The Campus Center was not included in the analytical section of the 2001 Manoa Campus energy audit. However, based on the new data now flowing from the Campus Center meter, the building consumes in excess of 2 million kilowatt hours per year, which translates into in about a $280,000 a year energy bill.

The problem: The Campus Center uses thousands of dollars a month in electricity just for lighting, and yet all of the bulbs in the Campus Center are low-efficiency fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. The extensive south-facing windows have been causing the building to get unneccessarily hot. The Campus Center has two cafeterias and they use a lot of natural gas and electricity, and produce a significant heat load, which adds an additional burden to the air-conditioning system.

Meters: The meter has been connected! The first order of business was to get the Campus Center electricity meter reporting accurately in close to real-time. With the assistance of HECO and the campus faclilities office, this has been done. Here is what the load profile for one day in the middle of the week:

And here is the output from this meter for one week:

Next Steps: The next step is to replace all the lightbulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs use 20% of the energy of a regular lightbulb and can pay for themselves in less than a year, particularly in buildings where the lights are always switched on. The Campus Center has a LOT of lightbulbs, many of which are burning 24/7. The Campus Center has already put film on all the windows to decrease the heat load from the sun and reports that the temperature in the sun-exposed areas of the building is noticeably lower.

The Campus Center is scheduled for a complete overhaul in the coming years and at that time a more comprehensive approach to energy efficiency will be taken.