1. P08424: Residential Energy Savings
Team Members
Jeremy Barczak - CE
William Jamieson - ME
Kristopher Laera – IE
Aaron Resetarits - ME
Swathi Paruchuri - IE
Robert Underhill - ME
Mission Statement
The mission of this student team is to investigate energy consumption of Residential Halls on the RIT Campus and discover opportunity of energy conservation in the form of an audit. Based on these opportunities, the team will recommend physical improvements for energy savings on campus. Also, the team plans to increase student awareness of their personal daily energy consumption and instill a strong sense of energy conservation in RIT students.
Project Description
This team developed an audit that identified equipment, such as lighting or computers, and student behavior patterns that contributed to high energy use. From the results of the audit, students made recommendations for energy conservation. The project included an engineering solution in the form of a small capital improvement or system modification that could be implemented during Senior Design II. It also included a component to educate the student body about their energy consumption and responsibility to reducing this consumption.
Key High level Customer Needs and Engineering Specs
Save RIT money
Payback <3 years
>$24,000/yr
Reduce Energy consumption
5% Reduction with modifiable suggestions
>5% reduction with competition
Increase student awareness
Involve 3380 students in competition to reduce their energy
Characterize/explain student energy usage
Breakdown (%)of the typical student’s energy based on 2.21 kWh total
Audit
The Energy audit was performed to get a breakdown of where students were consuming their energy. We found that each student consumed 2.21 kWh per student per day. The pie chart shows the breakdown of floor energy per student, while the bar graph shows how many appliances each student has. Based on the Audit we determined two key areas for improvement: Hallway lighting and personal incandescent room lights.
Hallway Timer Trial
Energy Website
Incandescent Conversion
We performed an experiment to test the validity of converting the whole residential side of campus to timed hallway lighting. The below results showed that there was a 14% energy reduction in hallway lighting.
For our campus wide grass roots campaign, we decided hold a competition to see who could reduce their energy consumption the most between 4 residence hall groups.
The above screenshots of the website show the current Resident hall group energy consumption.
We performed an experiment to test the validity of converting the whole residential side of campus to fluorescent personal bulbs. The below results showed that there was a 3.8% energy reduction on one half floor.
Hallway Timer Results
Dates
Estimated Operation
Actual Operation
Electricity Usage
% Reduction
Test
3/26-4/3
16 hrs/day
51.52 kWh
14%
Baseline
4/3-4/9
20 hrs/day
18.43 hrs/day
60.19 kWh
Energy Competition
Energy Competition Results
Results
Group
kWh Saved
% Difference
Money Saved
Team 1
135.23
0.504% $
Team 2
812.57
1.178% $
Team 3
-1.495%
$ (144.56)
Team 4
1.525% $
Total
0.524% $
Incandescent Results
Dates
Total (in kWh)
%Reduction
Baseline
4/8 22:00 to 4/11 16:00
230.6
3.81%
Test
4/15 22:00 to 4/18 16:00
Special thanks to
Dave Harris & Carla Dilella &
RIT Housing Operations
Team Advisor
Dr. Robert Stevens
Team Sponsor
Facilities Management Services