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Success Stories

Since 2008, Energy Management has identified more than $6 million in annual energy consumption savings that can be achieved through building system projects. Completed projects are currently saving more than $4.1 million in energy costs.

Examples:

Energy Efficiency Benchmarking - How Buildings are Like Washing Machines: The Donhowe Building's Energy consumption data from the past 12 months has been entered into the Energy Star database and compared to hundreds of similar buildings.  The preliminary Statement of Energy Performance indicates Donhowe, which was recommissioned in 2009, qualifies as an Energy Star Building. To view the Statement of Energy Performance for the Donhowe Building click here.

 

Dental Clinic Lighting Retrofit:  A recent project converted an entire floor of Dental School clinic lighting from inefficient, obsolete, T12 lamps to efficient T-8 fixtures. In addition to greatly improving the lighting quality in the clinics, annual energy costs were reduced by more than $5,000.

Before:After:

 

Walter Library - U of M Graduate Puts Degree to Work: Mechanical Engineer Robert Ford graduated from the College of Science and Engineering in December and was hired by Energy Management in January.  It’s fitting that the first Energy Conservation Opportunity (ECO) he implemented was in the CSE Dean's building. Last year’s recommissioning study in Walter Library revealed a large supply fan operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for no other reason than the fan would not reliably restart if it was turned off. Troubleshooting the motor starting circuitry allowed the fan to be scheduled off for seven hours each night. This simple ECO saves the University over $8,000 annually.

 

Water Guzzler Muzzled: The original, decidedly “un-green” refrigeration condenser cooling system in Moos Tower was replaced with an ingenious, modern and efficient system that will save the University more than $200,000 annually in municipal water and sewer fees. The old once-through system that used municipal drinking water to cool dozens of cold room refrigeration chillers has been replaced by a system that recirculates chilled water throughout the building. This project not only eliminates the waste of fresh water, but it reuses the heat absorbed by the chilled water to heat the building. The system was successfully tested in early March and is currently operating in fully automatic mode.

 

Saving More Water: Potable water consumption on the Twin Cities Campus increased by 12% from 2005 to 2010. In April 2011 Energy Management worked with the East Bank Facilities Management team to replace two 25 horsepower vacuum pumps in the Mechanical Engineering Building with one 10 HP pump, which requires no water for cooling.  This improvement eliminated the unnecessary consumption of more than one million gallons of water per year ($7,600 in water and sewer fees), while saving more than $2,000 in annual energy costs.

 

Less Energy, Less Maintenance: More than $10,000 in annual energy savings and $5,000 in maintenance savings will be realized as a result of air handler upgrades in Willey Hall.  Rather than repairing existing, old-fashioned pneumatic valve and damper operators found to be at the end of their useful life, Energy Management worked with the West Bank Facilities Management team to install modern electric actuators.  In addition to providing more reliable air handler operation, the removal of pneumatic actuators eliminates the need to operate and maintain a building control air compressor.

Modern electric valve actuators (left) replaced less reliable and more maintenance intensive air-operated actuators (right) in Willey Hall.

 

Ford Hall Recommissioning: The East Bank's Ford Hall is one of five buildings that have been recommissioned this year. Engineers found opportunities to install variable frequency drives on the Ford Hall's large HVAC supply fans. Before recommissioning, the fans could only be operated at full speed, regardless of how much air was actually required. Occupancy sensors were installed throughout the building so that ventilation registers open only when rooms are occupied and heating or air-conditioning is required. This change, along with many others installed during the recommissioning, has reduced energy consumption in Ford Hall by approximately 15 percent, an annual savings of over $24,000.

 

Machinery Control Schedule Optimization:
Energy engineers and technicians were able to work with the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to slow down the HVAC systems in the Bierman Field Athletic Building while at the same time improving the comfort and working conditions for the administrators, coaches, and athletes. This effort resulted in energy costs savings in Bierman of over $40,000 annually.

 

Humphrey Center Lighting Efficiency Upgrades: After heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, interior lighting constitutes the largest energy consuming system on campus. Energy Management recently completed a lighting retrofit project that replaced over two hundred 110-Watt Mercury Vapor lights with high-tech, energy efficient, long-life 12-Watt Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights in the Humphrey Center on the West Bank. This retrofit, combined with several other lighting improvements in the building, has resulted in a $21,000 annual energy cost savings.