A Methdology for Baselining the Energy Use at Large Campus Utility Plants for the Purpose of Measuring Energy Savings from Energy Conservation Retrofits

Abstract

The development of the energy services industry and the implementation of energy savings retrofits by energy services companies has increased the focus on the performance of energy saving retrofits. Energy savings measurement, though not an exact science, has been developing as well to ensure the benefit of a retrofit and to provide a level of assurance for the customers of energy services companies. This thesis presents a useful methodology for datelining campus utility usage using regression modeling techniques and measured daily data for the purpose of measuring energy savings. The methodology of this thesis improves upon previous regression modeling of individual buildings by extending commercial building energy usage models to an entire campus, modeling the operation of a central plant, and modeling central plant equipment performance with regression models. By adding equipment production layers, the user can more easily determine the cause of changes in the primary energy usage of a central plant. The case study for the application of the methodology of this thesis was the Texas A&M University main campus central plant. Useful results were obtained by utilizing one portion of the data to develop an energy usage baseline model and using the second portion of the data to validate the performance of the baseline model. Further development of the methodology could include the addition of an economic module and refinement of the model to incorporate the use of hourly data.