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Projects Updates for Building-Level Energy Usage Report

  1. Update from Gopal Pareek

    Gopal met with Professor Cheryl L. Cole about her work with the Green Sports Alliance.  She is also a teacher in RST.  He also is working on getting meetings with the SWATeams, to consider how DIA can help with the iCAP objectives. 

    Today, Gopal and Morgan White reviewed the data from the Energy Billing System for each of the DIA facilities, and discussed next steps for finalizing the energy and water reports, and coordinating them into the Building-Level Energy Report Card format.

    We also reviewed the template needs for the report card with Dee Dee Caneva at F&S, to make changes that would simplify the user's experience with the template.

  2. Meetings with Building Experts

    Associated Project(s): 

    With the finalized format of the energy report card and the compiled major events documented in Facilities and Services’ records, Ms. Morgan Johnston, Ms. Barnes, and I scheduled meetings with facilities staff who have the most knowledge about how each building works. This week, we talked to Ms. Mylinda Granger, Ms. Pat Malik from Disabilities Resources and Educational Services; Mr. Greg Anderson from Temple Hoyne Buell Hall; and Ms. Carol Young, Ms. Kari Cooperider, and Mr. Steve Hess from the Business Instructional Facility. They shared important information and wanted to help share the report with building occupants.

     

    Next step is to revise the draft report cards based on these meetings. In the next few weeks, more meetings will be scheduled.

     

  3. Report Card Layout Finalized

    Associated Project(s): 

    During this week’s meeting, Ms. Johnston, Ms. Barnes, and I finalized the layout of the energy report card. The front of the card consists of 3 graphs -- annual energy consumption from 2008 to 2017, monthly energy consumption of the most recent fiscal year 2017, and annual potable water consumption from 2008 and 2017. Notable events (such as retrocommissioning) associated with changes in trends are also included. The back of the card consists of 3 sections -- building systems, iCAP goals & current progress, and future actions.

     

    Meanwhile, I went through documents obtained from Facilities & Services regarding major projects in each of the 10 buildings. Next week, we will meet with building managers to discuss some questions about specific building systems.

     

  4. Discussion with Mr. Damon McFall regarding specifics during RCx 2008 in NCEL

    Associated Project(s): 

    A meeting was held with Mr. Damon McFall, director of Facilities and Operations, for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He was involved in all operations during retrocommissioning (RCx) in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory (NCEL) in 2008. As I was going through the records, some questions regarding specific systems in the building and improvements during RCx 2008 came up. Mr. Damon McFall shared useful information at the meeting. Below are the major events that play important roles in energy consumption in the building.

     

    • Repaired faulty/non-functioning controls for 28 air handling units

    • Reduced number of exhaust fans and/or air quantities

    • Occupancy schedules were used to reduce fan systems at night & close outdoor air dampers

    • Replaced thermostats from aspirating to wall mount throughout building for better temperature control

    • New programmable controls replaced worn out pneumatic controls

    • Enhanced humidity control thereby saving chilled water costs

    • Centralize  all  the  departmental  servers  into  one  room

    • Group and relocate faculty and staff based on their desired temperature

  5. Building History Records

    Associated Project(s): 

    To get the noticeable events (such as remodeling and retrocommissioning) that happened in each building, Ms. Morgan Johnston, Ms. Anna Barnes, and I are reviewing the detailed records that F&S has for all projects on campus. This week, I focused on sorting through folders pertaining to records of the 10 selected buildings and marked documents that might be useful for the final energy report cards. Ms. Johnston will then share the marked documents with me.

     

    The next step is to read through all the shared documents and record noticeable events that contribute to the change in energy usage. Meanwhile, since energy usage for FY17 has become available, I will be updating the excel sheets and graphs created earlier to include the new data.

     

  6. Meeting with F&S Contacts

    Associated Project(s): 

    This week, Ms. Morgan Johnston, Ms. Anna Barnes, and I met with F&S contacts Mr. David Boehm (from building maintenance team), Mr. Robert Halverson (from engineering design team), and Mr. Karl Helmink (from retrocommissioning team). We presented the current template we had for the energy report card and discussed questions regarding energy systems in selected buildings.

     

    After explaining how we constructed the report cards, Mr.Boehm, Mr. Halverson, and Mr. Helmink offered advice on modifications. They noticed some word choices that could result in misinterpretations. The templates were then updated by Ms. Barnes.

     

    Meanwhile, after compiling all the energy usage from 2008 to 2016 for each of the 10 buildings, we developed a list of questions regarding how energy is utilized in each building. Even though Mr.Boehm, Mr. Halverson, and Mr. Helmink were not familiar with every system in all 10 buildings, they directed us to those with the knowledge.

     

    The next step is to communicate with contacts from Mr.Boehm, Mr. Halverson, and Mr. Helmink and get answers for the list of questions we have for each of the 10 buildings.

     

  7. Data Acquisition for Lincoln Hall

    Associated Project(s): 

    Last week, I gathered data for energy consumption in Lincoln Hall from the Energy Billing System (EBS). The total consumption was broken into three components -- electricity, chilled water, and steam. Excel spreadsheets and two graphs were created. One shows the annual consumption from 2008 until fiscal year 2016 (FY16) whereas the other shows monthly consumption of FY16.

     

    During the meeting with Ms. Morgan Johnston and Ms. Anna Barnes, we went through the spreadsheets and graphs. Units were modified to be BTU/SF, which is the Energy Use Intensity (EUI). We also discussed that instead of showing the monthly consumption during FY16, that of the most recent fiscal year, FY17, will be used. Data will be available in July. Furthermore, consumption for potable water will also be added in each building’s analysis.

     

    The next step is to develop the spreadsheets and graphs that show the annual consumption from FY08 until FY17 for the rest of the ten buildings. They will have the same unit and format as the files modified for Lincoln Hall.

     

  8. New Member on the Project Team!

    Associated Project(s): 

    My name is Chen Zhang, a rising senior studying Civil and Environmental Engineering. As a new member of the project, I am excited to join the team and make contributions! This past week, I obtained access to the Energy Billing System (EBS) and created my account at the iCAP Portal. I learned how to navigate both systems and find useful information for the project. Meanwhile, I read documentations and reports developed previously for this project.

     

    On May 25th, Ms. Morgan Johnston (associate director of Facilities and Services (F&S)), Ms. Ana Barnes (from F&S), and I had a meeting. Ten buildings (listed at the end) on campus were picked for the energy analysis between now and December 2017. Their locations and affiliations to different colleges were taken into account during the decision process to engage more students and faculties in future presentations. Meanwhile, we discussed important information that we will include in the energy report cards to raise awareness of energy conservation.

     

    The first building we will analyze is Lincoln Hall. The next step is to gather data for its energy consumptions, including electricity, chilled water, steam, and gas usage, from the EBS website. An excel spreadsheet and graphs will the be developed to show the trend of energy consumption from 2008 until now.

     

    Ten buildings:

    a. Lincoln Hall

    b.  Admin and Records

    c.  DRES – Rehabilitation Center

    d.  SDRP

    e.  National Soybean Research Center

    f. NCEL

    g. Illini Union

    h. Temple Hoyne Buell Hall

    i.   BIF

    j.   Morrill Hall

       

  9. ECBS SWATeam meeting minutes

    On the agenda at the ECBS SWATeam meeting:

    1) Status of our recommendations to iWG;

    2) Review of Illini Lights Out over the past year;

    3) Any final thoughts, recommendations for Eco-Olympics;

    4) Progress on building energy standards;

    5) Updates on the revolving loan fund (RLF) projects;

    6) Turning off computers.  Change in policy, at least at F&S.  Implications for Certified Green Office Program? 

    7) Building level energy consumption report summary;

    8) Good-byes and thanks to departing members.

  10. Building level energy consumption report

    The report is about behavior change messaging, which lets the occupants of each building see their consumption changes over time and it will motivate them to conserve energy. The goal of the report is to display “past-current-new” patterns of energy conservation change. The result will be a paper with recommendations how to motivate people to be more sustainable.

    The data for FY08-FY2016 was used.  The scope of the project are 175 buildings at the UIUC campus. Then the pilot project was about the Lincoln Hall. After Lincoln Hall, the work was started with the Soybean National Laboratory and the Illini Union.

     

  11. ECBS SWATeam meeting minutes

    On the agenda at the ECBS SWATeam meeting:

    1) Comments needed on Illini Lights Out (ILO) recommendation;

    2) Illini Lights Out final planning for 10th of March;

    3) Building level energy consumption report;

    4) Participation in Earth Hour and Earth week activities on campus;

    5) Updates on the Green Labs Coordinator;

    6) Planning for a campus walk focused on space utilization.

     

  12. Building Level Energy Consumption Report

    Associated Project(s): 

    1) We used total energy use by year in MMBTU (FY08-FY2016) and created a bar chart. Then we converted the MMBTU to BTU, and divided the number by GSF to get the energy use intensity (EUI). We used both bar charts and added them to the presentation for the Lincoln Hall.

    2) We made a research to find out what Notable Energy Events occured in the Lincoln Hall:

    • FY09 T-12 to T-8 Lighting Retrofit;
    • FY11-12 LEED Platinum Renovation;
    • FY14 Retrocommissioning;
    • FY15 ECIP winner;
    • FY16 Illini Lights Out pilot.

    3) iCAP Portal projects at Lincoln Hall: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/place/lincoln-hall

     

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