Brock University
OP-5: Building Energy Efficiency

Brock University has elected to utilize the 2013 benchmark for its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) and energy consumption Inventories. The 2013 baseline year was the first year with reliable and accurate information in terms of GHG reporting and energy consumption for Brock. Furthermore, in 2012 Brock had undergone a large expansion as well as implemented operational changes through the construction of the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex. The Cairns Complex added an additional 169,000 sq. Ft. 4 story plus basement building to the Brock campus. Thus, the period after construction of the Cairns Complex represents a stable point in campus development. Being a young university, 1990 did not appropriately reflect Brock’s operations and development. Therefore, to accurately represent improvements in GHG emissions and energy consumption, the 2013 baseline was adopted to provide the most accurate benchmark.

Facilities Management at Brock provides 1-2 tours per month to students of the District Energy Systems. The tour highlights the features of Brock’s co-generation facility that provides an energy-efficient source of electricity, cooling and heating to a majority of the campus buildings. The tour provides students with information about Brock’s District Energy Efficiency Project (DEEP) and how through this project Brock aims to reduce its carbon footprint and increase sustainability on campus by replacing the 25-year-old-co-generation engines with state-of-the-art energy efficient units. This project highlights Brock’s efforts to become more environmentally sustainable and a leader amongst universities in reducing carbon emissions.

Brock implemented setbacks in most of its buildings’ HVAC systems. These reduce the amount of energy used during unoccupied hours. In addition, Brock has its own Design Standards, which specify the minimum energy system requirements that any new construction and/or major renovation has to follow. The lighting design standards and approached used has been recognized among other Universities in Ontario.

Bob Davis & Gym #2 Lighting & Controls Upgrades Project - This project involved a complete overhaul of the lighting and control systems in the Bob Davis and Gym 2 Gymnasiums. In total 356 fixtures (a mixture of 2 lamp and 4 lamp T8 fluorescent tubes) and 1,424 lamps were replaced by new efficient LED High Bay fixtures. These new fixtures offered almost 3 times the output of the original fixtures at a fraction of the required power draw. The project also involved the installation of a new Lutron lighting control system that allowed for further energy savings. The new control system included occupancy and motion sensors that dimmed the lighting down to emergency levels when not occupied. It also allowed for set “scenes” to be established that varied the light output based on the activity. For example, “General Use” was programmed to have a lower light output that “Varsity Sporting Event” meaning the lights were not utilized at their highest output at all times. In total the project accounted for an energy savings of 220,000 kWh per year and approximately 41 tons of CO2e.

Cairns Complex, a large research-intensive building, was designed using solar gain to heat the spaces. It also includes architectural features such as a permanent screenwall to avoid excessive solar gain while still allowing to reduce the building’s cooling load.

Brock’s 7.9 MW natural gas-fired cogeneration plant produces power to cover most of the Main Campus’ needs. Each of these four 2750 HP internal combustion engines produces up to 1,976 Kilowatts of electricity at 4160 volts. This power is used for lighting and research equipment operation, building ventilation systems, operation of cafeterias, etc. As the generators produce power, for every 1 Kilowatt of electricity produced approximately 3,412 btu/h is also generated for a total of up to 6.7MMbtu/h of heat per engine. The recovered heat from the cogeneration engines is used to feed the campus hot water heating system. Hot water is less carbon-intensive than steam production. Hot water is used to heat many campus buildings during winter and produce domestic hot water around campus. In the summertime, the recovered heat is converted by a Lithium Bromide Absorption Chiller to produce chilled water which is used for campus air conditioning systems.

Power, heat and cooling from the cogeneration plant is fed to a majority of the Main Campus buildings. The Cairns Family Health Bioscience Complex is provided with its own power, heating and cooling systems. Stand-alone heating and cooling systems are also provided for Kenmore Center, Lowenberger, Harrison Hall, Village Residence, Theal House, Alphie's Trough and the Pool for resilience. On the satellite campuses, the buildings are provided with separate power feed, and each building has their own heating and cooling systems.

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) provided $7.9 million in funding to Brock through its Greenhouse Gas Campus Retrofits Program (GGCRP) Innovation Grant Fund. The grant was used to complete Phase 2 of the District Energy Efficiency Project (DEEP), which has upgraded and modernized the University’s co-generation facility – a reliable and energy-efficient source of electricity, heating, and cooling on campus. As part of DEEP, Brock added Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system on each engine exhaust to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and non-methane hydrocarbons. Another example of environmental improvements made through DEEP is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 15% via increased engine efficiency.

Variable Frequency Drives & Premium Efficiency Motors Project - The goal with this project was to install as many premium efficiency motors and VFD’s in the aging campus buildings as possible. These upgrades would allow for the ability to instate demand ventilation, ramping the fans up and down based on the static pressure (basically occupancy and temperature set points in the spaces). These projects represent significant energy savings and because these buildings are largely fed by the district energy system any savings in electricity consumption can directly be attributed to a reduction in the consumption of natural gas. Nearly 20 VFD’s have been installed as part of 5 projects across the Core campus in locations from MacKenzie Chown Complex, Walker Complex, the Central Utilities Building, Faculty of Education and the Playhouse Penthouse. In total the estimated electrical savings total 356,711 kWh and a total CO2 e reduction of 70 tons per year.

District Energy System: https://brocku.ca/sustainability/district-energy-system-tour/