University of Iowa
OP-T2-17: Energy Management System

University of Iowa Facilities Management Energy Control Center

The UI’s Energy Control Center (ECC) represents the next generation in energy management. Reaching far beyond the scope of a typical control center, the ECC serves as a highly advanced and integrated hub for monitoring, analyzing, and forecasting energy supply and consumption.

The ECC simultaneously monitors energy data from over 100,000 collection points with the goal of translating it into actionable information. Historical data is correlated to
weather data to create real-time predictions of energy consumption. This powerful tool enables engineers to make critical decisions about equipment usage and energy
purchasing and empowers maintenance staff to move from responsive to predictive maintenance.

Since April 2010, the ECC has revealed well over $500,000/year in energy savings while enhancing customer communication and occupant comfort. With “building dashboards” of realtime energy consumption available to occupants, the UI is well on its way to empowering the campus with the next generation of energy management tools.

Institutional Benefits
The Energy Control Center (ECC) is part of an ambitious campus-wide effort to reduce overall energy consumption 15 percent by 2013 and to consume less energy on campus in 2020 than consumed in 2010 despite projected growth. The ECC has been propelling the University of Iowa toward its energy conservation goals by providing readily accessible production and consumption data that can be reviewed as part of an integrated dynamic system. This advancement better equips Facilities Management to focus on the university-wide mission of sustainability and to help identify and correct maintenance challenges before the customer is even aware there is a problem.

The ECC is the next generation in energy management tools going well beyond monitoring to the science of optimization. The Energy Control Center is powered by a cutting-edge, real-time modeling software called VantagePoint EEM (Enterprise Energy Management) developed by Rockwell Automation. The UI further collaborated with Rockwell to include Energy Star Benchmarking and automated equipment exception reporting making the UI project the first full-scale application of the software.

Optimizing Production
The ECC enables plant operators to optimize the production of steam, chilled water and electricity using cutting-edge, real-time modeling software. This software predicts steam and chilled water loads 12 hours in advance and recommends the most cost-effective dispatch of boilers, turbines and chillers to meet that load. This information also enables energy engineers to make valuable decisions about real-time and spot
market energy purchasing based on price and availability.

Optimizing Demand
The ECC provides accurate baselines of how buildings consume energy under all temperature and humidity conditions. Energy engineers use these baselines to identify unexpected changes in building energy consumption and to verify energy savings from energy efficiency projects.

Predictive Maintenance
Focusing on predictive maintenance and system optimization creates a more comfortable and efficient work environment while helping the UI save energy dollars. The ECC has helped to uncover irregularities in the UI’s steam-distribution and chilled water systems, saving the UI months of troubleshooting and countless staff hours. Instead of relying on customers to call and notify Facilities Management of problems like “It’s too hot” or “the air handler is not working,” energy engineers are now able to detect problems on the screen before the customer experiences discomfort.

Building Dashboards
Recently launched “building dashboards" display real-time energy consumption, allowing building occupants to access and view their energy consumption and utility costs for their campus building online anytime and from anywhere. This dashboard capability provides immediate feedback to building occupants on energy conservation efforts and helps them become active participants in the UI’s goal to reduce energy consumption.

Characteristics or qualities that make this program or practice different or innovative:

State-of-the-art hub/centralized information
Serves as a centralized location to simultaneously monitor energy data for both the supply and demand sides of the campus, utilizing over 100,000 data collection points (pressure, temperature and flows) from 82 buildings and utility systems across campus.
Visualization of production and consumption data on-screen and in real-time, along with access to historical data, provides for advanced troubleshooting and analysis.
Integrated data and tools expedite consistent and accurate responses to requests for information.

Real-time predictions of energy consumption
 Historical data is correlated to weather data to create real-time predictions of steam, electric and chilled water loads for every building on the campus utility systems, 24 hours in advance.
 Predictions can be used to decide which chillers, boilers and turbines to use in advance of their need, which, in kind, provides for better strategies in purchasing and utilizing raw energy such as coal, biomass, natural gas and electricity.
 Predictions alert energy engineers to unexpected increases in building energy usage and verify and quantify savings from energy-efficiency projects.

Benchmarking
 Software automatically evaluates every building against Energy Star benchmarks monthly.

Automatic monitoring of building systems
 Software is linked to building control systems and automatically monitors key parameters to identify energy-wasting conditions. For instance, this software can detect leaking steam and chilled water valves in air handlers, which can be large sources of wasted energy.

Building Dashboards
 Provides on-line, real-time displays of energy usage and costs for all of the buildings connected to the campus utilities system. Offers immediate feedback to building
coordinators and occupants to help spur behavior change. Gauges dynamically show how current usage compares to baselines given current temperature and humidity.
http://facilities.uiowa.edu/uem/energy-management/eccbldg- dashboard.asp

The ECC has also provided a valuable tool to UI building coordinators, who now have the ability to access information about energy consumption and costs in their building(s) 24 hours a day via the online building dashboards. Building coordinators are encouraged to display the dashboards in a central location within the building. Building coordinators help facilitate communication to the occupants of their assigned building(s) regarding energy conservation strategies and results.

For more information about the UI Energy Control Center, please see:
http://facilities.uiowa.edu/uem/energy-management/energy-control-center.html