About the Building

Built in 1984 and located in Davis, CA, Rifle Range, also referred to as the Energy Conservation Office, is a building that once served as an indoor rifle range. In 1999, the interior of the 1 story, 3,465 ft2 building was remodelled into an office space that is now home to UC Davis’ Energy and Engineering Team. Energy & Engineering’s mission is to improve building performance and eliminate energy waste at the building level to further UC Davis’ carbon neutrality goals and practice sustainable stewardship on campus.

Key features:

• The Dedicated Outside Air System (DOAS) unit helps circulate fresh air in and out of the building by using the temperature differences between the inside and outside air to pre-heat or pre-cool air that is coming in. It also has metering capabilities that improve the monitoring capability of the building’s energy usage and increases efficiency.
• Two skylights with remote-controlled adjustable shades to increase the availability of natural light and decrease the need for strong overhead lighting.
• 5,660 ft2 total planted area that includes low-maintenance plants such as moonshine yarrow, California fuchsia, blue sage, and more.

Why did the building undergo BREEAM certification?

The Energy Conservation Office (ECO) is home to the Energy & Engineering team at the University of California – Davis. Energy & Engineering’s mission is to improve building performance and eliminate energy waste at the building level to further UC Davis’ carbon neutrality goals and practice sustainable stewardship on campus. The Energy Conservation Office is a testbed for building technology and is an office space for students and staff who are dedicated to collaborating with campus partners to make buildings operate more efficiently. It made sense to pursue BREEAM here to showcase our innovative mindset and efficient operations, as well as serve as a valuable learning opportunity for the Green Buildings Team to further green building certification on campus. It is the newest building to become BREEAM certified and is the first U.S. building to complete all three parts of the BREEAM assessment.

Green Strategy

UC Davis is a campus that prioritizes sustainability. While other rating systems do not have credits or categories that capture all the sustainability innovations that occur on campus, BREEAM offers the flexibility to recognize UC Davis’ innovations.

The BREEAM In-Use scheme also allows for a strategic year-over-year sustainability benchmark and facilitation of a continuous improvement program that incorporates risk management policies, best management practices, and quantitative verification.

Benefits of assessing to BREEAM

BREEAM is a comprehensive evaluation of sustainability performance. We knew ECO had a low carbon footprint prior to the project, but this certification confirmed that our operations and management are also worthy of recognition from a sustainability perspective. The breadth of the BREEAM rating system helped us identify areas to continue to prioritize, as well areas to define metrics for track to reach an even higher bar. – Alex Malm, Green Buildings Project Manager