Energy Reduction Strategies in Higher Education

Despite the best efforts of higher education Facilities leaders, occupied buildings inevitably drift from their original energy design. New buildings may open with assets incorrectly installed, while existing buildings require maintenance interventions to address years of stop-gap measures. As a result, institutions often see energy consumption and costs slowly escalate throughout a building’s lifetime.

Many levers are available to manage complex energy costs. Institutions report, however, that the biggest opportunity is not in reducing the price of energy but instead by reducing energy utilization. Reducing the overall campus demand for energy is not only more tractable; it also provides more opportunities for Facilities leaders to address costs.

This resource provides tangible steps for managing energy costs in colleges and universities through an institution’s most effective levers: commissioning, recommissioning, retrofits, and continuous commissioning.

1. Pull forward commissioning to minimize early-occupancy O&M costs

One of the main goals of commissioning is to avoid downstream energy “drift,” or departure from the originally designed building energy usage. However, some institutions still balk at the up-front cost of commissioning or encounter substandard work that is rushed during building handoff. Instead, Facilities leaders should strive to pull forward commissioning, which ensures building systems operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. This section outlines three steps for pulling forward commissioning and ensuring thorough work.

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2. Correct for inevitable energy drift with targeted recommissioning

This section outlines three steps to initiate a targeted recommissioning program. Given the relatively low investment required for staff and equipment to pilot a recommissioning program, institutions can easily prove the value of recommissioning, paving the way for other commissioning activities (such as continuous commissioning) or sustainability efforts with a longer payback period.

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3. Invest in energy retrofits to reset building efficiency and secure greater utilities savings

The next step to maximize a building’s energy savings is through retrofits. Beyond fixing and adjusting current systems and controls, retrofitting involves installing and implementing modern systems and controls in buildings that did not have them previously.

Schools considering retrofits should start with small energy initiatives with quick paybacks and advance to whole-building, deep energy retrofits once they have stakeholder buy-in and the funds to initiate these projects. This also lightens the energy load before making more impactful changes to building systems. Ultimately, some higher education institutions have achieved millions of dollars in annual utilities savings from energy retrofits.

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4. Scale up investments in continuous commissioning teams and technologies

The third and final phase of commissioning that institutions can pursue is continuous commissioning (CCx). Continuous commissioning is an advanced intervention that is still relatively rare in higher education. However, it is also the most impactful type of commissioning for existing buildings. It uses predictive analytics to address building energy deficiencies as they arise, before they become larger problems. In this way, CCx helps a building maintain (or potentially even improve) energy usage over time.

To achieve the aspirational vision of continuous commissioning, the most common application in higher ed is through fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) technology. This section outlines four key steps in choosing and implementing an FDD solution.

Continuous commissioning proves its value in short order

• $600K: University of Iowa’s energy savings in the first six months of CCx
• $400K: Texas A&M’s yearly energy savings from CCx in just one building
• 3K: Tons of GHG1 emissions reduced annually via CCx at University of Connecticut

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