Further progress on building data

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that I added another column to our "Building Energy Use" spreadsheet.

The additional column is "MMBTU's / square foot" for electricity only.

Given what we all discussed, additional columns can be added for water, natural gas and steam once the meters are installed.

I figured it would be good to calculate the energy use (for electricity) per square foot using the GROSS sq. footage numbers, considering that would account for all the additional energy that's inadvertently used because of the gaps in the walls etc., although I'm also open to using the NET sq. footage numbers too.

(For those of you not familiar with the difference between GROSS and NET square feet, GROSS indicates the total square footage of the building footprint, whereas NET stands for all the usable space (excluding interior walls, gaps, voids etc.).

What do you think?

Baker Escalators

After getting no response from anyone in the Baker Center about the escalators I decided to call the KONE elevator and escalator company to see if I could find anything out there. I talked to Rick Baretta who originally could only give me the technical specifications of the escalator. But, he then offered to talk to some engineers to see if they could figure out what the kW usage would be. Long story short, one empty escalator uses 2.2 kW as it runs per hour. A full escalator, which would mean completely full with a person on each step, runs at 7.5 kW per hour. Rick said that escalators almost never run completely full so a good estimate would be in the 5 kW range.

To calculate the usage you would have to find out how long the escalators run, during what hours people actually ride them, and how many people ride them during those busy hours.

The escalators used by the Baker Center are the KONE Eco3000. Rick said that the engineers are working on a Ecostart after market device that can be retrofitted onto existing escalators. This device will supposedly reduce electricity usage by 30% for the escalators.

By my calculations a completely empty escalator running 24/7, 365 days a year would cost $4,625 a year. The escalators are never completely empty so the number would in fact be higher. But the university is paying at least this much.

kill-a-watts worked well

I haven't got a chance to disseminate surveys at Baker due to my full schedule of classes, exams and papers. But I've sent the online survey link out to my grad classmates, so if they reply, Nicole should have got them.
At the same time, as Dr Brown suggested, I am doing a micro-examination on the four graphics labs I am supervising about the power use and student behavior. I used the kill-a-watts tonight to find out how much electricity a computer uses and found out it actually consumes almost the same amount of electicity with people using it or simply leaving it running. I have been documenting my lab student's behavior of using computers, so I believe I will be able to add something interesting in the report.
I have also made an appointment with Sonia to talk about a computer educational program her office is going to launch.
So, go go everyone!

Google Document

Here is the link for the Google Document that our group, the building group, has been working on. GHG Worksheet Our data is going to this one document that we can all edit.

Matt and I met last night and discussed the building energy use project. We talked about the progress that has already been made and difficulties we had encountered. Then, we tried to narrow down the steps we should take to complete the project. They were as follows:

1. Record all of the meters (electric, water, and natural gas) and the buildings they are tied to (separated by Green), along with the energy usage for each during the 2006/07 fiscal year.

2. Identify any holes in the data, or areas that may be confusing, such as meters that record electric use for several buildings, or buildings for which meter data cannot be found.

3. Tally energy use for all buildings and convert all units into BTUs. Where it is possible, this will be done on a building-by-building basis. In some cases, buildings may have to be grouped together.

We will continue to use the group spreadsheet on Google Docs to record our group's data.

Hi Everyone,
I met with Ron Chapman Monday Oct. 8- we went over OU's energy for buildings and metering of OU buildings. After talking, our first step as a group would be to copy and paste meters from OU electric meter readings 06-07.xls file to the Building Metering.xls file for 06-07. (Which we hope to have done by thurs. oct. 11).Then following the Project Scope paper to get energy per square foot.
Also, I want to see if I can attach Kyle Brown's thesis to this blog- I think it would be useful to the class and our group. (couldn't attach- so i posted link- does anyone know a way to attach files to a blog?) See you Thursday.
~leah
http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi/Brown%20Kyle%20A.pdf?acc_num=ohiou1149880857

Project Scope for Building Inventory

Hi everyone -

We met with Ron Chapman last week to determine the objectives and goals for the project being done by the Building Team.

This is a copy of the document that Ron sent me regarding the nature of our project as we all see it -

"PROJECT SCOPE:

PART 1

Develop a complete listing of the main campus (Athens) buildings, their square footage and the various utilities they have. In addition, identify whether they have metering in place for these utilities; electric (AEP or OU distributed), natural gas and steam.

Ø A base file Building Metering.xls has the start of a complete listing.
Ø Buildings for which we have OU electric metering are included in the file named OU Electric Meter Readings 06-07(copy).xls I’ve added the building numbers into the current version of the file OU Electric Meter Readings 06-07(copy2).xls that should assist you in your effort
Ø Buildings for which we have AEP electric metering are in AEP Electric 07-08.xls file
Ø Buildings for which we have Columbis Gas metering are in Nat Gas 07-08.xls file
Ø Water meters are for those accounts as listed in the Water Invoice FY06-07.xls Please note that I’ve compiled a cross-reference listing of those buildings with individual water meters and their building numbers in a tab named Bldgs included within the file Water Invoice FY07-08.xls


PART 2

Using supplied data, determine the amount of energy per square foot (MMBTU/ft2) in campus buildings. I would suggest that you start with a small group of buildings and work your way through the complete list as time permits.

Ø Electric use data is available in OU Electric Meter Readings 06-07(copy).xls
Ø Natural Gas use data in available in Nat Gas 07-08.xls Summary data for Natural Gas use (annual) is found in NAT GAS DATA.xls
Ø Water use data for FY07 is available in Water Invoice FY06-07.xls
Ø I’ve compiled a cross-reference listing of those buildings with individual water meters and their building numbers in a tab named Bldgs included within the file Water Invoice FY07-08.xls
Ø Common identifier (Building Number is available in part in each data file for Nat Gas, AEP Electric and Building Square Footage files
Ø The hard copy document titled All Campuses All Buildings has the building numbers to be used as a common identifier. In most cases, the number has already been incorporated into the data files but you may need to add these numbers to others."

All the files listed here will be posted on blackboard as soon as possible...

Drew

P3 International Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

Here's the link for the Kill-a-Watt meter at Amazon.com. It seems pretty cool.

Amy Found Her Notes!!

Ok, so what follows is my attempt at communicating my GHG data checking so far:

A few weeks ago I started fact checking the data Ron had already input into the CACP v.4 calculator. I worked on the On-Campus Cogeneration Plant and the stationary sources on campus sections. I found the following errors:

1.) Data for Natural Gas from the On-Campus Cogeneration Plant was only available for years 99-00 through 04-05. I used the Laushce Steam Production Costs chart that Ron gave me to verify this data. The first problem is that all data from this chart for natural gas was reported in units of MCF, but the v.4 calculator calls for naural gas to be reported in MMBtu. Data from the steam production chart for years 04-05, 02-03, and 00-01 matched the calculator data, though these numbers may need to be converted because they are apparently still in MCF. Data from the steam production chart for 03-04, 01-02, and 99-00 did not match the calculator data, however, and were reported as 236,855 MCF, 78,885 MCF, and 232,523 MCF, respectively on the steam production chart. Again, these are only the MCF values from the steam production charts, and those values in the calculator may be correct MMBtu values, but since I don't have MMBtu values or converstion factors, I'm providing this info for what it's worth. Regardless, at least half of the values for natural gas in the On-Campus Cogeneration Plant will need to be fixed because as of now they do not all reflect the values, converted to the correct units, that are available on the steam production charts.

2.) For the tons of coal used in the On-Campus Cogeneration Plant, I found only one error. For the years 99-00, the tons of coal burned was 20,844 instead of 18,988, according to the Lausche Steam Production Costs chart.

3.) I could only find steam output data for the On-Campus Cogeneration Plant beginning with 99-00 and ending with 04-05, though Ron has reported other data on the v.4 calculator (where did this other data come from? it will still need to be verified). For the steam output data that was available, it was reported in pounds on the steam production chart and then converted to MMBtu (which the v.4 calculator calls for) by dividing by 1,000. Assuming this is the correct way to convert data from LBS to MMBtu, this data from 1999 through 2005 for steam input from the On-Campus Cogeneration Plant is correct.

4.) I could only find natural gas data for stationary on-campus sources beginning with 1991 and continuing through 1999, though Ron had reported data for other years on the v.4 calculator (again, where did this come from and it will need verification). For the natural gas data that was available, it was reported as CCF on the "General Fund and Dorm Fund" sheet that came from Bruce M, Ron's predecessor. The v.4 calculator required the data to be in MMBtu, and the data was divided by 10 to make this conversion. Assuming this is the correct way to convert CCF to MMBtu, this data from 1991 through 1999 for natural gas from the on-campus stationary sources is correct.

Ok, so that was my best shot at converting my color-coded notes and scribbles into words. Hopefully it's clear enough for someone to pick up from- I will leave my original notes in the yellow folder in the Office of Sustainability along with all the data sheets Ron has given us. For any questions, I am available by email at an235806@ohio.edu

I'm not sure how much more I'll be working on the GHG inventory, as I will only be working in the Office of Sustainability for a few more weeks. At any rate, I'm working on a press release about the inventory and the new Presidents Climate Commitment website (http://www.ohio.edu/climatechange) is now live- be sure to check it out and send me any comments. Thanks everyone!

Amy's Notes are MIA

So I was going to post my notes on here from the information checking I did a few weeks ago, but seem to have misplaced them for the time being. I was working to confirm the data in the "On-Campus Cogeneration Plant" and the "Stationary Sources" sections of the version 4 CACP calculator. For the most part, I think the discrepancies I caught were reasonably well covered by Sonia's meeting notes from the 11th. If I find my notes I'll be sure to put them on here!

Calculator Answers

This is the e-mail I received this morning from Jenn regarding the questions I posted earlier:

Hi Amy,
1) Usually, fiscal years.
2) I'm not sure I'm following the efficiency question. You should count
the steam you use in the plant as part of the total steam output. And in
determining the steam production efficiency. Default values for co-gen
efficiency from the EPA's Climate Leaders program are eH = 80% and eP =
35% (where H=steam and P=electricity - see
http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/docs/indirectelectricityguidance.pdf)
if that helps any...
Hope that helps; if not feel free to email back or call: 603 475 3587.
Best,
-Jenn

Calculator Questions

I e-mailed Jennifer Schroeder, program officer and webmaster for Clean Air-Cool Planet, regarding two questions about CACP's emissions calculator that were raised at last night's meeting. The questions were:

1. Do the majority of colleges using this calculator collect data based on fiscal years, academic years, or calendar years?

2. We use part of the steam we make in our on-campus cogeneration plant within the plant, and this could affect our steam efficiency data. Does the steam efficiency category of the calculator take this into account, or are we expected to subtract the amount of steam we use internally from the amount of total steam produced when we use this number for the steam efficiency calculation?

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