Over the summer, NC State made some major changes in campus sustainability, increasing energy efficiency and decreasing the cost to maintain buildings across campus, through checkups on building mechanical systems and the incorporation of LED lighting alongside occupancy sensing controls.

NC State Facilities and NC State Energy Management have been the departments working to increase the efficiency of campus buildings.

Kerby Smithson, an energy program coordinator with NC State Energy Management, headed the Witherspoon Student Center project, which replaced old incandescent bulbs with LED lighting and added more lighting zones with dimming capabilities.

“What was interesting about that project was the challenge to access the lights because it’s a cinema with lots of brand new seating that we didn’t want to damage,” Smithson said. “The contractors had to install scaffolding up over the entire seating area of the cinema to get up to the ceiling because they couldn’t find lifts high enough to get up to the ceiling.”

Michael Shelton, a commissioning engineer with the NC State Facilities Division Commissioning Team, is part of a group that works to improve building efficiency by checking everything from heating and cooling to ventilation and air conditioning.

“Our job is to make sure that a number of years after a building has been built, that it is still doing what it needs to do,” Shelton said. “We want to take a look at the air handlers, the major energy exchange equipment, and make sure that it is performing efficiently. Long term, we want to ensure that building systems are performing as intended.”

Both Smithson and Shelton said they have experienced challenges in achieving campus sustainability. Shelton describes the challenge of checking building efficiency on such a large campus with a wide range of options in terms of programming. 

“The process itself is very unique in that when you’re working with building automation systems, you are working with code and block programming,” Shelton said. “The language, while it remains the same, the methods that the programmers used originally may be different. It can be a logic problem where you’re trying to figure out how that person behind the computer thought before you can proceed with your testing and modifications.”

In addition to LED installation and building efficiency, increased lighting across campus common areas and walkways has been a focus of Energy Management. In July, building-attached lighting was added to nine buildings around the Brickyard, making campus better, brighter and safer.

Moving forward, Energy Management has a $4 to 5 million project to replace outdoor pole mounted lighting with LEDs, adding lighting to dark spots as well.

“LED lighting is going to last longer and be more consistent over time,” Smithson said. “When you convert to LED you have the option to go brighter and better light a space. There are very few options where we can’t go to LED.” 

While Energy Management provides funding to the Commissioning Team, much of the work done to improve building systems pays for itself.

“One of the major side effects it that we save money on utilities going through,” Shelton said. “We recently went through D.H. Hill performing work and when we left we had spent about $100,000 on salary and by the time we left we had already made that money back.”

Energy Management has a dedicated energy saving fund with a goal to reduce energy consumption per square foot by 40 percent by 2022.

“Students today want to be associated with a university that is at the forefront of energy savings and climate change awareness,” Smithson said. “We are not only training engineers and other future leaders to solve technical problems in the world, but that we are doing that ourselves. Not only does it save energy, but it is an update to our facilities as well… making our campus feel more safe and secure and welcoming.”

To learn more about campus sustainability and what students can do to help, check out the NC State Stewards Program, a student-based group sponsored by the University Sustainability Office.