Bulldogs save energy

By Dick Smith and T. Michael Lechner

Fresno State 's Energy Saving Bulldogs once again helped the university reduce its energy use and costs in 2003.

Supervised by Dick Smith, Utility Management director, the 2003 Energy Saving Bulldogs were Callie Burruss , Genaro Casas Jr., Sergio Esquivez and Desirae Washington, all undergraduate students with diverse backgrounds and majors, but with an interest in energy conservation.

In addition to other anticipated energy conservation savings, a state sponsored Demand Reduction Program (DRP) offered customers with curtailable loads economic incentives to reduce load.   The university had the opportunity to earn as much as $35,000 under the state's DRP 2003 program.  

Here is the background and some information about the Energy Saving Bulldogs:

The Energy Saving Bulldogs program has its roots in the early stages of energy availability concerns within Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Co. 's service territory.   In studying the campus, Dick Smith found that the campus could relatively easily curtail about a megawatt of energy use on a hot day during the summer if it could get to load centers and reduce demand.

In the absence of having a centralized energy command center from which load could be reduced remotely, Dick sought participation of key personal at campus buildings and hired students to carry the message out if and when reductions were called for by the California Power Authority.  

This could have been done by walkie-talkie or cell phone, but the students had more responsibilities than spreading the word of an impending curtailment and notifying professors and summer class students they would be getting warmer in their classrooms.  

Training

The program ran from mid-May through mid-August.   Once hired the students were trained in the classroom as well as in the field.   They received special training from in-house staff as well as from Fresno State 's PG&E account representative, Dan Fantz .   Classroom training included:

•  the basics of energy use,

•  the key individuals and how to notify them regarding a call for curtailment,

•  use of two-way radios,

•  what to look for inside and outside of buildings, e.gs ., lights on in empty classrooms, outside lighting on during the day, or off at night.

•  how to talk to and 'negotiate' with staff and students about campus energy waste and conservation,

•  how to notice possible hazardous situations on campus and who to report them to, how to respond to an emergency if necessary while making their rounds on campus,

•  personal safety,

•  handing out literature and offering home energy savings tips.   

Field training included walking the circuit of the campus which they were expected to make several times a day and what to look for and how to conserve energy even when no load reduction call was in place.   A circuit thorough most of the campus' 45 buildings took about 2 to 2 ½ hours.

The uniform for the Bulldogs was a logo shirt and shorts.   Each student was issued a walkie-talkie and provided with fliers to leave behind to notify building users of the summer demand reduction program and other conservation efforts underway.   There were two shifts per day, five days a week.   Students were paired for day shift and evening shift, with an overlap that was strategic in that more ground could be covered faster during the peak hours when most of the campus activities and classes were in session and a curtailment most likely to be called for.

2003 results

It is difficult with a program like this to determine an exact savings impact.   Clearly if the university were called on to curtail and it met the state's program requirements it would have had an easily measured benefit of $35,000.   Fortunately, the state did not find itself short of power during this summer and did not have to seek help in reducing load.  

More difficult to determine is the savings impact of day-to-day load reduction from turning off lights and other energy using appliances and the savings associated with reducing air conditioning load.   If the campus buildings had individual electric meters this might have helped to see and value the program's efforts.   Unfortunately this was not the case as most of the campus receives its power through a single meter.

Another issue that would have made quantifying the benefits difficult, even if the building had been metered separately, was fact that Fresno experienced an unusually hot summer with temperatures reaching the 100 degree + mark over 23 days running.   While concrete results can not be reported on, anecdotal information can provide insight into the program's effectiveness.  

Interviews were conducted with Dick and the students to gain a sense of effectiveness. In general, the Bulldogs found that the greatest savings opportunities came from turning off lights and other equipment when not in use.   Curiously enough and in spite of announcing the program in the school newspaper, The Collegian, the Bulldogs learned that many on campus thought the Bulldogs had sole responsibility to go around turning off lights.   The Bulldogs had to make a point to let staff and students know that they could help too by turning off the lights themselves.

Dick said that his experience over the years suggests that on campus most people are focused on other issues than worrying about saving energy.   Additionally, because of the centralized meter the individual departments do not see their bills and direct contribution to the utility budget.   This disconnect "lets them" assume monitoring energy use was of little importance in running their programs.   Sub metering of buildings is being considered as a means to provide signals to the various departments of their impact on the campus' electric bill.

Hall lighting had been reduced in an earlier program and Callie and Desirae had the responsibility to make the call about turning them off altogether.   Given the nature of the architecture of the buildings many have long central halls with classroom doors often recessed off the hall.   Looking down a long hall with some light fixtures deactivated can be a safety concern for anyone.  

Another power user the Bulldogs tackled was computer systems left on with screen saver programs running all night.   Notes were left on computer asking the user to put the machine into "sleep" mode to save energy.   The Bulldogs did not have the option of turning off the computer because a program could have been running.   TVs and information monitors were an easier call.   Into the evening hours as the student population on campus declined Sergio and Junior learned which TVs in lounges and information monitors could be turned off for the day.   Again notes were left behind to generate awareness that the last person leaving should turn off the appliances and lights.

Another issue was locating where the drink vending machines (112) were distributed around the campus.   The administration signed an agreement with a supplier for the machines which, of course, added to campus electrical load.   Money from the transaction was not allocated to cover the cost of their operation and so this is an added burden on the campus utility budget.   At a 100 degrees and sometimes sitting in the sun, these large refrigerators, secured in black steel cages, can use up to 350 kWhs per month and in the aggregate contribute many kW to the peak demand.   Dick is looking to install energy conservation technology on these.

Conclusions

The summer Energy Savings Bulldogs program cost the university about $15,000.   Had it been necessary for the state to "buy" power from those who could supply it under the curtailment call, the university could have received up to $35,000.   It is realized that Dick's program could not take full credit for generating that return because of the involvement of other participants, but it did serve as a cornerstone for implementation and execution if needed.

While other savings can not be precisely quantified,   Dick is very confident that the load reduction achieved by the Bulldogs in turning off lights and other appliances, having less stress on the air conditioning system, and most importantly, creating greater awareness on the need for everyone to conserve, provided a significant return on his investment.

Aside from providing an estimated $30,000 to $35,000 per month in energy cost savings, it also offered Dick additional insight into where opportunities are for installing light occupancy sensors, where air conditioning systems might be better tuned for the occupants, and enhanced campus safety.

  (Dick Smith is a director in the Department of Utility Management at Fresno State . Michael Lechner , P.E., C.E.M. is a Senior Account Manager with APS Energy Services.)