The Future of Dana: Achieving Net Zero Emissions and Leading by Example

Abstract

The School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), at the University of Michigan (UM), strives to be a leader in sustainability and environmental initiatives within its buildings, on campus, and in the community. In continuing with this way of thinking, SEAS Facilities has set the goal of achieving complete carbon neutrality across all of its facilities by the year 2025. To move toward this goal, SEAS must first gain a clear understanding of its current energy usage and performance and use this information to identify strategies to increase energy efficiency, reduce consumption, and integrate energy efficient equipment and technologies. This project aims to accomplish this essential first phase and provide SEAS with the necessary, foundational data and knowledge to begin the process of realizing complete carbon neutrality since it only has four years to implement and see results by 2025. Utilizing existing energy consumption data, I performed an energy audit of the Samuel T. Dana Building, located in the heart of UM’s central campus. Through my analyses I determined that the HVAC system accounts for about 64% of the total energy usage in the building while plug load is responsible for 18% and lighting is responsible for 12% of total energy consumption. And that 64% was after deep retrofits and HVAC tune ups were completed. SEAS Facilities Manager Sucila Fernandes had noticed that over the summer, after these upgrades were completed, that the building’s energy consumption wasn’t dropping so she wanted to know what more could be done. So, with her assistance, I obtained and utilized building modeling software to build a virtual model of the Dana Building that, once completed, will be able to complete a variety of detailed energy simulations on the building. These simulations can help SEAS compare current consumption data to the data provided on the utility bills using the model. It can also identify load rates in the building as well as identify trends outlining specific systems, equipment, and components and simulate replaced or modified equipment in an effort to increase overall efficiency. I also worked with the SEAS Facilities Manager, Dana’s Building Engineer, and SEAS Regional Energy Manager to construct a building manual that outlines various information about the Dana Building, how the systems within the building work, how various equipment is scheduled and operated, and how the building uses energy. It will be essential to ensure that the SEAS facilities understand all this in order to be as efficient as possible before implementing offsetting strategies for carbon neutrality. Furthermore, to optimize decarbonization we must decrease energy consumption as much as possible. With this in mind, I analyzed the impact of retrofitting all of the existing light fixtures in the building to LED lighting technology and determined that this would reduce the energy usage and emissions from lighting by 60%, reducing the building’s overall electrical consumption by 7%. I also identified strategies to reduce plug loads in office spaces, which represent about 60% of the total plug load throughout the building, by reducing the amount of non-essential equipment in workspaces. I provided multiple configuration options for typical office equipment with the most stringent providing a total savings of over 110,500 kWh/yr and reducing annual CO2 emissions by almost 84 metric tons. The ultimate goal of this project is to gather all the necessary foundational data needed to help SEAS begin working towards carbon neutrality as well as to outline specific strategies and tools that will further ensure SEAS reaches their goal.