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 will make recommendations for energy conservation. The project will include an engineering solution in the form of a small capital improvement or system modification that can be implemented during Senior Design II. It will also include 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
>15% 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 3.3 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 Competition
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 11% 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. The is help between four different Residence hall groups. The 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 above results showed that there was a 3.8% energy reduction on one floor.
Hallway Timer Results
Dates
Estimated
Operation
Actual Operation
Electricity Usage
% Reduction
Test
3/26-4/3
16 hrs/day
51.52 kWh
11%
Baseline
4/3-4/9
20 hrs/day
17.8 hrs/day
57.88 kWh
Estimated Campus Yearly Savings
129,360 hrs = 66,000 kWh
58,212 hrs = 29,688 kWh
Energy Website
Team Sponsor
RIT Facilities Management
Services
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
Team Advisor
Dr. Robert Stevens
Special thanks to
Dave Harris and RIT Housing Operations