New energy meters will be monitor energy usage in 250 buildings across campus by summer 2010 as part of the College's Campus Energy and Sustainability Management System, according to Stephen Shadford, an energy engineer with Facilities Operation and Management. FO&M specialists will use the energy monitoring system to address any inefficiencies in the College's energy usage, as well to make the Dartmouth community more aware of its energy consumption, Shadford said.
The meters which measure steam, chilled water and electricity usage supply real-time energy consumption data to computers at remote data centers, Shadford said. Meters have already been installed in 50 of the least energy-efficient buildings across campus, he said.
With the new system, meters automatically collect 96 data points per day, Shadford said. Previously, only one data point was collected per month, and had to be collected manually, he said.
"It's a huge leap forward," Shadford said. "It's the difference between getting your electricity bill at home, opening it and saying, Wow that's a lot. I wonder what we did wrong,' and watching how much electricity you're using online in real time."
The College received a $330,936 grant from the New Hampshire Green House Gas Reduction Fund for the development of an energy reduction program in 2009, according to a Nov. 23 College press release. The College allocated matching funds to accompany the grant, the press release said.
"The grant was issued mainly for putting systems and people on the ground to save energy and to save greenhouse gas emissions," Shadford said.
There is a two-year plan in place for the expenditure of grant funds, he said. The entire system will be implemented during the first year, and it will be fine-tuned and optimized in the second year, he said.
Shadford said that he does not believe that the system is at risk of being eliminated in light of recent budget cuts.
"We've got the funding, we've got the grant money which we're really grateful for and we're moving forward," he said.
The energy usage data will also be used as a way to leverage community behavior by showing the community figures of real-time energy consumption, Shadford said. In the future, television sets that display consumption information will be implemented across campus, he said.
The system also has the ability to predict how much energy will be used in a particular building the following day based on past behavior and weather data, Shadford said. If a building is running on much more energy than expected, analysts will know there is a problem that needs to be addressed, he said.
The data will be monitored by the "Tiger Team," which consists of Shadford and specialists in system controls, mechanics, equipment servicing and electricity, Shadford said, adding that the team will analyze information from the remote data center on a weekly basis. They will use the information to streamline the energy usage in the buildings, Shadford said.
Kathy Lambert, Dartmouth's sustainability manager, said she hopes that the College will reduce energy consumption by 10 to 15 percent in the next three to five years with the new system.
FO&M's first priority was to install the meters in the campus's 50 least energy-efficient buildings and to begin taking measurements, Shadford said. Shadford estimated that approximately 25 percent of buildings use 70 percent of the total energy consumed on campus, meaning that reducing the energy usage in those buildings would significantly reduce total consumption.
