The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), completed in 2010, identifies several goals related to energy production and distribution on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus. The iCAP called for a detailed study of the University's Energy and Utility systems. That study is now ongoing and is intended to be interactive with the sustainability goals of the iCAP. The University is working with a multi-disciplinary consulting team to study the requirements and opportunities necessary to safely and reliably meet the current and future campus energy needs. The areas of study will examine factors including safety, system reliability, environmental impacts, environmental permit requirements, cost, budget constraints, pending/likely changes in legislation and regulations related to energy utilities, fuel costs, industry trends, innovative technologies and sustainability. Note that the study is limited to the Utility enterprise. Comments regarding improvements in transportation and buildings should be made directly to the sustainability office.

To that end, we are reaching out to the broader campus community to understand what ideas you have in mind that might help the University community meet our energy-related iCAP goals and objectives. If you have specific ideas we would love to hear from you. Please use this form to offer suggestions.

For a general overview of our energy systems at the University of Illinois, please see the online overview at http://www.fs.illinois.edu/docs/default-source/Resources/brochures/utilities-energy-3-14.pdf?sfvrsn=0.

1. Does your school have sort of campus-wide energy management system (EMS)? Or does each building have its own energy monitoring system?

Each building has its own metering station where chilled water, condensate, and electricity are measured and recorded. The chilled water and condensate usages are recorded into the building automation system and transferred over BACnet I/P to our campus data historian system and the electric meters have an Ethernet I/P connection that is directly fed to the data historian.

1.  Does the EMS at your school have the ability to turn the HVAC systems on/off (this feature is often called Direct Digital Control) ? 

We have a mixture of control system types and vintages on campus. There are older pneumatic controls systems still on campus that we are gradually converting over to DDC systems. Back in 1984 is when the campus starting installing its first digital control system. This system’s primary function was for monitoring temperatures, status of various types of equipment, and start/stop and speed adjustment of HVAC.  About 20 years ago is when DDC systems were being installed for full control of system and not just for start/stop purposes. I would approximate that our campus has about 60% DDC and 40% pneumatic control.

The HVAC systems that do have DDC control typically have some sort of occupancy schedule where the unit either shuts down or a setback mode is used for after hours. We also utilize occupancy sensors on variable air volume(VAV) air handlers for classrooms and offices. This allows us during normal hours where the unit would be running to achieve additional saving by closing off air dampers( or air flow) to specific spaces that do not have occupants.  

We have an Energy Management Control Center (EMCC) that is staff during normal working hours to monitor our DDC systems. They monitor the alarms, handle hot/cold calls and make sure the campus HVAC systems are running at their optimal level. We use two primary DDC systems for our building controls, Siemens and Schneider Electric’s TAC system and the Delta V system is used in our production plants. All three systems are monitored in the EMCC.

Requested information:

Hi my name is Sho Kawano.

I'm a student at the University of California, Berkeley currently doing research on sustainable operations, specifically energy use.

I thought this would be the right place to contact regarding energy management at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

1. Does your school have sort of campus-wide energy management system(EMS)? Or does each building have its own energy monitoring system?
2. Does the EMS at your school have the ability to turn the HVAC systems on/off (this feature is often called Direct Digital Control) ? 

If you can answer these questions for me, I'd greatly appreciate your help

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely,
Sho Kawano 

University of California, Berkeley | May 2017

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