While the utilization of current building certification programs such as LEED has helped raise awareness of sustainable building standards, the campus could accelerate progress in reducing building energy use by shifting to performance based building standards for new buildings and major renovations.  A study could be conducted to determine the highest level of energy performance standards that would be achievable for all new campus buildings and major renovations, and these could be incorporated into the campus facility construction standards[1] by the end of FY16.  The study could consider options such as requiring total building energy use to be a certain percentage lower than the latest ASHRAE 90.1 standard, requiring the total non-renewable energy usage to decrease by a certain fraction as a result of the renovation or building replacement, or requiring net zero[2] energy performance.

[1] http://www.fs.illinois.edu/resources/facilities-standards

[2] We define a net zero energy building as one that, over the course of a year, generates at least as much energy from renewable sources as it consumes.  This definition recognizes that it is impractical to assure an instantaneous balance of consumption and renewable energy production due to the intermittency of renewable energy sources.  In some cases it may be necessary to install renewable energy generation facilities in locations not on/in the building itself, for example as planned for the solar photovoltaic array on the North Campus Parking Deck to make the Electrical & Computer Engineering Building net zero energy.