asu in the news 02-06-08 to - ASU News - Arizona State University

Every user to be part of
move to green buildings
Giving staff
information on
how much power is
being used could be
the next step says
Danny Bradbury
started to get seri Last ous year about the green world IT
The main goal was
making servers work harder
using less energy and many
companies have made
progress
But what about the build
ings people work in Many
offices are not designed with
energy efficiency in mind
meaning that as servers
work hard to save power
heating and lighting systems
are wasting it What can be
done
Green buildings has
become a popular term over
the past few years but
designers have been experi
menting with energy effi
ciency for decades says Har
vey Bryan professor at the
school of agriculture at
Arizona State University
We started to bring in
computer controls for build
ings back in the 1980s he
says explaining that origi
nal pneumatic controls were
replaced by actuators and
then by digital controls
Today new buildings are
almost all fitted with compu
terised controls for heating
and air conditioning
The more advanced com
puter controlled systems
present a console on a single
screen that building manag
ers check and adjust occa
sionally
But the next step is to
adopt what Prof Bryan calls
the Prius factor
Toyota s hybrid car tells
drivers how much fuel they
are using at their current
speed reminding them to
ease up on the accelerator
Buildings are starting to do
the same
We re now seeing that
screen moving out of the
building manager s cubicle
in the basement and into the
front lobby and on to every
user s desktop he says
They re now providing
information to building own
ers and tenants
That data can be displayed
anywhere For example
Oberlin College in Ohio uses
a system created by Lucid
Design Systems It logs
energy consumption within
its 26 dormitories using sen
sors and displays the results
in public kiosks within the
building
The real time statistics can
also be viewed online at
www oberlin edu dorm
energy and are used to run
competitions between the
dorms to see which can use
the least energy
Sensor technology is
becoming more sophisti
cated says Prof Bryan
Zigbee a low powered
radio technology is being
used in sensors that commu
nicate with each other wire
lessly
A mesh of wireless sensors
in the building can relay
environmental information
between each other and back
to central control systems
which means that old build
ings do not have to be
rewired A Zigbee sensor
could be programmed to tell
a building control system
when no one is in a room
dimming the lights or lower
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ing the heat
Prof Bryan also likes the
idea of micro sensors embed
ded in walls to provide a
more accurate reading of the
heat in a room based on sur
face temperature rather than
air temperature
You could read those and
then do a mean radiant tem
perature calculation he
says explaining that putting
a thermostat at a single
point in a room often fails to
provide an accurate reading
because heat is rarely dis
tributed evenly in the air in
a room
By installing a series of
such sensors in the wall you
give users more control and
have a better temperature
indicator
One drawback is that even
basic upgrades to heating
and lighting systems can be
expensive However the
costs can be covered by
energy savings
Energy services companies
will often install systems in
return for little or no up
front payment with the cus
tomer using the money
saved on energy bills to
cover instalments
Performance based con
tracts provide a benchmark
to adjust payments based on
actual savings over time
But adapting existing
buildings with fancy tech
nologies is not the only way
to make structures greener
Experts are proposing
changes in architecture to
design energy efficiency into
buildings right from the
start
You can make a lot of
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difference by simply con
structing things the right
way says Helen Goodland
executive director of Light
house a Vancouver based
organisation that collects
market intelligence and
develops policies on green
buildings
Ms Goodland believes that
buildings use between 30
and 40 per cent of energy in
the Pacific Northwest s
Using virtual building envi
ronments to model air flow
daylight and heat absorption
can help designers make the
right decisions at the outset
These are all important
and tie into the CAD com
puter aided design models
that the architects use to
generate the plans and ele
vations she says
The move to environmen
tally friendly building design
and adaptation is gaining
such force that there is even
a standard
The US Green Building
Council s LEED Leadership
in Energy and Environmen
tal Design rates buildings
throughout their lifespan
design construction and
operation It spans a range
of types including commer
cial interiors healthcare and
schools
It rates the environmen
tal footprint of a building
with energy efficiency being
a major component says
Roy McBrayer deputy state
architect and programme
manager for California s
green building initiative
The state is on a mission
to improve the energy effi
ciency of government build
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Date: 01/30/2008
Pub Num: GB­D5008
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ings as part of a wider initi
ative called the Green Build
ing Executive Order signed
in 2004
All buildings that the
state will build will be built
to LEED silver certification
standards explains Mr
McBrayer
The 1 650 existing facilities
in the state under the execu
tive authority of Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger will
also be brought up to that
standard and the 250 of
them that are more than
50 000 sq ft in size will
receive LEED certification
he adds
Mr McBrayer expects most
of the changes will increase
energy efficiency in areas
such as lighting heating
and air conditioning sys
tems
However he also says that
a lot can be achieved purely
through changes in opera
tional procedures
We are signing a perform
ance contract agreement
with the energy services
company that has guaran
teed savings says Mr
McBrayer
If not then it will pay the
state the difference
With whole US states try
ing to make public buildings
more energy efficient com
mercial organisations may
follow suit
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