Sustainable Campus
Energy
USF St. Petersburg campus is always striving to improve our energy performance through improving campus-wide energy efficiency, increasing renewable energy production, and finding opportunities for energy conservation.
Energy goals
- Improving campus-wide energy efficiency and reducing total campus electricity consumption.
- Increase On-site Renewable Energy Generation to meet 50% of total electricity demand by 2035.
- Clean Power Purchases
Supply & Demand
University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus purchases its electricity from Duke Energy. This electricity is generated from a combination of sources with natural gas being the largest source so far.
Projects/current efforts
1. Solar Power
USF St. Petersburg campus has 143kW of on-site solar energy, which provides approximately 1.5% of campus' electrical demand.
- The Net-Zero Parking Garage. This is a 100 kW solar array and a 200kW Tesla battery storage system installed in partnership with Duke Energy on top of our 5th Avenue Parking Facility. Solar energy that is not used by the garage for lights, elevators and electric-vehicle charging stations is stored in battery systems or put onto the electric grid for immediate use.
- The solar carport on 4th street south. This is a 40 kilowatt solar array carport with an overhead canopy to cover parking areas. The 40kw solar array power about 15 percent of the Poynter Labs building and the parking lots lighting.
| The Net-Zero Parking Garage. | The solar carport on 4th street south. |
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The Net-Zero Parking Garage. Located at 250 5th Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 |
The 40 kilowatt solar array carport. Located at 870 4th St S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 Online Dashboard |
2. Energy Management System
In an effort to monitor, control, and optimize energy performance in real time, USF St. Petersburg campus installed energy sub-meters on select buildings. This autonomous system collects, tracks and analyzes energy building data which is then made available to the campus community through easy to read info graphics that is displayed on dashboards placed on strategic locations on each building.
3. Energy Retrofit Projects
Over the years, USF St. Petersburg campus has committed to continuously renovate, retrofit, and or refurbish existing buildings to upgrade their energy efficiency & performance.
- LED Retrofits. The Student Green Energy fund (SGEF) and Campus Improvement Trust Funds (CITF) have contributed towards replacement of existing lighting fixtures with LED products in renovated buildings, Parking facilities and Open-use spaces. This includes; The parking garage, Residence Hall one (Floors 2-5), Soccer field and Davis Hall.
- Window films. Installed in 2017, this project was intended to indirectly reduce GHG emissions through blocking heat and solar radiation at Residence Hall One (RHO) thereby leading to decreased electric costs.
- Energy Conservation. The RHO energy competition dubbed as Utility Utopia Spring 2020 was the first ever energy competition to be done at USF, St. Petersburg Campus. The 3rd floor recorded the least usage while the 4th floor had the highest usage. See the stats...