Sustainable Buildings

Green, Resilient, & Efficient Infrastructure

Both the University and the State are making great strides in green building construction and renovation.

Through green buildings, the campus conserves energy, reduces the use of raw materials, and saves costs. Our campus community can be inspired and protected from indoor environmental issues when they live, work, and learn in efficient and sustainable buildings.

green buildings built to LEED Silver or higher

100%

carbon neutral new development on campus

2.08

million square feet of green building area

SustainableUMD Data Dashboard: Smart Growth

View of the McKeldin Library from the mall

Opportunities

Programs to help you explore UMD's sustainable community

People Holding up compost & recycling signage

Green Terp or Green Office:

The entire UMD community has an impact on the energy, water and waste rates from any building we occupy. Join the Green Terp, Green Chapter, or Green Office programs to learn how you can make sustainable choices while using buildings on and off-campus. The programs offer certification, guidance, tools, resources, and training to help you conserve water, save energy, reduce waste, and more.

Get Involved & Certified

Design Criteria/Facilities Standards (DCFS):

Sustainability is an important part of university standards and design guidelines for new construction and building renovations- setting requirements on operations and maintenance, energy efficiency, and materials. To ensure the University’s building and infrastructure are designed in compliance with the University’s green building commitment and the High Performance Buildings Act, the standards address environmental stewardship and LEED design criteria.

UMD's Sustainable Building Design

TerpFootprints Dashboard

This interactive website is a work-in-progress data visualization of UMD’s campus by energy consumption and building performance. TerpFootprints is a collaborative effort between UMD’s academics, research, and operations- and everyone with a UMD email can access the dashboard.

Explore UMD's Energy Systems

Report Leaks & Drafts

Help conserve water and energy by submitting service requests through Facilities Management. Students that live on-campus can also submit service requests through this portal. If you see any building issues that need repair, report them to help reduce damage and waste!

Report Building Issues

Achievements

UMD Initiatives supporting sustainable buildings, infrastructure, and community on campus

UMD Facilities Management (FM) plays a defining role in the design and construction of campus buildings. With all projects, FM aims to meet the university’s goals for green buildings. From the start to the end of construction projects, FM monitors five key areas -- site sustainability, energy, water conservation, indoor environmental quality, and materials -- to ensure environmental sustainability of new campus construction.

Building a Sustainable Future: Locally, UMD and partners in government and business are guiding urban planning with a deep commitment to “smart growth” practices that help our broader community design more sustainable buildings, streets, and neighborhoods. ‘“Smart growth” covers a range of development and conservation strategies that help protect our health and natural environment and make our communities more attractive, economically stronger, and more socially diverse” (US EPA).

Carbon Neutral New Development: All new development at UMD is carbon neutral since the President's Energy Initiatives were announced in 2014. New buildings, major renovations, and space use changes at UMD all must incorporate strong energy conservation measures and offset any carbon emissions. The Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering is the first major new construction project that is fully carbon neutral throughout its operational lifetime.

High Performance Building: The University of Maryland has set a goal that all new construction and major renovations will be high-performance buildings. The High Performance Building Program is a Maryland state law requiring buildings, constructed or renovated solely with State funds to be “high performance” buildings. This program requires new buildings and major renovations to be certified LEED Silver or be built to the 2012 International Green Construction Code as amended by the Maryland Green Building Council. UMD building projects must achieve 15% better energy efficiency than the current energy code.

Campus Green Buildings:

1 of 14

Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering

The state-of-the-art Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering opened in 2019.The Iribe Center is a hub for technology at the heart of a new innovation district, among high-tech companies, government agencies, and institutional colleagues. The Iribe Center will support groundbreaking research and education in virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, computer vision, machine learning, data science, and more. Six floors of specialized labs, classrooms, auditoriums, offices and a fully-equipped maker space offer unprecedented opportunities for students and faculty to innovate. Within the context of the university, the site connects the interior of the campus with the neighboring community and natural environment. Through manipulation of paths, grades, alignments, and paving materials the design facilitates the movements of students coming from off-campus on foot and bicycle, as well as improves the circulation of the engineering district of campus. Careful work was done to preserve stands of existing mature trees.

A. James Clark Hall

A. James Clark Hall is an iconic LEED gold building. Clark Hall supports the Clark School of Engineering’s rapidly growing programs while bringing together disciplines under one roof, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and growth. Green features include:
- Increased the amount of pervious surface on the site, allowing more rain water to soak in and reducing run-off
- Reduced potable water consumption for irrigation 53% and for domestic water by 39%
- Reduced Energy Costs by 26.5% compared to a baseline building
- Diverted over 90% of Construction Waste from a landfill

HJ Patterson Hall (Wing 1)

HJ Patterson Hall (Wing 1) is LEED silver certified. Wing 1 includes units from the Office of International Affairs and College of Arts and Humanities. It is also home to the very popular, Samovar Ramen Noodle Bar. Green features include:
- Reduced lighting power demand 45% with LED fixtures
- High efficiency heating and cooling systems use nearly 20% less power than traditional systems
- Water efficient low flow toilets use 20% less water per flush than standard toilets
- Automatic low-flow faucets turn off when not in use saving water
- Over 75% of waste generated during construction was recycled or salvaged, keeping these materials out of the landfill
- Composting is available in the building

Prince Frederick Hall

Prince Frederick Hall is a LEED Gold certified building that opened in fall 2014. Housing nearly 500 students, it has lower operating costs, higher water efficiency, optimized energy performance, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Prince Frederick Hall is a 185,500 GSF residence hall housing 215 residential units with 464 beds, The building includes a satellite central utilities building including infrastructure for chilled water, heating water and domestic hot water. Green features include high efficiency fixtures that reduce water consumption 43% compared to a baseline, energy efficient building envelope infrastructure, and over 44,500 squarefeet of open space used for stormwater management and recreation.

Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center

The Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center is a 187,000-square-foot space, which includes 12 classrooms and nine teaching labs with a total of 1,500 seats. It is LEED Gold certified. Green features include:
- 27% less energy used than a typical classroom building
- 40% less water used than a traditional building
- Two green roofs
- Over 75% of waste generated during construction was recycled or salvaged
- Composting available throughout the building

South Campus Commons 7

In January 2010, the university opened the doors to its first LEED Gold Certified student housing facility. Building 7 of South Campus Commons is a 370 bed, apartment-style residential building that is home to upper-division, undergraduate students. It was constructed through a Public-Private Partnership between the University and Capstone Development Corp. Building 7 differs from a conventional residence hall in many ways, but one of the most profound is in the area of energy consumption. High-efficiency heat pumps and Energy Star appliances in each residential unit (washers/dryers, ovens/stove tops, and dishwashers) optimize energy performance. The building also includes energy efficient windows and a white roof to reduce heat gain in the summer.

Knight Hall

Knight Hall, the home of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, opened its doors in the winter of 2010. Certified as LEED Gold by the US Green Building Council, Knight Hall features 53,400 square feet of high-tech classrooms, multimedia labs, offices, and spaces for professional journalism centers. Green features of the building include:
- 97% of construction waste was diverted from landfills and recycled
- 31% of building materials were obtained from regional and local suppliers
- 34% of the building materials were from recycled sources
- Reduced solar heat and glare through shading devices and specialty glass
- All landscaping water is provided by a 10,000-gallon rainwater harvesting cistern
- 86% of regularly occupied spaces receive natural daylight

Oakland Hall

Oakland Hall opened in the fall of 2011 as the campus’s second LEED Gold Certified residential facility. This nine story building will house more than 700 students in the North Campus Community, making it the largest residential facility on campus. Oakland Hall’s green features include: recycled construction materials; Energy-STAR appliances; solar reflective roof to reduce urban heat island effect; water efficient landscaping; dual-flow toilets and low-flow showerheads; and energy efficient lights and lighting control system.

Physical Sciences Complex

The Physical Sciences Complex (PSC) opened in spring 2014 and earned LEED Gold Certification. This Complex includes a remarkable array of high-tech laboratories with equipment unsurpassed by any university facility in the country. Green features of this building will comprise of: low emitting construction materials; 20% of materials contain recycled content; water efficient landscaping to reduce the potable water consumption by 50%; groundwater used for non-potable fixtures reducing the potable water consumption; an extensive green roof; lighting control systems to reduce energy consumption when the building is unoccupied or when the ambient lighting levels are exceeded; and an under floor ventilation system to increase the efficiency of the heating and cooling system.

University House

The University House, a 14,000 square foot facility located on the west side of the University of Maryland's College Park campus, achieved LEED Gold status. Green features of this building comprise of a geothermal heating and cooling system; solar water heating; low energy lighting systems; energy smart machine room-less elevator; and use of significant amount of recycled material.

Pocomoke Building

Originally constructed in 1946, the Pocomoke Building is a LEED Gold Certified building along Route 1. Sustainable features of the renovation that contributed to the achievement of Gold certification include water efficiency, building reuse, use of recycled content and local materials in construction, and construction waste management. The building reduced water use by 41% and achieved building reuse at 81% after diverting 84% of construction waste management.

Chincoteague Hall

Chincoteague Hall is the first LEED Gold Certified Renovation project at UMD. The renovation process of the 22,648 square foot building still managed to divert 92% of construction waste away from landfills. Green renovations of this building include:
- About 10% of the materials used in parts of the building are made with recycled content
- New plumbing system that conserves water and minimizes waste
- Use of low-emitting materials
- Automated motion sensor lighting
- Fitted windows and doors to guarantee energy efficiency

Wye Oak Building

Completed in January 2014, the Wye Oak Building houses units of the Building Landscape Services Department. The 12,774 square foot building was certified LEED Silver in July 2015, and won three Green Globes from the Green Building Initiative. Green building features include capture and treatment of over 90% of stormwater, cool/reflective roof to reduce urban heat island effect, water use reduction of 36% compared to a baseline, 23.2% energy efficiency increase, and recycled or locally source building materials. Over 91.87% of on-site generated construction waste was diverted from the landfill during this project.

Additional Green Buildings

UMD has 17 buildings certified at LEED Silver or Gold, one building certified by the Maryland Green Building Council, and three uncertified buildings built to LEED Silver standards. Within the next three years, UMD plans to open three new carbon neutral buildings built to LEED Silver standards at minimum. Explore the following list for more green buildings at UMD:
- Sigma Delta Tau Sorority House (Certified with Delta Phi Ep)
- Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority House (Certified with Sigma Delta Tau)
- Alpha Phi Sorority House
- Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority House
- Denton Dining Hall
- Shuttle-UM Building
- Cole Fieldhouse (pending)
- School of Public Policy (pending)
- Chemistry Wing 1 Replacement (pending)
- Yahentamitsi Dining Hall (LEED Silver)
- Pyon-Chen Residence Hall (LEED Silver)
- Johnson-Whittle Residence Hall (LEED Silver)