Energy Management Program
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By Keith W. Houck
Valencia College
Like most colleges, Valencia has been very engaged in sustainability and initiatives to reduce energy costs. We have had great success through enhancements in chiller plants, lighting, and controls. These programs have helped reduce our energy costs by more than $1 million per year. We have also included either LEED or Green Globes standards for all our new construction, thereby helping to lower our average energy costs per square foot.
To take that a step further, we have engaged a company to assist us in further reducing energy costs through behavioral changes, as opposed to equipment and fixtures. We found a company with a long history of doing this work predominately with K-12 school systems around the country.
With a major focus on reducing electricity consumption, the college’s initial emphasis was on the HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) system. In changing behaviors related to energy consumption, "off" is the key word. Class schedules were reviewed to identify opportunities for energy savings by possibly shutting down systems sooner. This process of inquiry also got us to consider consolidating class locations, especially for weekend courses so as not to operate an entire building for one or two classes.
Even relatively small behavioral changes such as turning off computers, monitors, and sound systems can really add up when you calculate how many hours per week these energy vampires can still be sucking energy dollars from the college, while serving no real purpose.
Since behavior changes do not happen overnight, there has been continual communications to help bring about changes. We have closely monitored the program outcomes and separated these behavioral savings from the equipment oriented savings over the past year. As a result of the combined efforts of Valencia’s faculty and staff, we have managed to save over $700,000 in utility costs from our first eighteen months of behavioral changes. The savings are net of the cost of the consulting firm’s fees. The savings represents nearly a 15% reduction in the college’s annual energy costs.
The program is overseen by the college’s Operations Manager for Energy Education. This individual is responsible for working and coordinating efforts with the Plant Operations staff on all campuses. With combined team efforts, changes to the energy management systems controlling HVAC usage have been and continue to be made based upon the unoccupied status.
We have found it very important to introduce the process in an open, collaborative manner. The goal was to provide not to present the program, but ask the members of each organization to identify ways that they could support and reinforce it with their constituents. Concerns such as moisture control were raised by the librarians early on and were properly addressed. Keeping faculty and staff informed as well as addressing any concerns in a timely manner is most essential. Persistence with patience has helped the college generate some major savings through behavioral changes. |
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