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Spotlight
Technology for the Physical Plant: Building Smarts
7/5/2007
The new system eliminates that problem. By inputting into the Itron solution BAS information for every building, BAS data from disparate spots on campus can be interpreted, stored, and commanded in one system. Perhaps the most sophisticated aspect of the system is the way it interfaces with the school’s course management system, automatically powering down lights and computers when the schedule indicates a classroom is not in use.
IVIES GO GREEN
EARLIER THIS YEAR, on Feb. 2, student representatives from environmental organizations at all eight Ivy League universities urged their institutions to commit to climate neutrality and reduce their impact on the environment. (Climate neutrality can be achieved through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy generation, or carbon offsets.)
“Our schools have a unique position in society, given their academic and financial resources,” noted Craig Altemose, a graduate student at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (MA). “They have the potential and responsibility to lead by example.”
This coalition of Ivy League students is specifically calling for their schools to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. The goal mirrors expected recommendations of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for avoiding the worst effects of climate change.
The students’ goals were enumerated in a resolution delivered to each university’s student government and administration. The resolution first appeared this winter, during a week of action on global warming called “Rising to the Climate Challenge,” which included events on more than 575 campuses across the US and Canada.
“It’s all about who is using the building when,” says Miller, who adds that hardware currently on the system includes products from Johnson Controls, Siemens, DeltaV, Square D, and Eaton Cutler-Hammer, to name a few. “This system also has a built-in alarm,” she adds, “so if someone is modifying the schedules, we’ll know about it.”
Penn State officials expect that with these improved efficiencies, the system will save the school between $600,000 and $800,000 per year in avoided energy costs. Miller says that while state-run institutions usually look for a 15-year payback on technology investments, this system has the ability to pay for itself within five or six years. At a time when energy costs continue to rise, those are metrics worth noting.
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