Electricity Conservation
H&FS VendingMiser Installations
The UW Housing and Food Services VendingMiser occupancy sensor program is back on track. The project was delayed for a period of time when H&FS, after starting the project with Pepsi, signed a new vending equipment contract with Coca-Cola.
Facilities Services staff recently measured the power consumed by Coca-Cola vending machines to develop data relevant to the recent conversion from Pepsi-Cola vending machines equipped with VendingMisers. The measurements indicate that a full size machine, operating 24 hours per day, consumes 5,080 kWh / year. When multiplied by the 200 Coke machines on campus, the power consumption is just over 1 million kWh / year. This equates to $50,000+ per year in electricity costs.
A VendingMiser activates a vending machine when occupancy is sensed and continues to operate the machine for 15 minutes or until occupancy ends. For a typical hallway or common area location the vending machine is essentially in full operation during occupied hours. During unoccupied hours the vending machine is not using electrical power. Taking an average building occupancy of 10 hours per day, VendingMisers could save as much as 50% of the power consumed by vending machines.
West Campus Lighting Control
A technologically advanced lighting control system has been installed as a pilot project in the West Campus Garage. This system provides an optimized method of supplying lamps and ballasts, reducing their power consumption and increasing their life span, without compromising light quality or safety. Measuring and monitoring electricity use indicates savings to be 30+ %.
Central Plaza Garage Lighting Control
A similar lighting control system to the one recently installed in the West Campus Garage is planned for the Central Plaza Garage. We have experienced difficulty in receiving bid proposals that either adhere to our specification requirements or approach the original estimated product cost of $9,000 - $10,000. One vendor, Ecotek, responded too late to be considered. The bid proposal request is being re-issued with the hope that responsive and timely proposals will be returned.
Schmitz Hall HVAC
A proposal has been submitted by Johnson Controls to install adjustable speed drives in the HVAC system at Schmitz Hall for $95,000. A SCL incentive of up to 70% of the project cost and an annual savings of nearly 500,000 kWh is anticipated.
Building Occupancy Sensor Pilot
The Conservation Project Design Team is still waiting for designs from vendors to install building occupancy sensors in Art, Loew, Kincaid and Thompson.
Fluke Hall Lighting Retrofit
Fluke Hall was never retrofitted to T-8 lamps and electronic ballasts during Phase 1 of the 1994 Tailored Agreement with Seattle City Light (SCL). Central Maintenance Zone staff is currently working on this retrofit project and it will be eligible for SCL incentives.
Lighting Reduction Program
Lighting reduction (deactivating lamps) occurred in the following buildings between September and December 2001:
- Physics / Astronomy
- Chemistry
- Johnson
- Kane
- Fish Teach and Research
- South Campus Center
- Guggenheim
- Parrington
- Eagleson
- Clark
- Marine Studies
To date, a total of 963,611 watts have been disconnected in 49 buildings.
Avoided Costs to Date
963,611 watts / 1000 = 963.6 kW (5000 hours) = 4,818,000 kWh ($0.05) = $240,902
Nebula Computers
Recently, a Nebula “Brown Bag” Session was conducted by C&C to facilitate staff interested in Nebula computers. One topic of discussion was the plan to install
Windows XP over the next 18 months. It was pointed out that Windows XP has a facility available called “unattended upgrades” that allows operating upgrades to happen during the night or weekends when workstations are not in use. To get new software, users would have to leave their CPU on but would not have to be logged in. There are approximately 1500 Nebula computers currently in use on campus. This inspired us to do a little math to determine how much power would be used during “off” hours to operate them if they remained on. We found that, regardless of what mode the Nebula is operating in, it draws 40 watts. Assuming that it is used 10 hours per day and is turned off the remaining 14 hours each day: 40 watts (14 hours) (365 days/year) = 204.4 kWh ($.05 /kWh) = $10.22 per year (1500 units) = $15,330.
Water Conservation
Balmer Hall Water Conservation Pilot
All water saving materials have arrived for the Balmer Hall Water Conservation Pilot. Faucet aerators, low capacity toilets and urinals along with several water-free urinals are currently being scheduled for installation. A building water supply meter was installed to measure current water consumption indicating that the building averages approximately 10,000 gallons of water each day. It will be interesting to compare the water usage after the water saving fixtures and devices are installed.
McCarty Kitchen Refrigeration Conversion
This project will replace the water-cooled compressor sets, (total of four), with two new air-cooled compressor sets. This project also provides openings and louvers in the wall of the compressor room to provide ventilation, piping and electrical appurtenances.
Capital Projects/Design Services project number 3807/696-24162. The old refrigeration compressors will be removed; existing water connections will be disconnected and capped. Replacing the existing refrigeration system saves 660 CCF / year and $4,616 / year.
Waterfree Urinals
Falcon Waterfree urinals have been ordered and will be installed beginning in January. A total of 70 units will be installed in Allen Library, Meany Hall, Plant Services, Physical Plant Office Building and various locations in the Health Sciences. Waterfree urinals can save 40,000 gallons each per year. To learn all you ever wanted to know and more about waterless urinals go to website: http://www.americanwaterless.com.
Landscape Irrigation Conservation Upgrades
The Grounds Shop has been upgrading campus landscape irrigation systems to reduce water consumption. A variety of equipment has been retrofitted or installed including controllers, master valves, flow sensors and moisture sensors.
SPU Incentives Received
The University of Washington received incentive rebates from Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) for projects completed during 2001. A rebate in the amount of $14,377 was received for the Tubby Graves AC Replacement and the Johnson Hall Electron Probe Chiller Replacement. Both of these projects replaced single pass through cooling units that consumed City water. The estimated savings for the Tubby Graves AC replacement is expected to be 1,993 CCF/year ($12,154/year) and for the Johnson chiller retrofit a savings of 703 CCF/year ($4,132/year). A rebate of $16,919 was received for the aforementioned landscape irrigation projects. A rebate of $48,886 for the HUB Cooling Tower Replacement Project was received earlier in 2001. The University received a total of $79,263 from SPU for completed projects in 2001.
Cooling Towers
The current list of all campus cooling towers is presently being updated for accuracy in order to proceed with redesign and enhancement of a preventative maintenance program. This update will also provide information relative to preliminary selection of cooling tower systems for the installations of deduct meters.
The BB Tower, Quaternary Research / Johnson, Gerberding, and T Wing cooling tower projects are in various stages of design, estimating or bidding processes.