AUTHOR/S: Jenith L. Banluta, Eduardo Descalsota Jr, Glenda Bides- Minguito
DATE COMPLETED: September 1, 2013
KEYWORDS:
ABSTRACT
The Ateneo de Davao University considers environmental responsibility as an integral part of being an Atenean, and expects all its students, faculty and staff to show care and respect for the environment. It participates actively in the global push towards sustainable development and green living, and among the activities that it is interested in is the responsible use of energy.
It thus places premium on efforts towards conserving electric energy, and it was deemed appropriate by this researcher to create a profile of the energy performance indicators that may be used by the University as baseline data in the assessment of the effectiveness of energy conservation measures and policies that it may implement in the future.
This study gathered historical data regarding student population and floor area for the Jacinto campus of the University, which includes the following main structures: Bellarmine, Canisius, Dell Rosario, Dotterweich, Finsterm Gisbert, Jubilee, Thibault and Wieman Halls.
Analysis of the data gathered revealed that while average energy consumption is linearly related to student population, there are fluctuations in energy consumption within a given time period that do not indicate a linear relationship between consumption and student population. Fluctuations in energy consumption where also observed despite the constant value of floor
The analysis performed after data gathering resulted in the following conclusions.
- Energy consumption per square meter based on available floor space fluctuated over time, despite the absence of changes in floor area. This indicates that operations- driven consumption can impact the rate at which energy is consumed per square meter of floor space. Operations-driven consumption for the Ateneo de Davao University Jacinto campus are as follows:
a. Classroom – based activities (Lectures and Laboratory Activities)
b. Office-related activities (Activities in support offices)
c. Library Operations
d. Special Functions (Meetings, Seminars, Community Gatherings, Extra Curricular Activities)
e. Food Court Operations (Operations outside of consumption of commercial space.
2. The increase in energy costs at the Jacinto Campus may be attributed to the following:
a. Installation of additional air-conditioning systems
b. Increase in energy consumption-driven fees as collected by the utility company
c. Increase in student population
3. The average monthly consumption of the Jacinto campus for the period included in the analysis is 271, 000.8 kWh, and its average monthly energy expense is Php 1,805,809.39. Average annual consumption for the period included in the study is 3,271,155 kWh, and the average annual energy expense is Php 21, 787, 080.77. Average student population per school year is 7, 576 students. Floor area for the Jacinto campus, on the other hand, remained constant, as no new structures were inaugurated within the period considered for analysis. Classroom-based activities are the major contributors to the monthly energy consumption over the other operations in the University’s Jacinto campus. Thus, most energy efficiency protocols should focus on energy usage of classrooms.
4. The energy consumption per square meter of floor area of old buildings is higher when compared against new buildings in the Jacinto campus, despite the fact that the number of classrooms of the old buildings are fewer in number when compared against the number of classrooms in the new buildings. More rooms and facilitates also indicate that there are more energy consuming devices installed int he new buildings.
5. The energy performance indicators that may be used as basis in the formulation of an energy efficiency policy for the Ateneo de Davao University Jacinto campus are: energy consumption, in kWh per student (kWh/student); energy consumption, in kWh per square meter of floor space (kWh/sq. m); electricity costs, in Php per student (Php/student); and electricity costs, in Php per square meter of floor space (Php/sq.m.).
6. The primary factor that affects the energy consuming activities of the Jacinto campus is student-related. The average annual energy consumption per student from 2011 to 2012 is 462.66 kWh/student, with the equivalent energy cost of Php 3,095.80/student
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