THE CAMPUS AS A
LIVING LABORATORY
FOR CLIMATE
SOLUTIONS
UC San Diego
Water
Conservation
Summit
June 2, 2009

A History in Climate Research

Campus Quick Facts
Square Feet of Facility Space
(in millions)
11 million sq. ft . of facility
UC San Diego
space, if we were a landlord, we 11
would be one of the largest in
City of San Diego
San Diego 8
Qualcomm
6
Included in the daily population SDSU
of 45,000, we have over 8,000 5
student residents living on
campus

Campus Quick Facts
Square Feet of Facility Space
Currently one of the largest (in millions)
water users in San Diego,
however, we have a plan!
Potable Water Conservation 11
Actual Goal
8
While the campus has grown 800
water use has remained 700
600
Million Gallons
constant and water intensity has
500
decreased: 400
300
200
100
• gals/sf 8% 0
FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13
• gals/capita 7%

Our Challenges
Future resource
availability may Inhibit
UCSD’S operations
Resource Intensive
Research University
$1B of new buildings
every 5 years
Severe Operating
Budget Reductions
Restrictions from State
and University

12 Key Elements of Strategy
Facilities & Transportation Building Smart Grid Recycling & Advanced
Operations Design Infrastructure Conservation Energy Storage
E1 E2 E3
E7 E4 E5 E6
Photovoltaic Methane & Water Faculty Strategic Student
Fuel Cells Resources Leadership Partnerships Involvement
THINK
SOLAR and Wind
ENERGY Energy
E7 E8 E9
E9 E10 E11 E12

UC San Diego is helping Lake Mead
California solve the water
dilemma
San Diego is in a drought
condition…Lake Mead
could be dry by 2021
Water use is reduced by:
• Reclaimed water for
irrigation
• Planting natural vegetation
UC San Diego
• Wx monitoring/soil moisture Reclaimed Water
controlled watering System
• 1/3 of campus has low flow
water fixtures

Continue to be a
Leader in Carbon Even with increased energy
Reduction and Energy intensive activities and
growth, facility retrofits have
Efficiency decreased energy
consumption per sq. ft.
Completed $60M in energy
retrofits reducing energy use by
20% or 50M kWh/yr, saving
UCSD $12M annually. 300,000
280,000
An Award winning program:
260,000
• 6 Best Practice Awards
240,000
• 3 Excellence in Energy
Efficiency Awards 220,000
2009-2014: Invest $66M
• 2 Energy Education & (49+17) to achieve 200,000
Leadership Awards 35M kWh/hr reduction BTU/SF

At a Minimum, Design all Due to higher capital cost of meeting these
Future Campus Buildings to standards, the campus will look for donor
LEED Silver or Gold support to augment building budgets.
Standards
UCSD will exceed UC LEED by
achieving a Silver-equivalent rating [Rady or Liechtag]
on all new buildings.
All new construction requires
water efficient fixtures.
12

The Campus Forest Reduces CO2, Saves Energy,
and Absorbs Pollutants
Transpiration & wind blocks
reduce energy by 12,886 MWh
Sequestration & energy
reduction reduces CO2 over
10,000 tons each year
Campus forest traps and filters
140M gallons/yr of storm water.
Value to campus is over $2.2M
each year.
17

Conserving our Water Resources
Master Plan Includes Water Conservation
Water Conservation is a
result of commitment to
community stewardship
and an understanding of the
campus’ relationship to the
environment.
Water management starts
with campus planning:
•Long Range Development
Plan
“Low water use plants and native plants are
required.”
•Campus Master Plan
“Turf areas are used for functional programmed
spaces only.”

Conserving our Water Resources
Daily Water
Centralized Irrigation
Conservation activities • Controls watering
strengthen our conservation schedule
efforts.
• Report high & low
flow…system
shutdown when break
Central Irrigation detected
Daily Inspection • Linked to weather
station
Training
Sustainable Water Use

Conserving our Water Resources
Daily Water
Daily Efforts
Conservation activities • Repair simple irrigation problems
strengthen our while performing daily tasks
conservation efforts.
• Use soil probe to check moisture
levels
• Look for run off
Central Irrigation
Daily Inspection • Time run off
Training
Sustainable Water Use

Conserving our Water Resources
Daily Water Regular Training
Conservation activities
strengthen our • Conduct monthly education meetings.
conservation efforts.
• Encourage continued education:
College courses
Certified Landscape Technician program
Central Irrigation
Workshops and seminars
Daily Inspection
• Employees teach each other
Training
Staff present what they have learned at
Sustainable Water Use conferences, workshops, and seminars

Conserving our Water Resources
Reclaimed Water Use
Daily Water
Conservation activities • UCSD was one of the first to connect to
strengthen our North City Reclamation Plant
conservation efforts.
• 30% of water used for irrigation is
reclaimed water
Central Irrigation • Using reclaimed for irrigation saves the
campus ~25% in water & sewer costs
Daily Inspection
Training
Sustainable Water Use

Conserving our Water Resources
Before
After
MP Rotators
•Replacement of ~ 8,000 standard spray heads for a savings of COMPARISON
103,000,000 gallons over the life of the nozzle. 15H Spray Nozzle MP2000 90-210
•More efficient because water is applied more slowly and evenly. 1.85 gpm 0.63 gpm
•Use 30% less water even though they’re run 2X as long as sprays. x 10 min run time x 20 min run time
= 18.5 gal = 12.6 gal
•Multi-trajectory rotating streams provide uniformity
•Automatic matched precipitation even after arc & radius adjustment SAVINGS = 5.9 gal or 31.9%
•Low application rate reduces runoff on slopes & tight soils

Conserving our Water Resources
Water Conservation must Above and Beyond
become a way of life on and
off campus. AQUAholics 12 step process for a sustainable
water footprint.
UCSD is taking steps to go
above and beyond the City Sustainable Operations Working Group is
Drought restrictions: implementing plans for water conservation.
•Limiting irrigation to 3 days
per week.
Campus is partnering with the City and other
agencies to:
•Shutting off fountains Extend the recycled water system
•Vehicle and equipment Fund irrigation system retrofits
washing limited. Install low flow building water fixtures
•Repairing leaks in less
Replace turf with drought tolerant plants
than 24 hours.
A 25% reduction in water use!

Applying New Technology
Create Leading
Sustainability Program
with Focus on Student
and Community
Involvement
Involve students in
photovoltaics, weather
station network, water
conservation
Provide incentives for
multidisciplinary
student collaboration
21

Become a Global
Demonstration
Project for Sea
Water Cooling
Seawater Cooling could
save $4M/yr in energy and
100M gallons of water per
year.
18

A Leading Sustainability
Research Program with
Focus on Basic Research,
Applied Research, and
Prototyping
Existing faculty experts
are being augmented
with new positions
Providing an environment
for multidisciplinary
academic collaboration
21

Advanced Biofuel
Program: Algae
Micro-algae
High density
No food competition
Saltwater / wastewater

UC San Diego has a
goal of becoming a
global model of
sustainability for
universities
and communities alike.
Greening the Economy