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Projects Updates for Geothermal at the Fruit Farm Admin Building

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  1. EUI at Fruit Farm Admin Building

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at the Fruit Farm Admin Building
    Energy Conservation Efforts

    Please see the attached Excel file for some Energy Use Intensity (MMBTU/GSF) and (kBTU/GSF) calculations for the Fruit Farm Admin Building.  I have also attached an Energy Star Portfolio Manager Technical Reference which gives numbers for average U.S. Energy Use Intensity by Property Type.  These numbers are given in kBTU/GSF for comparison.

     

    The good news is that the numbers have been decreasing from 2011 through 2017.  Since 2018 is not over yet it would not be fair to count that number, but from 2011 through 2017 the energy use intensity appears to have decreased to about half of its starting value!  The numbers range from about 299 MMBTU/GSF to about 153 MMBTU/GSF (about 45 kBTU/GSF to about 23 kBTU/GSF). 

     

    If you look in the Energy Star Portfolio Manager document, the UIUC Fruit Farm is on par with a small retail office (at the higher EUI levels from 2011) to a warehouse or other unoccupied space (at the lower EUI levels from more recent data).  This may be an indication of the level of activity of the facility, or it may just reflect the fact that you are getting a lot of geothermal energy (three to four units of geothermal energy for every one unit of electricity).  If you look in the table you will see that a laboratory is listed as 78.8 kBTU/GSF, which is about 3.5 times the 2017 calculated value of 23 kBTU/GSF for the Fruit Farm.

     

    Please note that the numbers I am comparing the Fruit Farm to are the site energy numbers in the Energy Star Portfolio Manager document, which reflect the amount of energy you are using at the site (meter readings).  Source energy numbers are higher and include losses due to energy conversion and distribution from where the energy was originally generated (likely a coal or natural gas plant in Illinois).

    - Frank Holcomb

    Attached Files: