San Francisco International Airport releases zero net energy report

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) recognizes its financial, operational, and community-driven imperative to find cost-effective, sustainable, and resilient means to both mitigate climate impacts and adapt to a climate impacted future by reducing its energy needs.

In 2016, SFO embarked on a strategic initiative to achieve zero net energy (ZNE) consumption. In 2018, SFO engaged a consultant team, led by Arup and Stok, to study how to reduce energy across SFO’s 100+ building campus. The team worked with SFO to develop a ZNE plan, which outlines the multifaceted steps necessary to reduce energy use across the campus’s operations and supply the balance with 100% renewable energy to meet the Airport’s ZNE goal.

At the outset of the project, SFO convened its leadership, stakeholders, and consultants to create a consensus vision of the scope of airport facilities and assets to include in the ZNE Plan. The project team then analyzed energy consumption, design standards, and construction processes for current operations and planned expansions of the airport’s over 100 buildings. The results were combined, along with related studies, to suggest strategies for energy reduction across the campus which align with SFO’s ZNE goal. 

Key strategies proposed in the ZNE Plan include:

• Reducing existing building energy use through equipment and controls upgrades and retro-commissioning.

• Finalizing and activating a campus-wide energy management control system, including updated controls, meters, and integrated networking data.

• Incorporating high-performance energy efficiency strategies in all new construction. 

• Forming a full-time energy management and ongoing commissioning team to maintain ZNE performance.

• Recovering and reusing energy within the terminal complex with a heat recovery chiller plant.

• Generating and storing renewable energy on site with distributed energy resources (solar power and battery storage).

When implemented, the Zero Net Energy Plan will reduce SFO’s energy use across its campus by 60%, or 1.3bn kBtu/year, which is the equivalent to the annual use of 27,000 households. Achieving ZNE is a key part of SFO’s ambition to be one of the most sustainable airports in the world.

Download the ZNE plan