Performance of renewables systems is posted online
WOODS HOLE, Massachusetts, US, May 11, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)
A U.S. research facility is posting data on its renewable energy and efficiency strategies, to demonstrate the long-term cost-effectiveness of renewables.
“Relatively few good examples exist of buildings that have excellent energy
performance,” says the Woods Hole Research Center. Its Ordway Campus
incorporates so many different renewable energy collection strategies that it
will display the energy flows through the building in a series of web pages
designed to provide a full overview of the building's energy performance.
The display will collect and synthesize data from 75 different sensors which
measure flows of electricity, heat and fluids throughout the building, as well
as the site's local environmental conditions. “We hope that our data will
demonstrate long-term cost-effectiveness of the energy efficiency strategies and
renewable energy systems employed in this office building, and how these
investments significantly reduce the risks associated with continued reliance on
fossil and nuclear energy sources.”
The facility received US$226,308 from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
to purchase the 26 kW PV array and $273,692 for the 100 kW wind turbine. The
green power is used to operate a ground source heat pump.
During its first year of operation, the facility has used less total energy and
spent less money on energy than its previous building which was twice the size.
Total electricity consumption was 96,389 kWh, with 30,589 kWh generated by an
onsite solar PV system, indicating that 32% of the facility’s total power
demand was provided by its own PV system.
“With the installation of a wind turbine, this will probably drop to zero, or
even to negative emissions, meaning that we will effectively be reducing the
emissions attributable to our neighborhood,” it notes.
GHG emissions attributable to operations were reduced to 28% of the previous
total, and were 13% of the national average for office buildings of the same
size.
“Engineering is, by nature, conservative and if large gains are to be made in
the efficient design and specification of mechanical systems to support very
efficient building design and operation, the engineering community needs real
performance data to support their efforts,” says research associate Joe
Hackler. “The public face of the monitoring system is designed to encourage
any one to come in and explore how energy flows through a building of advanced
design such as this one.”
Providing real-time data for the facility will allow the Center's experience to
be “a model for others to evaluate and emulate,” and the building uses
commercially-available equipment and technologies “to demonstrate that large
gains in efficiency are easily made with good design and good construction
practice.”
The building received a green building award last year and was cited by the
American Institute of Architects as one of the ten best examples of green design
in the U.S. The Woods Hole Research Center sponsors initiatives around the world
on environmental issues.
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