5.1
Partnership Characterization
The CCC system is a two-year public institution comprised of 112 campuses within 72 autonomous districts that serve over 2 million students annually.
As a system that has over 5,000 buildings with classrooms and offices, this partnership that formed
during the 2006-2008 program cycle has saved over 75 million kWh in energy annually.34
The California Community Colleges system is headed at the state level by the Board of Governors and the Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO). Currently, the Chancellor’s Office does not have direct governing authority over its campuses; instead, the governing authority lies at the district level. Therefore, attitudes and actions towards energy efficiency differ based on the district, as well as the IOU outreach capacity. There is, however, leadership at the Chancellor’s Office and the Board of Governors that is influencing actions in energy efficiency. The Board of Governors has set a goal that all building design must exceed Title 24 standards (California Energy Code) (i.e., all major capital projects starting design in FY 2010-11 need, at a minimum, to outperform by at least 15% of the current Title 24 standards for new
construction, and all major renovation projects should, at a minimum, outperform the current Title 24
Standards by at least 10%).35 The Chancellor’s Office provides a 2-3% incentive on the construction costs
of all new construction and major renovation projects. In January 2008, the Board of Governors adopted
an Energy and Sustainability policy “to recommend energy efficiency and sustainability goals.”36 There
is also a great deal of action from individual districts including creating sustainability templates (Citrus
College), internship programs such as SCE’s Developing Energy Efficiency Professionals (DEEP),37
revolving energy efficiency funding policies at two campuses (Mt. San Antonio and San Mateo), and collaborating with other agencies such as the California Institute for Energy and the Environment (CIEE), CEC, and the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC). The growing movement toward energy sustainability is detailed in later sections in this chapter.
During 2006-2008 and this current program cycle, colleges and districts identified projects through their deferred maintenance logs. Although there is currently no formal college-level or state-level energy efficiency potential project list, CCC uses a system-wide database called FUSION (Facility Utilization Space Inventory Option Net) to integrate space inventory, conduct facilities assessments and fiscal
planning, and implement projects.38 Savings budgets for the IOU partnerships are compiled at the CCC
Chancellor’s Office, with some input from districts. Due to the autonomous nature of the districts, not all college campuses necessarily have a facilities manager that is dedicated to understanding the energy efficiency potential of the campus and as such, do not necessarily provide input to the Chancellor’s Office.
34 Dan Estrada, email correspondence. 35 Dan Estrada, email correspondence.
36 http://extranet.cccco.edu/Portals/1/CFFP/Sustainability/BOG_Energy_Sustainability_Policy_FINAL.pdf 37http://asset.sce.com/Documents/Community%20-%20Education/DEEP_Factsheet.pdf.
5.2
Overall Perceptions
Navigant has found that the CCC is a unique institutional partner and as such, cannot necessarily be viewed in the same light as the four-year universities or CDCR. First, the organizational structure provides autonomy for each of the 72 CCC districts, which does not allow for centralized management. However, there is a push for energy efficiency and sustainability through the Board of Governors as well as from individual districts and campuses. Districts are encouraged to contribute program goals,
although there is no formal requirement to do so. The Chancellor’s Office primarily develops program goals through its system-wide tracking software, FUSION. Engineers and facilities experts identify and implement projects at individual campuses, with support from the Chancellor’s Office or district as required.
5.3
Long-Term Energy Planning
Navigant has found that the CCC system is well on its way to achieving long-term sustainability and energy efficiency through the following comprehensive and innovative ways:
1. Attitudes toward Sustainability and Campus-Level Engagement: There are many indicators at the
state/Board of Governors’ levels, as well as the individual district levels, of a growing awareness of energy efficiency and a push for sustainability.
a) The Board of Governors has set a goal that all building designs must exceed Title 24 standards
(California Energy Code). All major capital projects starting design in the fiscal year (FY) 2010- 2011 need, at a minimum, to outperform by at least 15% of the current Title 24 standards for new construction. In addition, all major renovation projects should, at a minimum, outperform the
current Title 24 standards by at least 10%.39 The Chancellor’s Office provides a 2-3% incentive on
the construction costs of all new construction and major renovation projects.
b) In January 2008, the Board of Governors adopted an energy and sustainability policy “to
recommend energy efficiency and sustainability goals.”40
c) Citrus College and the Chancellor’s Office used $250,000 of CEC funding to create a
Sustainability Template41 in 2011, which the Chancellor’s Office contact says will create a
structure that helps districts and colleges implement energy efficiency projects.
d) The Chancellor’s Office is participating in the emerging field of green jobs through its
partnership with SCE’s DEEP42 program. According to Dan Estrada, through the DEEP program,
student interns hired at three community colleges (Citrus, El Camino, and Mt. San Antonio) helped to create the Sustainability Template, trained with the Energy Manager on campus to implement energy efficiency projects, or acquired marketable skills for the green jobs field.
e) Two campuses have continued implementing energy efficiency projects by setting up revolving
energy efficiency funding policies (Mt. San Antonio and San Mateo).
39 Dan Estrada, email correspondence. 40 Dan Estrada, email correspondence. 41 http://www.cccutilitypartnership.com/.
f) Various campuses and the Chancellor’s Office often collaborate with other state energy agencies such as CIEE, CEC, and CLTC to implement pilot programs or conduct research in energy efficiency and sustainability.
2. Data-Driven Energy Information Infrastructure: CCC is changing the way it understands its energy
efficiency potential. Currently, the Chancellor’s Office makes use of FUSION, a database that works
as a scheduled maintenance list as well as a tracker for equipment and project progress.43 According
to Dan Estrada, districts are required to input details of their five-year deferred maintenance plans into the database. The Chancellor’s Office then uses data mining and outreach to districts that have not submitted enough information, to come up with a potential list of energy efficiency projects for the colleges system. While this method of identifying potential projects has worked since 2006, the Chancellor’s Office is currently developing the “SMART Energy Information” project, a
collaboration between MelRok, Onuma, FUSION, and the IOUs, as an automated way of identifying all potential projects. In its pilot stages, the project will take IOU-provided interval data and provide real-time energy information through FUSION (based on an Onuma platform) in MelRok’s
EnergiScore44 software methodology and format. MelRok’s analysis of meter data, weather data, and
DOE-approved benchmarking data will yield energy usage data in a way that projects can easily be identified and prioritized by facility and building.
With the dissemination of this project to all districts and campuses, and the widespread use of the Sustainability Template piloted at Citrus College, campuses and districts will have the tools to clearly identify energy efficiency projects and plan for long-term energy sustainability.
5.4
Management Structure Comparison
As previously noted, the independent nature of the districts that are not directly governed by the Chancellor’s Office creates certain participation barriers. However, the Chancellor’s Office’s statewide presence encourages districts and campuses consistently to take action. Furthermore, information is disseminated quickly through Fred Harris’ email mailing lists of facility managers of campuses and districts. The Chancellor’s Office also hosts two annual conferences (known as Green California
Community Colleges Summits) for facility managers, energy managers, students, trade associations, and anyone involved in green and sustainability activities for community colleges. These summits provide an additional opportunity for the Chancellor’s Office to encourage IOU partnership participation.
5.5
Staff Resources and Organizational Capacity
Although not every campus has a dedicated energy manager, very few IOU program managers have noted difficulty in finding the right people to discuss potential projects.
All IOU program managers have found that Fred Harris is a strong lobbyist on behalf of the campuses, as he is always pushing for comprehensive sustainability efforts.
43http://www.foundationccc.org/WhatWeDo/FUSION/tabid/76/Default.aspx. 44http://www.melrok.com/energi-score.asp.
5.6
Financing Among IOUs/Partnerships
All CCC campuses have access to $23.5 billion in state bonds (leveraged through the Chancellor’s Office, in addition to any utility financing [such as OBF]). Individual districts can also procure local bond funding. However, local bond funding success depends on the economic status of the district’s location.