Sustainable Saunders

To link to the Sustainable Saunders website, click HERE.

The Saunders building, on the north west corner of the Manoa campus, is a seven story concrete building, with an insulated flat roof, constructed in 1973, with a gross floor area of 116,739 square feet.

The Sustainable Saunders group recently received coverage by KHNLof its efforts to boost energy efficiency and transform this building into a stustainable community! Follow the link to the article.

The problem: Saunders Hall is in the top twenty most energy-consumptive buildings on campus. Occupants are frequently too cold because of the way the air conditioning is configured, and complain that the new lighting is too bright. In addition there are significant plug-loads (computers, printers, other office equipment) that contribute to Saunders' electricity bill. Saunders faces both electro-mechanical and social/educational problems when it comes to attacking this problem.

Solutions and activities: The Saunders community is the most active on campus with regard to energy issues. The Sustainable Saunders student group is perhaps the best example of this, and is working on a variety of sustainability projects, including recycling, water conservation, energy reporting, and renewable energy. The Hawaii Energy Forum and the Univeristy of Hawaii Public Policy Center worked with Energy Industries, a Hawaiian energy consulting firm, to audit and review the options for energy conservation in Saunders. HECO has worked with the Public Policy Center, the Sea Grant Program, and the Manoa campus facilities staff to connect the building meters so they can be read in close to real-time (very important when tracking building performance!)

A 2001 audit reported annual electricity usage at about 3 million KWh/year, or 24.1 kWh/year per square foot, and $420,000 a year. The report identified lighting and an unusually large component of the building's load. In 2006, all lights in the offices were replaced, and preliminary assessments indicate a very substantial reduction in Saunders' energy use (somewhere in the vicinity of 20%).

Based on the data collected thus far from the meters that have been recently connected, the 2001 audit may have overestimated total energy consumption by more than 500,000 kWh/year, with an actual consumption of around 2.5 million kWh/year, or $358,000 year.

Meters: The Saunders building's electricity usage is recorded by two meters in Saunders' utility closet. However, until April 2007, their data were not being tracked or reported. With the assistance of HECO, these meters were connected to reporting software. The data streams for a one-day period during the week (7 a.m. to 7 a.m.) look like this:

Meter 1, air conditioning and elevators

Meter 2, lighting and plug loads