Electrical Consumption Pattern of an Academic Building Dr Mehreen Gul EAUC November 2014

Introduction  A pilot study - Funded by EPSRC additional sponsorship  To explore - Electrical energy demand profiles + user activities + occupancy for a university building

Background  CO 2 emissions reduction targets and buildings  The actual energy consumption twice as much as predicted  Inconsideration of human factors and energy management strategy

Why an Academic building  University buildings - significant consumers of electrical energy  The energy demand behaviour less well understood than schools and offices  Heterogeneity of activities - lectures, laboratories, offices, café as well as the energy services

The Post Graduate Centre “Major 21st Century project at the Edinburgh campus”

Why the PG centre?  Availability of electrical consumption data at a half hourly resolution  A multipurpose building- (activities include lecturing, research, administration, cafeteria and social gatherings/events)

Newly constructed building with an EPC rating of ‘D’

Data and Analysis  Questionnaire(building users, 208 responses)  Interviews(Building/Energy manager)  Occupancy data (occupancy sensor to count people entering the building)  Room activity(number of hours the rooms are occupied + the room capacity)

Questionnaire  92% of the building users are visitors  39% are PG students and 55% are UG students  90% visit to attend a lecture  14% use PCs  66% use laptops  7% use photocopiers

Personal Influence on consumption

Face to face Interviews  Working hours 7 am – 6.30 pm  Limited access until midnight  Café from 8 am to 3.30 pm  16 members of staff (the building manager, 3 academics and 12 support staff)  BMS controls mechanical ventilation  Fixed timings of operation throughout the year  Audio-Visual Equipment  Corridor lighting  Glazed stair case

15 th January 2013

15 th May 2013

Conclusions  The building users have a small influence over the electrical consumption of the building  Higher electrical consumption was observed when there are no occupants in the rooms and no activities are being carried out  This implies that the automatic systems are running irrespective of the room occupancy and activity status

Conclusions  The occupancy patterns require to be considered by Estates  The energy consumption data needs to be monitored on a regular basis and recharged to the energy management group to analyse and look at optimisation of the systems

Conclusions  Activities that are dependent on the user behaviour have the potential to save energy e.g.  turning off the AV equipment,  switching the lights off,  shutting down the PCs and monitors when out of office and  giving stairs precedence over elevators

Thanks