former building, the Learning Commons uses about the same amount of energy. This is achieved through passive lighting (over 90 percent of public space in the building has access to natural light), automatic lighting sensors, etc. Lucas Hall has passive lighting, dual-switched lighting, “low-e glass” windows, and HVAC motors have variable frequency drives.

Roughly 30 percent of University energy savings prior to 2006 were from lighting retrofits since 1997.

Residence Halls

A SLURP ground monitored Swig Hall's energy consumption in 2008 and reported back to residents each week, showing their consumption patterns to identify the weekly action with the highest participation levels (i.e. was it convenient?) and largest amount of energy conserved. Students conserved the most when they plugged electronics into Smart Power Strips. The research group quantified the amount of energy conserved and converted it to dollars saved. Due to their research, University Operations decided to implement these devices on a larger scale - faculty in Lucas Hall were offered a smart strip as they moved into their new offices.

Household electronics consume roughly 40% of their energy while off or on stand-by. This phenomena is called "vampire" energy, as electronics (such as cell phone chargers) continue to pull small amounts of electricity even when they are not in use.