Energy and the Built Environment

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BackgroundBackgr

Background

“Energy consumption on the Indiana University – Bloomington (IUB) campus is both unsustainable and climate altering” (Campus Sustainability Report). In 2003, IUB’s CO2 equivalent emissions were almost 440,000 metric tons. Campus emissions come predominantly from two sources: (1) the on-campus coal-fired (90% coal, 10% natural gas) Central Heating Plant and (2) electricity use (for all lighting, power, and cooling systems), with electricity purchased from Duke Energy (primarily generated using fossil fuels.

Interns Examine a Research Project Involving Alage

Buildings account for about 70% of the electricity load, 40% of all energy consumption, and 40% of CO2 emissions in the U.S. Hence, making buildings more energy efficient can be one of the fastest and, with rising energy prices, most cost effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The built environment (buildings, roads, parking lots, pathways, etc.) profoundly affects the natural environment, wildlife, and people in many other ways as well.. Buildings and impervious land-coverings disrupt natural hydrology and can contribute to flooding; dark roofs and pavements contribute to theurban heat island effect; the built environment contributes to light pollution, hiding the night sky and disrupting ecosystems (and light pollution also suggests wasted light, so wasted energy); and the air, thermal, and lighting quality in buildings can affect occupant health and well-being.

Interns inspect a green roof on the Green Libraries tour

Strategic Plan | Back to Top

The IU Task Force on Sustainability (IUSTF) created the Energy and Built Environment Working Group in 2007 to address issues related to energy use and constructing, restoring and maintaining buildings on the IUB campus and in the surrounding community.  With the establishment of the IU Office of Sustainability in 2009, the IUSTF transitioned into the Campus Sustainability Advisory Board (CSAB).  The Energy and Built Environment Working Group continues its research and programming as one of seven CSAB working groups.  This section addresses the mission, strategic plan and membership of this group

Mission

Energy and Built Environment Working Group strives to raise awareness of IUB’s energy use among faculty, staff, and students and implement strategies through behavior modification and innovative building design and engineering principles to maximize the efficiency of on-campus production and distribution systems as well as reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Interns tour the physical plant

Strategic Plan

Indiana University – Bloomington must become a carbon neutral campus. However, this will require time and effort. Through energy conservation efforts; the use of biomass, solar, and wind power (local or in the form of renewable energy certificates[RECs]); and the development and use of improved/new technologies, IUOS believes this necessary goal can be realized. To this end, IUB must develop and implement an Integrated Energy Master Plan (see Campus Sustainability Report for more details), identify and promote energy savings projects, and support the development of renewable energy technologies.

The built environment should be designed, constructed, operated, and maintained with full consideration for environmental, social, and economic effects, both short- and long-term as well as local and global. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) third-party rating systems for buildings will prove useful tools in incorporating such considerations into the IU culture.

Working Group Membership

Working Group Member
Title
Email (@indiana.edu)
Rebecca Barthelmie Co-Chair, Faculty (Geography) rbarthel
Peggy Maschino Co-Chair, Associate Director (Physical Plant) pmaschin
Michael Baker Staff (Physical Plant) mebaker
William Brown Director (IUOS) brownwm
Ben Brabson Faculty (Physics) brabson
Dan Derhemier Environmental Manager (EHS) dderheim
Mike Jenson Director (EHS) mjenson
Lauren Kastner Undergraduate Student (Journalism) lakastne
Mark Menefee Assistant Director (Utilities) mmenefee
Will McHenry Undergraduate Student (CoAS) lwmchenr
Patty Moser Environmental Health Speicalist (EHS) pmmoser
Eric Ost Faculty (Astronomy) emo
John Rupp Faculty (Geology) rupp
Terry Usrey Faculty (SPEA) usrey
Lee Walters Director (UIG) lewalter

 

Progress at IU | Back to To Top

Interns Examine a Research Project Involving Alage

IUB has made headway recently toward reducing energy use and dependence on fossil fuels as well as in transitioning to a sustainable built environment, with major contributions from the University Architects Office (UAO), IU Engineering Services, and the IU Physical Plant Utilities Division. A partial list of advances follows.

  • The IU Board of Trustees voted to approve a new Campus Master Plan, which considers issues of sustainability throughout and includes a section devoted to sustainability. Among the sustainable planning principles addressed in the Master Plan are the needs to move toward carbon-neutrality and to plan for innovative sustainable buildings and landscapes.
  • IUB is seeking LEED certification on at least 11 buildings at various stages of progress, including a new laboratory research building set to open this October and the first new student residence center on campus since 1969, which will open its doors to students in fall 2010. (Watch the progress live <here.)
  • In fulfillment of certain LEED credits, IUB will offset at least 35% of the energy that will be used over a two-year period by several buildings through the purchase of RECs.
  • Summer and academic year student internships through IUOS and various campus entities include studies of utility metering and data display, energy density, building standards and sustainable design practices, greenhouse gas emissions, water conservation, and IU LEED projects. For complete lists of past and ongoing internships, and for links to complete reports and presentations, click here.
    IUSTF
  • Recent renovations to the IU Central Heating Plant (CHP) include the replacement of two coal-fired boilers from the 1950s with a high-efficiency gas boiler and the installation of new filters that will reduce emissions of particulate matter by as much as 95.5%.
  • The CHP has teamed up with local researchers to investigate the efficiency and viability of using algae to reduce CO2 emissions.
  • A 3 MW generator will be installed soon in the CHP to make use of previously-lost energy during steam pressure step-down.
  • The Utilities Information Group has been installing new meters throughout campus to track usage and encourage conservation.
  • Each spring, the IU Energy Challenge pits dorm against dorm and Greek house against Greek house in a competition to reduce electricity and water consumption. Last spring’s efforts amounted to 1.1 million pounds of avoided CO2 emissions. The winning dorm of the 2009 competition received $4,500 to be invested in an energy-conservation demonstration project.In August 2009, IU held an internal Energy Research Conferenceto lay out an energy research roadmap for the University.
  • IUOS is developing a revolving loan fund improve utility efficiency and other sustainability measures.
  • IUB has received at $40,000 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation for the “Greening of the Indiana Memorial Union.”

Sustainability Coursework

Energy and the Built Environment Internships

Summer and academic year student internships through IUOS and various campus entities include studies of utility metering and data display, energy density, building standards and sustainable design practices, greenhouse gas emissions, water conservation, and IU LEED projects, including:

  • Energy Density Survey, Summer 2007: Laura Kunz performed a web search of various universities that have accumulated data showing the energy density of different building types (academic office, academic research, athletic, residential, assembly, etc.). She then searched for the best European model of energy density and compare to USA standards and developed recommendations for new IU Energy Density Standard that models the global best-practice.
  • Utility Metering Study, Summer 2007: David Funte performed web searches for new products, contact references to determine effectiveness of the application, make inspections of various IUB buildings for recommended locations of meters. He then contacted other universities who run a utility enterprise and developed a list of contacts, accumulated information on the process those universities used to develop the enterprise, and reported the findings.
  • Building Standards Survey, Summer 2007: Melissa Enoch performed a web search of various universities and major research institutions that have developed building standards for high-performance buildings. Her specific interest was in building envelope and HVAC systems.
  • Building Standards and Sustainable Design Practices, Summer 2008: Melissa Enoch worked on revising IU’s building standards and performance to incorporate sustainable design practices. This work included tracking the LEED certification process for IU’s new Multi-Disciplinary Science Building- Phase II as well as work on energy savings projects at a number of IU’s regional campuses.
  • Utility Data Display, Summer 2008: David Roedl created an interactive public display to raise awareness about resource consumption across campus.
  • Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Summer 2008: Jonathan Bell developed a Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Indiana University-Bloomington. In addition to completing the inventory, he developed models to explore how IUB can reduce its carbon footprint.
  • Utility Conservation, Water and Energy, Academic Year 2008-2009: Rachel Weeks examined usage data for trends and inconsistencies, developing communication materials on water conservation and attempting to link trends in usage to implementation of conservation messages.
  • Utility Conservation, Auxiliary Departmental Buildings, Academic Year 2008-2009: Brian Wright analyzed of past utility consumption in auxiliary buildings. Brian formatted utility data into a useful form and establish priority areas for conservation measures. IUSTF
  • LEED Documentation, Summer 2009: Nathan Bower-Bir looked into the ways IU builds new buildings, assessing IU’s approach to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria, and addressing the question, “How can IU build better, greener buildings?”
  • Utility Conservation, Non-Academic Buildings, Summer 2009: Gavin Merriman worked with the IU Utilities Information Group to develop an auxiliary building utility (gas, electric, and water) efficiency audit procedure.  In addition, he evaluated building efficiency upgrade options and identifed 15-20 IU owned facilities to be included in energy efficiency pilot projects.
  • Campus Energy Metric Development, Summer 2009: John Miller worked with IU Engineering Services to conduct energy audits of four new mixed-use classroom/office buildings as a pilot for future Measurement & Verification credit as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification system. In addition, he tracked proposed federal cap-and-trade climate change legislation and prepared a report outlining the legislation’s potential implications for the university.
  • Strategic Energy Planning, Academic Year 2009-2010: Farah Abi-Akar is assessing energy efficiency in campus buildings, aiming to reduce their energy consumption.
  • Non-Academic Energy Building Audits, Academic Year 2009-2010: Paul Stanley is continuing Gavin’s work, conducting energy audits of non-academic buildings to identify opportunities for conservation.
  • Water Conservation in Academic Buildings, Academic Year 2009-2010: Rachel Weeks is continuing the previous academic year’s work, focusing on water conservation among IUB’s academic buildings. She hopes to generate fresh initiatives focusing on conserving water and raising awareness throughout campus.


Next Steps | Back to Top

Inside an Indiana Green Library

Indiana University should set a timeline for achieving carbon neutrality (e.g. as proposed in the Campus Sustainability Report), establishing interim goals to help with evaluation of progress and assessment of planned actions.

It is also imperative that IU develop and implement an Integrated Energy Master Plan to ensure that the University focuses on efficient distribution of energy to campus facilities. Further, as the Utilities Information Group improves and increases utility metering on campus, University staff will be better equipped to understand utility use at IU and to evaluate methods for improving efficiencies and reducing consumption. The development of a campus Utility Enterprise that notifies each department of its utility use (and potentially bills each for the usage) will help to incentivize reduction.

IU should take an “integrated design” approach for all new major construction and renovation projects. Use of the LEED rating systems will help to keep sustainability embedded in all aspects of building design, construction, operation, and maintenance.

Finally, IU should consider local energy production as an important means of reducing carbon emissions. While Bloomington may not be ideal for geothermal, wind, or solar energy capture, strategies such as solar water heaters incorporated into building designs may prove highly effective. A committed energy research program will help advance these goals.

 

Resources | Back to Top

The following websites offer resources related to energy and the built environment. 

 

Get Involved | Back to Top

Click here for opportunities to get involved on campus!