CONTENTS Page no
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 4
Recommendation 6
Conclusion 8
References 9
Executive Summary
Energy consumption by universities has significant impacts on economic and environmental aspects. The changes that are happening such as new constructions, aging
Buildings, financial limitations, increasing energy costs, and environmental responsibilities are prompting educational institutions to consider their energy demands. Ohio State University being one of the largest universities that accommodate around 57,000 students per year requires to be concerned about the energy saving and must install systems that would save the energy and protect environmental interests. This report is based on the need for energy conservation, the potential existing in Ohio State University in controlling the energy consumption, the available technologies and the existence of the vendor base to implement the suggested system.
This report is intended to educate, raise awareness among the university leaders and administrators, and justify the need to install energy saving system in Ohio State University.
Cost effective, management friendly and environmentally sustainable recommendations and best practices are outlined in this report, describing actions to address energy inefficiencies and implementing environment friendly energy programs. The approach taken here is integrative i.e. connecting multi resources and systems to achieve the total reduction in energy consumption. Four domains of application are recommended in the report.
Introduction
Energy saving is equivalent to doing more with less. Achievements in energy saving can benefit the citizens, country, and world. There are many benefits in saving energy, but five are the most important reasons for people, institutions, companies and governments to save energy. In a broad sense, the efforts for saving energy can help in saving money, improving economy, improving national security, enhancing quality of life, and preventing harm to the environment.
There are umpteen opportunities for saving energy in the buildings of higher education sector. Higher education is a sector where the application of energy saving can be applied effectively. It is a growing sector, where the student’s enrollment increased by 44% in the past ten years (Carbon Trust, 2012). The increase in student denotes that the energy consumption of colleges and universities is also increasing. Educational institutions are also experiencing unprecedented pressure for providing optimum learning facilities on restricted budgets. There is a business sense to review the use of energy and energy efficiency so that the resources saved in energy front can be utilized in curricular activities.
Reasons for Higher Energy Consumptions in Educational Institutions
A large part of the energy bill in higher education institutions is associated with heating and lighting facilities. The other sources of energy costs are contributed by the facilities of leisure centers (auditoriums, sports complex, fitness centers, etc.), residential spaces, large science/biomedical equipment, etc. Carbon Trust 2102, reports that one of the reasons for rising energy consumption in universities and colleges is due to increase in the use of IT equipment with in the campus. It is also observed that many of the community events are held in university campuses which increase the occupancy hours of the facilities such as auditoriums, stadiums, convention centers, etc. resulting in higher energy consumptions.
Ohio State University Campus at Columbus
The Ohio State University, founded in the year 1870, is one of the largest universities in America. Currently about 56,000 students are enrolling for various courses and the university is spending about $828 million on research and development. The Ohio State University has a name for its pioneering work in the fields of global climate change, advanced materials, cancer, communicable diseases, and agro-bio materials that nourish the world.
The expanse of the Ohio State University’s campus at Columbus is about 1,764 acres (7.14 km2). Many buildings are there in the main campus of the university, such as administrative buildings, student housing, data centers, Cafeteria / restaurants, retail shops, sports facilities, entertainment complexes, and classrooms. Since Ohio State is an active research university it has museums, agricultural centers, high security biomedical laboratories, and many other buildings with very unique characteristics and varying energy needs.
Ohio State’s building does not conform to any common theme such as Gothic or Georgian style. Instead, the buildings are a mix of traditional, modern and post-modern styles. Of all the buildings, four are currently classified as historic places: Hayes Hall, Enarson Hall, Orton Hall, and Ohio Stadium. Another large building is the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, which is an Ohio State library's main branch and single largest knowledge repository. The following pie graph (Figure 1) indicates the energy consumption pattern in large institutions. The sprawling campus of Ohio State University with multitude of buildings is an apt educational institution to install energy saving systems.
Figure 1: Energy Consumption Pattern in a large Institution
Energy Efficient System
There are two ways energy efficiency can be achieved, one by passive techniques such as day lighting, natural ventilation, etc. and another by active techniques such as installing low energy lighting, power control systems etc. A typical modern energy saving system is a combination of these two types of techniques and the combination has the potential to save energy up to 70% of the current consumption. For achieving energy efficiency, modular energy-saving systems are available from many energy solution companies. Research by the EPA (2005) shows instituions that implement energy conservation programs do better than others who have not focused on energy savings.
Recommended System: Integrated Energy Management System
In a large campus such as Ohio State University, the energy efficiency can be achieved by focusing on four domains in an integrated fashion. The domains of the campus that need to be managed integratively are power management, IT center management, process & equipment management, and building management. Precisely, an integrated system for energy efficiency collects data from multiple systems and provides key information to the university leaders and administrative directors to view, measure, manage and control energy use throughout the campus.
Integrated Energy Efficiency Domain 1: Power management
The integration of power management leads to constant availability of power, reduction in energy bills (water, gas, electricity, air and steam), reduction in CO2 emissions, and promotion of renewable energy. The hardware required to implement the system are power measurement meters, intelligent power and motor control units, renewable energy production devices, and electric vehicle charging tools.
With the integration of this domain, Ohio State University can manage the power usage by gathering the information to one single point. Through the integrated centralized system the university can modify the patterns of energy use to avoid expensive peak rates, integrate on-site generation of renewable energy, and become efficient regardless of time of day ( Faruqui, A.; Sergici, S.; Sharif, A., 2010). The system also can enable decisions regarding duel sources of power. For example, the university can decide when to rely on green generation of power and when to feed the traditional power to the system.
Integrated Energy Efficiency Domain 2: IT Center Management
Ohio State has data centers which holds academic records and student data; IT linked solutions are aimed at ensuring the availability of working servers, protection of critical data and applications using high security and faster server adjustments. The administration can optimize energy costs with cooling and energy reports from the power management system. The hardware required for the system is robust uninterruptable power supply (UPS) and software that integrates with the total power management system.
Integrated Energy Efficiency Domain 3: Process and Equipment Management
Ohio State University has many different types of buildings throughout its campus. One of the process management solutions is building a water / waste water plant. An integrative energy efficient step is establishing the running of a productive plant. The water treatment plant can function as source to university hospitals, dormitories, student housings, faculty quarters, food processing units, etc. ensuring efficient energy saving processes. The flow diagram of the water treatment and supply system is given in the figure 2. The water consumption points may be connected to central plant for heating, cooling, and supply of domestic hot water. The interlinkkage of between the campus water treatment plant and the university housing can help the university significantly to conserve the energy.
Figure 2: Flow diagram of the water treatment plant and its supply
Integrated Energy Efficiency Domain 4: Building Management
The energy saving project is not complete without having a building management function in it. The integrated approach suggests the university to connect all building systems on one network, across departments from a single software platform. The single user interface, which can be accessible locally or remotely (via internet), gives the administrators a comprehensive view of all the university systems that regulate heating, ventilation, air conditioning, energy meters, lighting , access controls, video surveillance, intrusion alarm, fire and smoke recognition, electrical distribution, and power quality. A dashboard that can give all the above information will help the university in monitoring, planning and implementing energy saving programs. Another point to note is that around sixty six percent of the energy consumed in a university is used to supplement the heat lost through the building fabric (floors, ceilings and walls) and through ventilation. Simple key measures are available that can significantly improve power savings through building fabric maintenance.
Conclusion
There are many reputed vendors who supply, install and maintain huge power management systems. Eaton, Schneider Electric, Siemens, etc. are some of the product and service providers in the field of energy efficiency management. Along with installation of the hardware and software equipment, the University needs to support the system with soft components such as generation of power management policy, motivating the users in regulating their power usage, etc. ( Bekker, M.J.; Cumming, T.; Osborne, N.K.P.; Bruining, A.M.; Mclean, J.I.; Leland, L.S.(2010). Energy conservation is multipronged approach and it presents an opportunity to integrate the resources.
REFERENCES
Ohio State University (2014) http://www.osu.edu/visitors/aboutohiostate.php
EPA Study(2005).” Boosting Your Bottom Line through Improved Energy Use”, June 2005
Bekker, M.J.; Cumming, T.; Osborne, N.K.P.; Bruining, A.M.; Mclean, J.I.; Leland, L.S.(2010) “ Encouraging electricity savings in a university.” Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, 1, 327–331.
Faruqui, A.; Sergici, S.; Sharif, A. (2010) “The impact of informational feedback on energy consumption:A survey of the experimental evidence.” Energy, 35, 1598–1608.
Schneider Electric (2007). “Leading Techniques for Energy Savings in Colleges and Universities”, Whitepaper, January 2007, Retreived June 2014. http://www2.schneider-electric.com/documents/buildings/lleading_techniques_for_energy_savings_in_colleges_and_universities.pdf
EDF Energy (2014). http://www.edfenergy.com
Carbon Trust (2012). “Energy Consumption in Further and Higher Education”, Carbon Trust, London. Retrieved June 2014. http://www.carbontrust.com/media/39208/ctv020_further_and_higher_education.pdf
