"Low-Tech/No-Cost" Control Strategies to Save Energy in K-12 Schools

Advanced energy management control systems offer an excellent means of reducing energy consumption in heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems while maintaining and improving indoor environmental conditions. This can be achieved through the use of computational intelligence and opti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ASHRAE transactions 2014-01, Vol.120, p.R1-R1
Main Authors: Tesiero, R C, Nassif, Nabil, Graydon, Carol, Singh, Harmohindar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Building automation
Control systems
Cost engineering
Energy audits
Energy conservation
Energy management
HVAC equipment
Lighting
Strategy
Utilities
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Summary:Advanced energy management control systems offer an excellent means of reducing energy consumption in heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems while maintaining and improving indoor environmental conditions. This can be achieved through the use of computational intelligence and optimization with a building automation system and multiple sensors, which can be quite expensive. However, energy awareness and proper scheduling achieve the best opportunities to save energy with little to no cost for existing facilities. These "low-tech/no-cost" ideas are easily implemented and quickly reduce utility costs. This article includes actual utility data and information gathered over the past 20 years, while performing energy audits at several K-12 Schools in North Carolina, discusses well known and documented control strategies that are rarely implemented in most school districts and universities, and will extrapolate savings for an entire school district based on real data. Real savings can be achieved quickly by utilizing these common sense approaches to control existing HVAC and lighting systems in schools.
ISSN:0001-2505