President's Climate Commitment I: The Wedge Capacity of Energy Efficiency at Ithaca College

1. President's Climate Commitment I: The Wedge Capacity of EnergyEfficiency at Ithaca College • Steve Figgatt • Environmental Studies • Chris O’Keefe • Environmental Studies • Romaine Isaacs • Physics • Faculty Sponsor: Beth Clark Joseph • Physics

2. Efficiency Measures REC’s and Offsets Onsite Electricity Generation from PV

3. Purpose • To create an effective tool that can be used to monitor energy and carbon reductions at Ithaca College • Acquire data and devise a method that could be used to assist with the effort to meet the President’s carbon neutrality goals • Test the tool, by using it to retroactively address the effectiveness of the energy efficiency measures implemented in 3 buildings on campus: CNS, the Campus Center, and the Hill Center

4. MERP • Master Energy Reduction Plan • Tool to be used to plan out and gauge the effectiveness of our carbon reduction plan • Display real data on money invested, financial savings, and overall carbon reduction

5. Basic MERP Design • FEATURES: • Payback periods on energy measures • Carbon reduction goals • Timeline for implementation • Room for future expansion, allowing for new technologies etc.

6. Purpose • To create an effective tool that can be used to monitor energy and carbon reductions at Ithaca College • Acquire data and devise a method that could be used to assist with the effort to meet the President’s carbon neutrality goals • Test the tool, by using it to retroactively address the effectiveness of the energy efficiency measures implemented in 3 buildings on campus: CNS, the Campus Center, and the Hill Center

7. So far: our main carbon reductions have been due to: Energy Efficiency • An increase in the efficiency of energy use for a building • Goal: to bring down the total energy use • Examples of efficiency measures: • Increasing insulation • Installing Compact Fluorescent lighting • Changing the way the HVAC systems work

8. Efficiency Measures • In 2004, Ithaca College contracted Clough-Harbor to recommend efficiency measures that could be done on campus • In addition to Clough-Harbor measures, Ithaca College did a few measures on its own • Campus Re-lamp • Temperature Set Points • Switch from electric to natural gas heat in gardens • Campus-wide electricity use 2004: 36.2 Million kWh/year • Campus-wide electricity use 2007: 29 Million kWh/year • The result was a massive 22% decrease in overall electricity use • Savings per year: $865,000

9. Fast Energy Facts • 1000 kWh electricity used in the average American home each month • The average American home uses about 60 therms of natural gas each month • CNS uses an average of 215,000 kWh and 16,000 therms each month

10. CNS • Clough-Harbor Efficiency Measures: • Dilution Exhaust Fans Variable Frequency Drive • Chilled Water Temperature Reset • Condenser Water Temperature Reset • T-8 Lighting was installed • Temperature set points

11. CNS Data from the MERP

14. Conclusions I • We have created an effective tool that can be used to monitor energy and carbon reductions at Ithaca College • We have acquired data and devised a method that can be used to assist with the effort to meet the President’s carbon neutrality goals • We have shown how to use the tool to examine the performance and recent carbon reductions at 3 buildings