Moving our campus to a cleaner future

What is the Big Shift?

The Regents of the University of California set a goal for all the UC's to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. UC Davis has a plan to get there and it involves a series of shifts:

  • Shifting our investments to dramatically decrease our reliance on fossil fuels
  • Shifting our energy supplies to those with renewable resources
  • Shifting our commitment, as a campus community, to reinforcing these changes with our own behavior

Innovations we implemented as a campus have garnered us the title of our nation’s number one most sustainable university and we've got plans to do more.

In spring of 2020, we launched a large-scale construction project that literally lays the groundwork for ultimately reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, while immediately decreasing our energy and water use — we call it the Big Shift. 

It's going to get messy, but it's worth it.

Here's what's happening

Image of current, natural-gas-powered boiler at UC Davis' Central Heating and Cooling Plant.
Big Shift Overview
Watch the Student-Created Video
Image of entrance to the big shift construction area.
Big Shift Photo Gallery
Summer 2020: Contractors locate pedestrian crossings in major thoroughfares, like this one, just across from the Memorial Union bus terminal.
Image of big shift fencing, signage and excavator
Summer 2020: Construction fencing lines the open trenches down North Quad and part way down East Quad. Detours direct pedestrians, cars and vehicles around the project.
Image of hot water pipe fusing in big shift construction area.
Summer 2020: The hot water pipes are not manufactured in the exact lengths required for our project, so contractors fuse them together with this machinery.
Image of hot water pipe in big shift construction area.
Summer 2020: Here it is! This is the type of pipe that will transport the hot water needed to heat our buildings without natural gas.
Image of big shift fencing
Summer 2020: Signage located along the construction fencing provides more information about why "this shift is worth it."