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FLASTAR: Measured Savings of a Comprehensive Energy Retrofit in a Florida Elementary School
Abstract
This paper describes the final results for the pilot
demonstration of the Florida Public Building Loan
Concept. This loan program was intended to provide
low cost funds to eligible public entities for upgrade
of building energy systems. The site was an elementary
school in Central Florida which served as the
pilot project to demonstrate energy savings in public
buildings similar to that achieved by the Texas
LOANSTAR program (Verdict et.al., 1990). Termed
FLASTAR (Florida Alliance for Saving Taxes and
Resources), the study entailed the comprehensive
metering of a test site to demonstrate energy savings
potential. Over twenty channels of weather and submetered
energy data have been collected since April
12.1995. Annual billed energy consumption for the
41.000 square foot facility was approximately
775,000 kWh (60 kBtu/ft^2) or $55,200 in the base
year (1994).
During the summer of 1995, replacement of
aging chillers resulted in 30% reduction to cooling
energy use. The second retrofit was occupancy sensor
controls for classroom and office lighting which
were installed in December 1995. However, post
retrofit data showed that metered lighting energy use
actually increased after the occupancy sensors were
installed. Our data, and that of other projects. suggests
that the occupancy sensor retrofit may have
increased lighting on-times. Previously school personnel
practiced responsible manual switching. but
then came to depend on automatic control after the
retrofit.
The final project retrofit saw an energy management
system (EMS) added in the summer of 1996.
The system provided direct digital control @DC) of
the school chiller, air handlers and packaged direct
expansion (DX) roof-top cooling systems. The EMS
equipment reduced chiller energy use by a further
16% and air handling and DX system energy consumption
by 30%.
The project retrofits were found to reduce overall
school energy use by approximately 15% or
120.000 kWh per year. The annual energy savings
totaled $4,600 at current energy prices, although the
retrofits did not significantly impact facility peak
load.
Citation
Sherwin, J. R.; Parker, D. S. (1998). FLASTAR: Measured Savings of a Comprehensive Energy Retrofit in a Florida Elementary School. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /6720.