Monitoring Energy Consumption at Universities and Colleges

Mon April 12, 2021

Monitoring Energy Consumption at Universities and Colleges

Universities and colleges spend an average of 18 cents per square foot on natural gas and $1.10 per square foot on electricity every year. Lighting accounts for about 31 percent of the annual utility bill, while heating and cooling account for about 28 percent. Heating water is the third largest expense, comprising about 25 percent of a university's yearly utility payments. Reducing utility bills through sound energy management is a major priority for most universities.

Energy management is particularly challenging for universities due to the large number of buildings, including dormitories, which have different energy requirements and different ways of consuming energy. And while managing the energy use in so many buildings is difficult, staying within the often-tight facility budget is even harder, requiring the awareness and cooperation of thousands of faculty, staff and students. JMI can help with measurement and control of chilled water and steam utilities throughout the campus. 

Control steam flow with greater dynamics.

Shubert & Salzer’s Sliding gate control valve ensure The level of quality attainable in controlling a steam plant is heavily dependent on the dynamic characteristics of the total system comprising the control element, actuator and controller. The control parameters for sliding gate valves relating to dynamic behavior are clearly superior to those for conventional control valves. As a result, the highly responsive dynamics not only improve the control quality but also form the basis for control circuits with very short reaction times. This has proved to be the key factor in steam savings of up to 30 %. Current comparisons of steam plant operators show that savings of this magnitude are attainable only by installing a sliding gate valve in place of a traditional control valve.

Read this application note on Shubert & Salzer,  The sliding gate valve reins in costs for steam systems
The sliding gate valve reins in costs for steam systems

You can’t manage what you don’t measure! 

Many universities have gone through an evolution of trying to meter thermal energy consumption throughout their campus. The success of these ventures can be elusive when the meter chosen for the job doesn’t live up to expectations. Examples include insertion meters that over time will foul and meters that cannot respond to low velocities that are prevalent during off-peak metering. FLEXIM’s Thermal Energy / BTU Flow Meter is Trusted by 150+ Universities. FLEXIM’s Thermal Energy / BTU Flow Meter is the premier offering in the market today. FLEXIM ultrasonic clamp-on meters do not require shutdown and are very cost effective to install. In fact, clamp-on ultrasonic meters have been doing the job of BTU-metering for decades. FLEXIM’s thermal energy meters support your efforts towards more energy efficient buildings and facilities. More than 150 colleges and universities throughout the country have trusted FLEXIM as their preferred vendor for thermal energy meters. Every university we deal with will attest to FLEXIM’s performance, reliability and support.

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