News

This week, after months of hard work, Big Shift construction crews wrapped up construction on North Quad—one of the first sections of construction that kicked off the Big Shift in May of this year.

The move from a steam to hot water is at the core of the Big Shift, but it’s only one part of a larger effort toward shifting our investments, our energy supply and our commitment as a campus to becoming more sustainable.

Digging trenches with heavy machinery can have a major impact on campus landscapes and trees if not managed carefully. Big Shift construction crews are taking tree protection and conservation measures to limit this impact.

As the Big Shift project snakes its way around campus you may notice construction crews emptying large bags of white powder into the hot-water-pipe trenches. What is it and how is it helping save energy and reduce our carbon emissions?

Digging the trenches that will eventually hold our new hot water pipes is no easy task! Just look at the maze of other utility pipes that crisscross the campus just beneath our feet!

Moving UC Davis toward a carbon-neutral future is kind of a big deal. And the construction project that is literally laying the groundwork to help the campus get there is big, too. In fact, we call it the Big Shift — a multiyear project on the Davis campus to shift to a new source of energy to heat most campus buildings.