UCF Increasing Efforts to Promote Energy Conservation, Sustainability

May 16, 2006

By Chad Binette

Striving to conserve energy and reduce utility bills, the University of Central Florida is developing a comprehensive energy policy that will include new construction standards; improved heating, ventilation and air-conditioning performance; and expanded use of automatic sensors and controls for many systems.

The new initiative approved by President John Hitt also calls for increased education and awareness efforts to assist faculty, staff and students in becoming more involved in energy conservation and sustainability efforts.

“Simple actions such as turning off office lights and other devices before leaving for a meeting, lunch or overnight can make a huge difference,” said Assistant Vice President Al Harms, who is leading the UCF Energy Task Force. “Fifty-five thousand faculty members, staff and students impact our energy bill. We want to make people smarter about energy conservation and increase their awareness of what they can do to help reduce a steadily growing expense for the university and take care of our beautiful state."

UCF leaders will pursue seven primary initiatives recommended by the task force. UCF is also examining opportunities to offer more energy-related courses and degree programs and to pursue expanded energy-related research efforts by the Florida Solar Energy Center and other departments. The conversion of UCF’s vehicle fleet to alternative fuels such as ethanol or bio-diesel will also be considered.

The UCF Physical Plant Energy Unit will lead the effort to create a comprehensive energy policy. The policy will include guidelines for lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, building construction and a variety of other areas.

A major goal of the policy will be to energize and empower all UCF personnel to contribute to meaningful energy conservation initiatives. Harms said increased awareness of the energy situation will help eliminate the perception by some individuals that energy is “free” because they don’t personally pay a bill that is expected to exceed $12 million for 2006.

In another key initiative, the Physical Plant Energy Unit will expand energy-use monitoring programs for most university buildings and focus on areas with excessively high energy consumption. Areas of low energy use will also be evaluated to determine if lessons learned can be applied in new locations. Finally, monitoring programs will help determine construction methods that lead to high levels of energy conservation. Data on energy consumption in several buildings on campus can be viewed on the Open Energy Information System at www.energy.ucf.edu.

About 30 percent of UCF’s energy costs are due to lighting systems. To reduce those expenses, UCF will continue installing more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs and motion sensors that automatically turn off office lights when no one is present.

Another 30 percent of UCF’s energy costs come from an extensive “plug load” consisting of computers, space heaters, coffee pots and other items that are plugged into classroom and office outlets. UCF is developing policy guidelines for the use of personal convenience items and evaluating centralized systems that would conserve energy by turning off unused equipment during non-working hours.

While a centralized system could be effective for most of UCF’s plug load, many computers and other equipment involved in research or special projects would not be affected.

“We need to always support necessary energy use for faculty, staff and students,” Harms added. “However, we don’t need lights, computers and other appliances on all night and weekend when no one is around. We are talking about ‘smart’ energy usage.”

The final 40 percent of UCF energy usage costs is due to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, or HVAC, requirements. The Physical Plant monitors and fine-tunes those systems to make sure they are operating as efficiently as possible.

New systems using carbon-dioxide sensors and variable speed fans allow far more control over ventilation performance and associated energy costs. UCF has established a program in which HVAC systems in each building will be “fine-tuned,” or re-commissioned, about once every four years.

UCF also plans to construct a 2 million-gallon storage tank for chilled water used for the main campus’ air-conditioning system. This $2 million investment would save about $500,000 a year, using today’s energy costs, and the tank would last 30 to 50 years.

Many pilot projects also will be conducted over the next several years. One example will be using solar panels to provide hot water for a residence hall. The Energy Task Force also welcomes other energy sustainability suggestions.

“Each and every member of the UCF community can play a role in helping to achieve energy efficiencies that are so important to our future growth, development and welfare,” Harms said.