Every year, college classrooms and other educational facilities waste millions of dollars in energy costs. Heat seeps out of under-insulated walls. Outdated energy control systems keep classrooms too hot or too cold in the winter. Lights stay on in empty rooms, needlessly drawing and wasting energy.
Systems ranging from temperature control and thermal insulation to ventilation, indoor air quality, and lighting have the most influence on energy usage in an educational facility. Get them wrong and you could be squandering not only your own energy dollars but the nation’s energy future as well. In fact, “Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy,” a recent McKinsey & Company study, noted that a reduction of just 29 percent of current energy use in buildings via retrofits could save the country an estimated $290 billion in energy costs as well as eliminate 360 million tons of GHG emissions.
To put these environmental savings into perspective, a reduction of 360 million tons of GHG gases is the equivalent of removing 73.1 million energy sipping hybrid-electric Toyota Prius vehicles from the road. What this means for our energy future is clear—in order to have a positive financial and environmental impact moving forward, making our buildings energy efficient is the key to enabling a low energy future.
Fixes, small and big, can pay immediate dividends and keep paying off for years to come. Here are the top ten energy wasters at higher education institutions and what officials can do about them.
Outdated Energy Management Systems
An outdated energy management system is like a brain that doesn’t quite compute. You’re chilled or hot in the wrong places and the wrong times. An energy management system using direct digital controls improves time of day scheduling, ventilation control, temperature reset, and cooling/heating plant optimization. Depending upon the present configuration and application, the energy cost savings could be significant.
Lack of Central Plant Optimization
Operating without a central plant control is like a body without a central nervous system. You don’t know what you’re fingers and toes are doing, or in this case, your air conditioning and boilers. Mechanical system capacity control and management is a key strategy in achieving energy efficiency. Correctly staging the operation of the central plant equipment for cooling and heating is a great way to improve energy efficiency. Most facility managers monitor standard operating points and stage equipment on or off based on set points. However, the actual performance of individual equipment is seldom analyzed or monitored. Monitoring the actual performance of equipment at various levels of capacity and matching usage to need will greatly enhance the overall energy performance of a central plant.
Postponed Routine Preventative Maintenance
Routine preventative maintenance of heat exchanger surfaces (boiler cleaning and water treatment, cooling tower cleaning, chiller preventative maintenance, etc.) is critical and should not be neglected. To help ensure these maintenance issues are not forgotten, many facilities are using computer programs to set up scheduled reminders for specific maintenance tasks.
Outdated Domestic Hot Water Systems
Domestic hot water systems are prime candidates for efficiency improvements. Applying temperature regulation and thermal storage techniques and making use of new technology such as on-demand hot water heating systems and heat recovery systems will reduce the energy cost of producing and delivering hot water.
Inefficient Lighting Systems
The operation of most schools creates a logical and economic need for energy-efficient lighting systems. Small improvements in energy efficiency over long periods of operation balance the economic investment of installing and maintaining energy-efficient lighting systems. Recent improvements in lighting technology include load management options such as daylight harvesting, occupancy control, and automatic and manual dimming.
Traditional Pumping Systems
Universities often use pumps to transport chilled or condenser water. Improvements in system efficiency can reduce pumping system energy by 50 percent or more.
