The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) has installed an energy dashboard to help the school improve the efficiency of their operations, reduce energy use, and combat climate change, according to a press release.
The dashboard provides updated energy information for the university’s facilities and equipment, helping the them to save $900,000 a year, reducing energy consumption by 19 million kilowatt hours, and reducing 9,600 metric tons of greenhouse gases.
Working with a San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) incentive program, the university used information provided by the energy dashboard to identify inefficiencies in their computer servers. The dashboard provides campus microgrid managers with data on energy use by buildings, floors within buildings and in some cases rooms on a floor.
As a result, UC San Diego replaced 514 older computer servers with 270 energy-efficient models. The project reduced energy consumption by 7.9 million kilowatt-hours, saving the university $680,000 annually, and prevents 2,600 metric tons of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere each year.
In 2005, UC San Diego completed $60 million in energy-saving improvements that cut electricity consumption by 20 percent, saving the university more than $12 million annually. This year, the campus is using $73 million in utility incentives and low-interest bonds as part of a multi-year program to reduce energy consumption in 25 of its older buildings by a combined $6 million a year.
Several new energy management solutions have appeared on the market recently, with Constellation NewEnergy, Digital Realty Trust, and Agilewaves all coming to the market with new offerings.
UCSD has also installed solar trees on campus to help reduce its electrical energy needs. Meanwhile, the University of California Merced campus was able to save $5 million annually by installing a (MW) solar power system, which provides two-thirds of the campus’ electricity on summer days and 20 percent of the campus’ annual electricity needs.
