University at Albany’s High Performance Building Guidelines: The What, Why and How
Indumathi Lnu
Abstract:
The University at Albany signed the American Colleges and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment
in 2008 and has made significant strides toward greening its existing buildings. Recently, the University
developed and adopted a formal High Performance Building Guidelines for new construction, major
renovation and gut rehab projects. It provides minimum energy and sustainability goals for energy
efficiency, water efficiency, commissioning, renewable energy, measurement and verification, LEED
targets, energy and carbon modeling and occupant education. The University followed a unique
approach to determine the minimum goals. It looked at the “realm of the possible” for each of the
categories and narrowed it down to a single goal, based on various input factors, such as campus’ longterm carbon reduction goals, state and federal mandates, available technology, campus preferences and
cost/benefit analysis. The presentation will discuss the guidelines and its significance, the methodology
used to develop the document and setting minimum goals, the projected costs and savings that can be
realized from following the guidelines, and the issues with adopting and implementing the guidelines.
The presentation will also discuss the composition of the team that helped develop the guidelines and
the process it followed to get buy-in from the University Facility Department, Architecture, Engineering
and Construction Management Department, the Office of Campus Planning, and the Office of
Environmental Sustainability. While the presentation will use the University at Albany as the case study,
it will provide general recommendations to any organization that is interested in formalizing its goals for
greener new construction projects. The audience will learn the resources available to research high
performance goals and metrics, the tools to determine the goals and levels of performance that make
the most sense for the organization and evaluate its financial impact/cost-benefit analysis.
Bio:
Indumathi Lnu is the Energy Officer for the University at Albany. In this position, she is responsible for
implementing strategies and projects to reduce campus utility usage, costs, and carbon footprint. She
has a Bachelor’s in Architecture and a Master’s in Construction Management. She has over 13 years of
experience in the building industry as an architect, general contractor and an energy efficiency engineer.
Her experience includes high performance new construction projects, energy performance contracting,
energy audits, LEED, Energy Star and other green building/energy efficiency rating tools. She is
committed to and passionate about making our world a greener and healthier place for us and our
future generations.