By: Siraj Khan, PE, LEED AP
June 30th, 2011
The United Nations defines sustainability as
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” However, there is no one definition of sustainability. In general, sustainability is the term for all things that decrease our dependence on non-renewable energy and increase the idea of living within the means of our current environment without damaging it for the future. In short, sustaining human life on Earth.
Sustainable endeavors should address the issues of ecological robustness, social equity and economic viability.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is one of a few rating systems for green construction.
Developed by the U.S. Green Building
Council(USGBC) in 2000, provides a framework for constructing new and maintaining old structures with an approach to sustainability.
LEED uses 5 categories(Sustainable Sites, Water
Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and
Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality) to produce an overall rating that accounts for the entire building's life time.
Carbon Footprint describes the amount of carbon emission and green house gasses that is produced by an organization, product or person. This includes vehicle emissions, production and consumption of food and other goods, and services.
OU leadership and management encourages environmental stewardship and sustainability at all OU’s campuses.
New platinum-rated Human Health Science
Building that is under construction and a new
Gold-rated Engineering Center are the examples of their commitment toward sustainability at OU campus.
Facilities Management office is playing a responsible role to implement sustainable best practices through various projects that the department manages from design to construction and after construction. Every day these practices are being utilized during operation and maintenance of the campus. These practices save energy, improve occupant comfort and environment, reduces carbon footprint that resulted into a better
Sustainable environment and a Greener campus.
Facilities Management constantly examining their activities and services in order to continually improve environmental performance, with economic viability with a sense of sustainability.
USGBC – United States Green Building Council for
LEED Ratings for the buildings and providing guidelines towards sustainability best practices. www.usgbc.org
AASHE – Association for the advancement of sustainability in higher education, created Talloires
Declaration to drive moment toward sustainability best practices on campuses. www.aashe.org
ACUPCC – American College & University President’s
Climate Commitment to reduce carbon footprint toward carbon neutrality www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org
Energy Star – A building rating system by DOE for benchmarking of energy. www.energystar.gov
Terry Stollsteimer
Associate VP for Facilities Management
Phone: 248-370-2160 stollsteimer@oakland.edu
Siraj Khan Rafi Bayrakdarian
MSME, PE, LEED AP PE, CEM, LEED AP
Facilities Management Facilities Management
Director of Engineering Energy Manager
Phone: 248-370-2161 Phone: 248-370-4990
Khan@oakland.edu Bayrakda@oakland.edu
Human Health Science Building
Hannah Hall Ventilation Improvements
Vandenberg Hall
– Replacement of windows
O'Dowd Hall
– Replacement of curtain wall
– Improvements of mechanical systems
Central Heating Plant Improvements
Currently under construction on northwest corner of the campus
LEED Platinum rated
Scheduled to be open in August, 2012
Rarely does a building project become the talk of the town, but the $61 million structure is probably the most visible building project in OU history because of its location at the intersection of Walton and Squirrel.
The four-story complex is the first academic structure built on the perimeter of the campus; it will house the School of Nursing and the School of Health
Sciences.
Scheduled to open in 2012, the 161,000 square foot building designed by the
SmithGroup will feature a large auditorium, nine classrooms, a full health clinic, substantially improved teaching lab space, and faculty and administrative offices for the two fast-growing academic units on campus.
Despite the tight budget for the project, John Harmala, senior project manager, says the classrooms will outshine anything on campus in terms of technology.
Terry Stollsteimer, associate vice president for facilities management, says the building will have more gathering spaces for students than any building on campus, and the building will rely on natural light to create a calm environment.
But as important as the building is to the growth and development of the Schools of Nursing and Health Sciences, it is the environmental statement the building makes that is showering attention on OU and its environmental stewardship.
“This building is a pivotal project in leading OU toward a sustainable campus,” says Amy Butler, director of the Bureau of Energy Systems for the state’s
Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth.
The benchmark for measuring “green” buildings is a national system called
LEED. When OU opens the doors in the fall of 2012, the Human Health
Building will be the first LEED Platinum building in the State of Michigan.
Platinum is the highest LEED ranking possible.
The signature element in achieving Platinum status was a $2.7 million US
Department of Energy grant to add 86 additional geothermal wells to the project, bringing the total number of wells to 256. Energy manager Jim Leidel wrote the grant for the additional wells and says the 310-foot wells allowed
OU to build the Human Health Building without a cooling tower.
Siraj Khan, director of engineering for OU, says the building also features a desiccant cooling system (one which uses solar power to help take
moisture out of the building) and a variable refrigerant heat pump system to improve comfort, air quality, and energy efficiency . The desiccant technology has been used successfully in Europe, but OU’s building is one of the first in the United States to take advantage of the desiccant systems.
Another measure by which the building is “graded” is the percentage of waste that is recycled, either on site or elsewhere. That includes re-cycling the asphalt that was removed when the geothermal wells were drilled and the parking lot resurfaced. At this stage of the building construction project, 87% of the waste has been recycled.
One other key project outside the building is the rehabilitation of the wetland areas adjacent to the building. The current wetland areas contain some invasive plants that need to be removed and replaced with native species.
Stollsteimer is proud of the work his team has done on the project and notes a number of other environmentally friendly features, such as four charging stations for electric vehicles, a small locker room for students or staff who want to bike to work and take a quick shower before class, and the use of cisterns to capture water for landscape watering.
Reducing the amount of exhaust air flow for labs and reducing outdoor air intake into the building during non-operational hours, resulted into energy saving.
Recently replaced the old inefficient windows with new energy efficient windows.
New windows reduces solar and thermal loads as well as infiltration of air, resulted into energy saving.
(August 2011)
Facilities Management is in the process of managing a project to replace the old inefficient curtain wall. This will help eliminate air draft, moisture leakage and reduction of solar heat load in the building. This improvement will save energy as well as will improve working environment in the building.
Upgrading of mechanical systems to save energy as well as to improve work environment.
A current project is being managed for improvements of the boilers efficiency, replacing HTHW pumps and balancing of the high temperature heating hot water flows, that will be resulted into saving energy.
Hamlin Hall
– New high efficient windows
Recommissioning
– Pawley Hall
– Student Recreation & Athletic Center
LED Outdoor Lighting for roadways & parking lots
Utility sub-meters for all major campus buildings
Recently replaced the old inefficient windows with new energy efficient windows.
New windows will reduce solar and thermal loads as well as infiltration of air into the building, resulted into saving energy (August 2010)
A recommissioning project was recently completed that resulted into energy savings, translated into in a substantial reduction of utility bill.
The items commissioned were: chiller, VAV box & controls, VFD's and occupancy sensors.
A recommissioning project was recently completed that resulted into energy savings as well as saving on utility bill for the building.
The items commissioned were chiller and VAV boxes control upgrades, VFD's and occupancy sensors.
Newly installed LED lighting will save on labor cost by out lasting regular bulbs 3 times.
Brighter lighting system will create a safe environment, will also reduce lighting pollution at night.
Will reduce energy consumption.
Sub-meters have been installed to monitor and tracking of the building’s utilities usage.
Meters are accessible on the network, with the ability to be analyzed with utility metering software, being installed in 2012.
New Engineering Center ($75 Million)
Biomass Energy Plant ($32 Million)
– currently on hold
Wind Turbine ($7 Million)
– currently on hold
Combined Heating and Power System ($6 Million)
– currently being reviewed
• Currently under design stage
• LEED Gold rated
• Scheduled to be open in August, 2014
• New technology Mircoturbines will be placed to provide electric power and thermal energy for the building as well as to provide power to campus grid and high temperature heating hot water to HTHW campus loop. This highly efficient system will also reduce carbon foot print for the building. A highly efficient chilled beam system and a dedicated outdoor air system will provide comfortable work environment as well as energy saving.
Proposed to be built south of Main Campus a biomass energy plant of 40 MMBTUH. The plant will be utilizing wood chips to produce thermal energy for the campus
HTHW loop. Proposed plant will reduce carbon foot print and long-term savings for fuel bills.
(currently on hold).
Proposed to install a zero-emission (clean & renewable energy) wind power turbines of 2.1MW to provide electric power for the campus grid.
(currently on hold).
Combined Heat and Power System
• A proposal is being prepared to replace an existing old boiler at the CHP with a combined heat and power unit (gas turbine of 4.6 MW), that will produce electric power and thermal energy as well as reduce electric power demand during peak shaving, all resulted into energy savings and savings on utility bills.
•This proposed installation will also reduce carbon footprint on campus.
Following slides will show the implementation of the best sustainability practices in all five categories as defined by the USGBC-LEED guidelines.
Facilities Management purchased two new electric vehicles in 2010 to replace gas-powered vehicles, to be used by facilities Management staff. The effort was done to reduce emissions and pollutants in the environment and save on gasoline bills.
Free shuttle service for in and around campus to avoid traffic congestion and reduce pollution.
Two lines
On-campus
Same affect as Bike share
Off-campus
Helps students living on campus to save gas and keep their emissions down by carpooling to local hot spots.
Facilities Management is striving to provide convenience for the campus community by having bikes everywhere on the campus as an alternate mode of transportation to move around, in order to preserve green spaces, prevent congestion and reduce carbon footprint.
Now you can help even more by biking around campus instead of driving to the other side.
Bear Lake is a Storm water retention pond to control storm quantity to creeks to avoid soil erosion and to have a beautiful vista for the campus community. The lake is being continuously monitored for water quality and is being treated with Eco-friendly cleaning agents that do not harm living species in the lake.
Facilities Management is viewing the lake to potentially be used as a closed loop for water-cooled chillers for nearby buildings if economically viable.
In an effort to manage storm water, a pond was built for a recently constructed parking lot P-35. This will result in controlled storm water flow to the campuswide stormwater system.
Facilities Management has implemented a tree management plan for planting native trees and a campus tree protection policy that helps to make the campus look green and Eco-friendly, decreases soil erosion and control storm water run-off.
Native trees pictured above from left to right: White
Oak, Sugar Maple, Locust
• Helps to keep ground strong after construction and reduces stormwater run-off.
Low Flow Plumbing Fixtures are being installed in the
Dormitory buildings in an effort to reduce consumption of potable water.
Currently are being installed in the Dormitory buildings in an effort to reduce consumption of potable water.
Well pump used for irrigation of fields.
Saves energy by pumping locally.
Saves resources by not using potable water.
Controlled by a centralized control system.
Using rain sensors to save water for irrigation.
Central Heating Plant is continuously upgraded for efficiency improvements of the systems and the generators to save energy.
Energy monitoring is continuously being done by a direct digital control (DDC) system.
Using a new cutting edge technology of variable refrigerant (VRV) system to provide heating & cooling of the PSS building renovation.
Highly efficient system to reduce energy and carbon footprint.
Completed Installation of VFD’s for majority of fans & pumps to save energy.
Facilities Management is installing the
VFD's for all remaining fans & pumps.
Shutting off indoor lights and/or shutting off air flow when the room is unoccupied to save energy.
Facilities management install occupancy sensors for all the offices and classrooms as a general practice.
Saves energy by reducing air intake without scarifying air quality.
Constantly monitor air quality and if it reaches a certain CO2 threshold then it brings in fresh outside air.
Saves energy because its harder to heat/cool the outside air compared to air already in circulation.
Facilities management already installed
CO2 sensors for majority of air-handling systems and in the highly populated areas such as lecture halls to reduce outdoor air intake, resulted into energy savings.
• Solar-thermal panels placed on roof of the HHB building to provide desiccant cooling during summer as well as providing heating in the winter. Domestic hot water will also be provided for the building.
• Solar-thermal panels will also be placed on roof of the new Engineering Center for educational and learning experience.
Human Health Science building will use highly efficient geothermal system (256 wells, 325ft deep) to provide cooling and heating for the building, resulted into energy savings and reducing carbon foot print.
Facilities Management recently boosted efficiency of the ceramic cooling tower by cleaning the nozzles, balancing condenser water flow and by installing a new motor mount for an adequate fan operation. All these items will save energy.
Currently modifying primary & secondary piping of the chillers to implement energy conservation measures to save energy and to improve cooling efficiency of the chilled water system.
Campus facilities divert thousands of tons traditional recyclable materials like papers or aluminum for the landfill every year.
Recycling these items reduces campus waste streams.
Recycling bins can be found all around campus buildings and around student housing buildings.
Recycling waste saves the natural environment and natural resources.
Dump all recycling items into one container to be sorted at the recycling center.
Makes it easy for building occupants to throw trash in recycle bins, to increase collection of recycling waste.
Preserved dirt from current and past projects.
Dirt pile will be used for future projects.
Saves the effort to transport dirt off campus and back on campus for the projects.
Saves on gas and emissions, resulted into reduction of carbon foot print.
Facilities management always manage and implement indoor air and environmental practices during construction and post construction of the project.
IAQ Best Management Practices are being in practice:
– IAQ During Facility Alterations and Additions
– Using higher efficiency filters
– Purging of the building or renovated area
Occupant Comfort
– Lighting Controls
– Thermal Comfort Monitoring
– Day lighting
Campus policy prohibits smoking inside campus building.
Outdoor smoking is allowed at a distance of at least 25 feet away from building entrances.
This resulted into improved indoor air quality as well as energy savings by reducing make up supply air and exhausting tobacco smoke outside the building.
Green products are being used for cleaning.
Green Solutions: All types of cleaning products.
Dispenser: Efficient diluting machine programmed with the amount of water to mix in.
• Facilities Management is using less corrosive forms of rock salt for melting ice on sidewalks and entrance way stairs, to protect personnel and natural environment.
TOP down commitment
Bottom up support and enthusiasm
Assemble Green team and set goals & priorities
Development of Green policy
Benchmark all operations on campus
Existing Buildings and OU campus sustainability assessment & feasibility study with economic parameters and
Funding resources and allocation
Behavior and cultural change awareness and practices
Sustainability in core curriculum and academic affairs
TRACK, IMPROVE AND MOVE ON!
Please refer to: http://www.oakland.edu/energy/
Any Questions?