University of Louisville
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.57 / 6.00 |
Glen
Todd Asst Dir HSC Phys Plant Svcs Physical Plant |
Electricity use, performance year (report kilowatt-hours):
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity | 134,014,510 Kilowatt-hours | 457,257.51 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) | 199,724 Kilowatt-hours | 681.46 MMBtu |
Stationary fuels and thermal energy, performance year (report MMBtu):
| MMBtu | |
| Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy | 389,169.24 MMBtu |
| Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water | 0 MMBtu |
Total site energy consumption, performance year:
Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
Floor area of energy intensive space, performance year:
| Floor area | |
| Laboratory space | 500,889.83 Square feet |
| Healthcare space | 344,261.98 Square feet |
| Other energy intensive space | 269,944.23 Square feet |
EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
Degree days, performance year:
| Degree days | |
| Heating degree days | 3,618 Degree-Days (°F) |
| Cooling degree days | 1,674 Degree-Days (°F) |
Total degree days, performance year:
Start and end dates of the performance year (or 3-year period):
| Start date | End date | |
| Performance period | Sept. 1, 2019 | Aug. 30, 2020 |
Total site energy consumption per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area per degree day, performance year:
Electricity use, baseline year (report kWh):
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity | 145,490,185 Kilowatt-hours | 496,412.51 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, non-combustion facilities/devices (e.g., renewable energy systems) | 0 Kilowatt-hours | 0 MMBtu |
Stationary fuels and thermal energy, baseline year (report MMBtu):
| MMBtu | |
| Stationary fuels used on-site to generate electricity and/or thermal energy | 466,001.75 MMBtu |
| Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water | 0 MMBtu |
Total site energy consumption, baseline year:
Gross floor area of building space, baseline year:
Start and end dates of the baseline year (or 3-year period):
| Start date | End date | |
| Baseline period | Jan. 1, 2006 | Dec. 31, 2006 |
A brief description of when and why the energy consumption baseline was adopted:
The baseline was created during our first greenhouse gas emissions inventory conducted in 2009-2010. It involved three years of prior data and was as far back as we had reliable data.
Source-site ratio for imported electricity:
Total energy consumption per unit of floor area:
| Site energy | Source energy | |
| Performance year | 0.10 MMBtu per square foot | 0.21 MMBtu per square foot |
| Baseline year | 0.15 MMBtu per square foot | 0.31 MMBtu per square foot |
Percentage reduction in total source energy consumption per unit of floor area from baseline:
Documentation to support the performance year energy consumption figures reported above:
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices in regard to energy efficiency:
In 2012, UofL installed real-time energy-monitoring and display technology in four residence halls: Unitas Tower, Louisville Hall, Kurz Hall, and Community Park. These online Building Dashboards allow residents to get a handle on their energy usage and to get real-time feedback about conservation efforts within these residence halls.
Our Building Dashboards help UofL residents gauge progress during our annual energy conservation competition and helped UofL finish in the top ten energy reducers in the spring 2012 Campus Conservation Nationals!
UofL's new LEED Gold Student Recreation Center opened in October 2013, featuring geothermal heating and cooling, solar hot water, rainwater capture & storage for irrigation, and a Siemens building dashboard available in the lobby on an interactive touch-screen that displays the performance of these systems.
A brief description of energy use standards and controls employed by the institution:
The Siemens Apogee software and the TAC I/A software include scheduling features which allow building HVAC units to be turned off and/or temperatures to be set back during unoccupied times.
These software systems are used for the vast majority of buildings on campus.
The University shall strive to maintain room temperatures as follows:
During Heating Season:
Occupied Hours 66-72 Degrees F.
Unoccupied Hours 55-65 Degrees F.
During Cooling Season:
Occupied Hours 74-78 Degrees F.
Unoccupied Hours 78-85 Degrees F.
A brief description of Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting and other energy-efficient lighting strategies employed by the institution:
UofL is beginning to install LED lighting, with its first major installation in outdoor lighting for a new parking lot featuring dozens of lights.
A brief description of passive solar heating, geothermal systems, and related strategies employed by the institution:
UofL's LEED Gold Student Recreation Center opened in October 2013, featuring not only a 134 MMBtu solar hot water system, but 128,000 square feet of space heated and cooled by the University's first geothermal system. The geothermal heat pipe is a closed-loop vertical well system with a total of 180 wells 400 feet deep. This 4960 MMBtu system provides ample reserve capacity and is expected to generate about 22% annual energy cost savings compared to a conventional system. It is also considerably simpler and cheaper to maintain. Occupational use of the new facility has tripled when compared to the previous Recreational Center, yet energy costs were reduced to provide UofL with almost $100,000 of savings per year.
We are investigating renewable energy options to passively heat & cool UofL buildings. At Burhans Hall on our Shelby campus, in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the Kentucky Renewable Energy Consortium, UofL's Renewable Energy Applications Laboratory (REAL) installed an experimental solar heat pipe wall for indoor climate control that may prove to be twice as efficient as other solar systems in places such as Louisville with moderate sun and cold winters. In 2011, the system was moved for further experimentation and monitoring to a new Passive Solar Test Facility constructed at the Speed School of Engineering at the Brook Street railroad fly-over, just south of Eastern Pkwy. This is the only such device of its kind in the world. The walls, floor and roof are built with structural insulated panels (SIP’s). The building is divided into two rooms with an insulated interior wall to allow side-by-side testing of two systems. Currently installed are two solar heat pipe systems, which produce net heat gains approximately twice as large as typical direct gain systems. Heating performance of these two prototypes has been compared, and strategies for reducing unwanted gains during the summer have also been tested. These experiments were funded by the Department of Energy, and are reported in the following articles:
1. Robinson BS & Sharp MK, “Reducing unwanted gains during the cooling season for a solar heat pipe system,” Solar Energy 115:16-32, 2015.
2. Robinson BS & Sharp MK, “Heating season performance improvements for a solar heat pipe system,” Solar Energy 110:39-49, 2014.
3. Robinson BS, Chmielewski NE, Knox Kelecy A, Brehob EG, Sharp MK, “Heating season performance of a full-scale heat pipe assisted solar wall,” Solar Energy 87:76–83, 2013.
A brief description of co-generation employed by the institution:
n/a
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace energy-consuming appliances, equipment, and systems with high efficiency alternatives:
UofL has made massive investments to retrofit its existing facilities in order to increase the efficiency of our operations, reduce costs, consume less energy and water, and produce less pollution as a result.
This $50 million project, involving 88 buildings (6.2 million square feet) on all three UofL campuses will directly save the university $4.4 million every year and reduce our annual carbon dioxide emissions alone by over 46,000 tons (the equivalent of removing 7,690 cars from the road).
With these improvements, UofL expects to reduce its utility bill by about $12,086 per day!
These efforts have already produced documented results. In FY 2011-12, Belknap Campus reduced fuel use 48%, electricity use 27%, and water use 31%. Efficiency-minded campus users helped us exceed our engineers' expectations! They had predicted fuel use to decline nearly 40% and electricity use to drop at least 20% annually.
Website URL where information about the institution’s energy conservation and efficiency program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.