Passive Solar Heating

1. Passive Solar Heating • How it works? • Traps heat in the winter • Rejects solar heat in the summer • Reducing the need for heating and cooling • Easily applied to new building • Relies a lot on the make up of buildings and climate • Downsizing heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. • Older building are also able to be retrofitted • Improves efficiency by 15% • 13% of square footage of a building is used • $25 cost per square footage used • 40% energy saving • Problem Statement • Making Penn State a more sustainable campus. • The major solution is Passive Solar heating • Applied to Findlay, Stone Hall, Rec Hall, Pattee Library • This can lower the amount of energy used by 40% • In Findlay Commons, we are going to look into the eliminating traysin the dining hall as a way of reducing food waste. • In Rec Hall, we will be doing research on implementing systems in cardio machines that generate usable electricity. • In Stone Hall we will be focusing on installing LED lights to reduce the CO2 emissions and conserve energy. • In the library, we will look at motion sensor lighting for the study rooms, so the lights in the rooms will be off when no one is using them. Rec Hall Pattee Library • Electricity- generating cardio machines • Estimated 1kwh/day/machine = 365kwh/year • 365kwh x $0.11/kwh= $40.15 savings/machine/year • Estimated 65 cardio machines in Rec Hall • Estimated cost of retrofitting: $600/machine due to the newer machines (retrofitting can be between $500-1000, depending on the age of the machine) • $39,000 to retrofit(600x65) • Total savings: $2,610, year  estimated 15 years to see a profit return • Expected price drop due to new technology • PSU could put off this idea for the near future for higher earnings • ReRevis the leading manufacturer • The basic setup includes small resistors and control boards that direct the energy to inverters that reroute the power created by the cardio machine. • Motion detector controlled lighting • 27% to 43% energy saving in private offices (Jennings et al., 1999; Maniccia et al., 1999; Seattle City Light, 1992). • In high traffic rooms- inefficient • In low traffic rooms- efficient • Implementing them in the study rooms • Saving energy from light is very important • 25 - 40% of a building's energy goes toward its lighting • They simply plug into any wall outlet. (no installation cost) • Battery-operated types can be mounted onto your walls using adhesives, magnets, or screws. • Cost : $13 per motion sensor light • 52 group study areas • Total cost of $676 • Estimated $214 savings per year Findlay Commons Stone Hall • Food Sustainability • Eliminate trays in the dinning halls • Colleges have reported a reduction of 30% food waste. • Penn state has about 600tons of food waste/year • Cost of recycling/disposing of food is about $530/ton • 600(.30) = 180tons less food waste • 180 ($530)= $9,540 in savings with no cost to the school! • LED light bulbs • cost-effective option due to durability. • There are LED bulbs available as efficient as 150 lm/W and even inexpensive low-end models typically exceed 50 lm/W. • The high initial cost of commercial LED bulbs is due to the expensive sapphire substrate • A building’s carbon footprint from lighting can be reduced by 85% by exchanging all incandescent bulbs for new LEDs. • 50 times longer life span than the incandescent bulb. Benchmarking Estimating Potential Cost Savings from Occupancy Sensors Square Footage Basis _______sq.ft. area of application. x 3000 hrs of operation/year* x time unoccupied** x 1.5 Watts/sq.ft. x $0.081/kWh*** x 0.001 = $__________ savings/year