The Ninth Annual
Higher Education Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Best Practice Awards
Award Categories
Please note:
- The nomination form for each category is different .
- The categories for the CCC Board of Governors Energy and Sustainability Award Program are different from the UC/CSU award categories. Please see the announcement letter for the CCC categories. There is one nomination form for all CCC awards. The information on the rest of the page is specific to UC and CSU campuses.
Categories for the 2013 Competition:
- NEW CONSTRUCTION OR EXISTING BUILDING RETROFIT
- Best Overall Sustainable Design
- HVAC Design/ Retrofit
- Lighting Design/ Retrofit
- MONITORING-BASED COMMISSIONING (This year, we are accepting nomination forms for MBCx awards)
- SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS
- Water Efficiency/Site Water Quality
- Innovative Waste Reduction
- Student Energy Efficiency Program
- Student Sustainability Program
- Sustainable Foodservice
- Sustainability Innovation
- COMMUNICATING SUSTAINABILITY
- SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPION
Full Descriptions of Award Categories
Best Overall Sustainable Design
This category is for best overall sustainable design for a new building or major building renovation. The building should show outstanding implementation of sustainability principles and energy efficiency measures.
The building design must have been completed between January 1, 2008 and January 1, 2013. Priority will be given to projects that have been constructed, and can provide actual energy performance data, but projects that have only completed design are still encouraged to apply.
HVAC Design/Retrofit
Projects in this category should demonstrate leadership in HVAC equipment selection, distribution system design, and controls specification. Examples include: appropriate equipment sizing; energy efficient equipment selection; maximizing the benefits of local climate; air distribution system innovation; and fume hood control innovation.
Lighting Design/ Retrofit
Projects in this category should demonstrate leadership in a new design or retrofit of lighting delivery systems and lighting control systems. Examples include: energy efficient fixture selection and deployment; utilization of daylighting technologies; and use of advanced lighting control technologies.
Water Efficiency / Site Water Quality
This category highlights outstanding water efficiency projects that have measurable and documented savings. Additionally, projects that significantly improve or protect site water quality may submit under this category. Applicants with documentation or calculations of associated energy savings will be given special consideration throughout the review process. Examples of water quality projects include bioswales and riparian zone restoration.
Innovative Waste Reduction Programs
This award will spotlight a program, organization, or group that has demonstrated significant leadership in waste reduction and recycling efforts. Award candidates in this category should be engaged in campus-wide programs that seek to leverage student, staff, faculty, and community interest and commitment to reduce waste and increase recycling. Programs should be able to demonstrate innovative strategies in reducing waste while maximizing their collections of recyclables to lead the campus to achieve zero waste goals.
Student Energy Efficiency
This award will spotlight a program, organization, or group that has demonstrated real leadership in student-led energy efficiency and conservation efforts. Award candidates will be engaged in campus activities that seek to leverage student interest and commitment to sustainability in order to increase energy awareness on campus; realize environmentally-friendly campus policies and commitments; and involve students in efficiency activities that compliment their campus' goals and that result in measurable energy savings.
Student Sustainability Programs
This award will highlight a program, organization, or group that has demonstrated real leadership in student-led sustainability efforts. Award candidates will be engaged in campus activities that seek to leverage student interest and commitment to sustainability.
Sustainable Foodservice
Download Nomination Form
This award will highlight a program, organization, or group that has integrated sustainability into campus foodservice in one (or more) of the following areas: procurement, operations, education, and community outreach. Applicants are encouraged but not required to highlight energy efficiency accomplishments.
Sustainability Innovations
This award category was created to recognize sustainability projects that do not fit into any of the other award categories. Projects applying in this category should be replicable best practices that do not meet the criteria of the categories listed above. Types of projects that would be eligible for the Sustainability Innovations category include (but are not limited to) transportation demand management, renewable energy generation, and environmentally preferable procurement.
Monitoring-based Commissioning (MBCx)
Unlike past years, the submission of a nomination form is required for the MBCx award this year. Monitoring-Based Commissioning projects funded by the UC/CSU/IOU Partnership and completed in 2012 are eligible for this award. The award will spotlight a project that has demonstrated substantial cost-effective energy savings from monitoring of a building or campus heating/cooling plant, has made provisions for training or otherwise facilitating the use of monitoring to ensure persistence of savings, and has applied innovative best practice approaches to monitoring-based commissioning that are potentially replicable by other campuses.
Communicating Sustainability
New to the conference this year, the "Communicating Sustainability" Best Practice Award was created to highlight the conference theme by recognizing projects that have done an exemplary job in communicating sustainability across departments and disciplines on campus and/or to the broader community. Types of projects that would be eligible for this award include (but are not limited to) campus sustainability maps, sustainability summits and earth day festivals, sustainability outreach and marketing strategies, and sustainability newsletters.
Download Nomination Form (UC, CSU, and Private Colleges and Universities)
The Sustainability Champion Award is the highest level and only individual level award given at the CA Higher Education Sustainability Conference within our Best Practice Awards Program. The Sustainability Champion award is given to an individual person who has been a role model to their peers around the state; has promoted sustainability throughout their campus; achieved results; and who truly embodies the term "leader". Please refer to the Sustainability Champion website for more details.