The New IEQ, Controlled Environments Magazine

Article discusses Aircuity’s Advisor Services as they augment building responsiveness to reduce energy consumption.

CSU to Save $1 Million Annually with New Energy Program, daytondailynews.com

Central State University in Ohio will reduce energy use by 41% through a new project that the school is undertaking. Through $20 million in bonds received from the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority the school is planning to upgrade exterior and interior lights, expand the campus boiler system, improve roofs and building envelopes among other projects. The undertaking will ensure that they meet their goal of reducing energy use by 20%.

Energy Audit Points Way to Lincoln Campus Sustainability, Fordham.edu

Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus has completed a 16-month energy audit, which has been filed with the NYC Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability. The Director of Engineering Services said that the study resulted in changes which can be started immediately and mapped out for the future. Of the 50 buildings on campus, only 30 are 50,000 square feet or larger, and are therefore subject to the law. Marco A. Valera, vice president for facilities management, said that Fordham opted to include all 50 in the audit, as part of the University’s commitment to Mayor Bloomberg’s 2017 challenge to New York City institutions of higher education to reduce greenhouse emission 30 percent by 2017.

Sustainability at the New School: Truth or Hype?, newschoolfreepress.com

Grand Valley Awarded Incentive Check for Energy Efficiency, lanthorn.com

 

 

Brown University Slashes Carbon Footprint Energy Costs, elp.com

According to Brown University’s 2012 Sustainability Progress Report greenhouse gases have been reduced by 29.4% over the last five years and the university is saving $3 million in energy costs a year. Since 2008 Brown has invested $14 million in energy efficiency project including $6.5 million this past year. The Director of the Office of Sustainability said that as a result they are adding about a half a million dollars per year in new energy savings which has helped them to pay for their energy investments. In 2008 Brown officials committed to reducing emissions of energy-related greenhouse gases by 42% by 2020, using 2007 levels as a baseline. The University is now 10 percentage points ahead of the annual goal for this year, which called for a 19% reduction. Some of the projects completed so far include switching from oil to natural gas to fuel the university’s central heat plant, new thermostats in the Dimon House and high-efficiency lighting and weather proofing improvements. One of their major focuses going forward is to improve energy efficiency in campus dorms. They hope to combine both physical and behavioral changes in these spaces.

 

Utilities Save Money on Energy Projects, lanthorn.com

*See section on Aircuity in middle of article.

Mohegan Sun: A Perfect Balance of Energy Savings and a Superior Indoor Environment for Guests, New England Real Estate Journal

The Mohegan Tribe is sensitive to environmental concerns and has implemented several sustainability initiatives over the year to reduce energy, eliminate waste and recycle responsibly. When it came to their goal of reducing energy there was a unique challenge presented- how can Mohegan Sun reduce energy use while not sacrificing the indoor environmental quality for guests? One way that Mohegan Sun found to achieve this was to implement demand control ventilation (DCV).

 

Why we Need Better Building Management Systems, greenbiz.com

The article’s author states several inadequacies with current BMS systems and says that there needs to be improvements on them mainly due to the increase in complexity of new buildings.  He says that future BMS systems must: have a platform similar to smart phones and tablets, the base operating system must acquire data from different building operating systems standardizing and normalizing the data,  allow third party applications for specific manufacturer equipment, provide a choice of third party analytic applications software to keep buildings performing at their peak, provide extensive integration capabilities, be a open and secure system, and be able to data mine usage in order to determine their preferences and the data that is important to them.

 

AUC First in the Region to Measure Carbon Footprint, aucegypt.edu

The American University in Cairo is the first higher education institution in the Middle East and North Africa to conduct a comprehensive study on its impact on climate change. The study, Our Carbon Footprint, identifies strategies for reducing carbon across campus, and states that more than 40% of the university’s carbon emissions comes from their HVAC systems.

 

Designing Office Space: HVAC Systems, csemag.com

Three principal officers from architecture and engineering firms were asked questions regarding HVAC systems in the design of commercial office buildings. Two out of the three identified a unique requirement in HVAC for commercial buildings to be the diverse occupancy needs and schedules. Two of them also stated that one of the ways they typically address their most important IAQ issue (densely occupied spaces) involves using DCV.

What’s a Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofit Anyway?

The CEO of Groom Energy, Jon Guerster, explains deep retrofits and the impact that ECMs have on each other and on the total return in energy modeling. He states that deep retrofits involve multiple ECMs and involve many assumptions about how the building currently operates and how it will perform after the ECMs have been implemented. He says in ESCO projects the BMS always involves lots of assumptions about its impact. Guerster said that Groom recently installed new internet based thermostats, RTU optimizers, DCV and duel enthalpy economizers at a customer’s retails facility. He said the ROI was fast but each ECM looked more impactful separately then when they were modeled all together. Depending on how the ECMs are combined together when they are being modeled each blended return will prove to be different.

Temple Announces Bold Energy Conservation Campaign

Temple University recently announced a new campaign to drastically cut the amount of energy the campus uses. Their goal is to cut energy use by 25% over the next two years. Temple’s Energy Manager, Kurt Bresser will be leading the campaign. They are going to begin with the development of a Master Utility Plan, the first phase of which includes the creation of an Energy Savings Strategies Plan that will identify energy saving strategies and develop large scale efficiency projects.

Seminole State College of Florida Earns its First LEED Certificate

Seminole State’s oldest classroom building on campus, building L, recently received LEED Gold certification. The certification was reported to have been achieved based on a renovation done to the third floor. Green features included in the renovations were a reflective roof, daylight and occupancy sensor lighting controls, and CO2 sensors regulating the amount of fresh air that is brought into each room.

Energy Specialists Enigin PLC Predict Boom in China’s Energy Efficiency Sector

According to UK based energy specialists Enigin PLC, China will generate $31.4 billion in the energy efficiency industry alone in 2012. The number of companies and consultants in the field have grown rapidly to meet this demand as well. The growth has been centered around large industry. Enigin feels that companies within the industry will see continued growth as government legislations continue to support energy efficiency.

Conservation is the Best Green Energy

In the book “Green Illusions” by Ozzie Zehner he presents his thesis that each source of green energy has its own set of problems and asserts that there is a set of underused technologies that do have potential- energy efficiency technologies. He says that the U.S. does not have an energy crisis it has a consumption crisis. Furthermore he states that we need an energy department that is focused as much, if not more, on efficiency as it is on production.

Abilene Schools Bank on Energy Savings

The Abilene, TX school district will save $860,000 in its first year after implementing a program with Energy Education of Dallas with a cost of $400,000 per year over a four year period. The article says, “timing of building functions such as air conditioning and heating, and lighting is key to the district’s energy conservation program.”