Energy Conservation 101: Get Back to Basics this School Year

It's Labor Day and you can hear the school bells ringing  ̶  welcoming teachers and students back to the classroom. In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, energy conservation should also be on the curriculum. Not just the responsibility of the operations team and custodial staff, but everyone can help reduce energy usage and make school facilities energy efficient with a few simple activities. Not only will this effort save school districts money, which can be used for other educational needs, but a comfortable environment improves learning and productivity…after all, who wants to study in a hot building during the summer and cold building in the winter?

The nation’s approximate 17,000 K-12 school districts spend more than $6 billion annually on energy — more than is spent on computers and textbooks combined. More significantly, as much as 30% of a district’s total energy is used inefficiently or unnecessarily. Not surprisingly, the biggest energy users on school campuses are HVAC equipment and lighting, which account for approximately 70%. Coming in third place is energy consumed by computers, appliances, office equipment and other plug-in devices.

To help you get an A+ in energy conservation this school year, here is an energy conservation checklist for teachers and students:

Energy Conservation Checklist:

• Turn off lights when not in use—lighting accounts for nearly 50% of the electric bill in most schools. This also applies to the new energy-efficient fluorescent lights.
• Form a student energy patrol to ensure lights are out when rooms are empty (check classrooms, the cafeteria, the auditorium, etc.).
• Have students make signs and stickers to remind people to turn off lights when they leave a room.
• Bump up the thermostat in the hallways and keep classroom doors closed. Otherwise, the cold air runs down the hall and outside where it is wasted to the outdoors.
• Don’t block the airflow around vents. Keep bookcases and other bulky items away from the heating and cooling units so they don’t block and/or absorb the cold (or warm) air that should be coming into the room.
• Students should turn off monitors that will not be used for the next class period. All computer equipment should be turned off at the end of the day and on weekends (unless your network technicians specifically instruct otherwise).
• Form a student energy patrol to make sure monitors are off when computers are not in use and to turn computers off at the end of the day.
• Have students conduct a survey of the number of appliances in each classroom and encourage teachers to take away unneeded appliances.
• Have students come up with a weekly energy conservation tip to share with the class.

Energy conservation can be educational and fun by getting the entire school involved!  And, energy savings add up when the entire school joins together in conservation efforts.  Schools with effective conservation programs have reported reductions of as much as 25% in utility bills. That is something to cheer about!

Sources: Alliance to Save Energy, Energy Star

Tune Up Your Building Through Retro-Commissioning

Imagine a car that was designed and built, but never road tested before being put into production. The malfunctions would be plenty, and recalls would be inevitable. Customer complaints would skyrocket, and whatever car company engaged in such a lousy business plan would soon go bankrupt. Sounds crazy right? In reality, that absurd scenario would never play out, yet that is exactly what happens every time a building is built, but not properly commissioned – a building’s equivalent of road testing and fine tuning

Even buildings that were properly commissioned need an occasional tune-up to be sure all the parts are working correctly and to prevent expensive repairs. But what do you do with a building that was never properly "road tested" or commissioned at all?  A simple tune up won’t work, and unlike a car, we can’t send it back under protection of the “lemon laws!"

The answer is what is commonly referred to as “retro-commissioning”, which is a process that addresses problems that have developed throughout the building’s life, or problems that were there from the very beginning. Many issues uncovered by the retro-commissioning process are a result of the design itself, not just the way systems were installed.  Whatever the culprit, even the smallest problems have big impact on performance. The ultimate result is uncomfortable buildings, unhappy tenants, and substantial energy and maintenance costs.

Get Your Building Running at Peak Performance
Through a simple, multi-step process, retro-commissioning provides for systematically evaluating all aspects of a building and its energy-using systems. Problems can range from simple to complicated, so it is important the team performing the retro-commissioning understands how the systems are supposed to work.

According to “A Practical Guide for Commissioning Existing Buildings,” by Haasl and Terry Sharp of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, some basic items often targeted for retro-commissioning include:

• Adjustable speed drives that may not be operating appropriately.
• Time clocks that may have been circumvented or set up improperly.
• Energy management systems that were not installed or programmed or that may have degraded.
• Equipment running more than necessary or inefficiently.
• Controls that are out of calibration or are improperly sequencing.

Entegral Solutions recently completed a $9.5 million energy efficiency project at Mercedes ISD, in which we upgraded equipment and lighting, added control systems, and other conservation measures. There were many instances, however, where equipment was relatively new and in good condition, yet comfort was lacking and energy use was high. In those cases, we used retro-commissioning to bring the systems into optimal performance, both for comfort and efficiency. The general idea is to understand how the system was designed and intended to operate, and then fix the issues preventing it from operating as intended. Sometimes, we find that the design intent is the problem, and we make adjustments or modifications to the design that will produce more optimal performance. In the end, the retro-commissioning effort alone accounted for $75,000 in annual utility cost reductions, all while making the buildings much more comfortable for students and teachers.  

Energy and Non-Energy Benefits of Retro-Commissioning

For existing commercial buildings, retro-commissioning is one of the most cost-effective means of improving energy efficiency. There are several energy and non-energy benefits resulting from retro-commissioning which include:

• Cost savings
• Energy savings
• Improved equipment performance
• Better occupant comfort and indoor air quality
• Increased O&M staff capabilities and expertise
• Increased asset value

If this wasn't enough of a case for retro-commissioning, it is reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that if all existing U.S. commercial buildings were retro-commissioned and all new buildings were commissioned, their collective energy bill would be reduced by $18 billion a year! Although cars are mass produced, buildings are one-of-a-kind, which makes it even more important to "kick the tires" before signing on the dotted line. Don't get stuck with a lemon!