A sustainability commission in Student Government is heading a project to make energy-use information more accessible, Anup Engineer, leader on the project, said.
The realtime energy monitoring program would use computers and LCD screens to display the amount of energy, in kilowatts per hour, used in a building at any time, Engineer, a senior in business, said.
“Right now, the energy monitoring meters on campus are like the water meter on your house,” he said.
The benefits of a new digital system would be in seeing and analyzing data in realtime, according to Engineer.
“We can create a realtime display that can show energy data, you can do all kinds of neat stuff with that,” he said.
Engineer said he hopes to start a pilot project in D.H. Hill Library, since it is a highly-trafficked area on campus.
The system would allow people to see how energy usage is affected by small changes, like when students activate lights or computers, or turn them off, he said.
“It’s kind of an awareness thing, showing the university’s committment to energy issues,” Engineer said. “We are a premier energy research university in the North Carolina system. When you think of energy research in North Carolina, you think of N.C. State.”
Engineer said the program would save the University money despite some costs up front.
According to Student Body President Jay Dawkins, the cost for the system’s parts are about $2,000 per building, excluding any labor or additional costs, which could bring thousands more.
“They cost money up front, but that kind of precise, realtime data will allow you to save and allocate energy that you put into University,” he said.
The University would know how to deal with energy usage, as it could see how different buildings are using energy at peak times, Engineer said.
The system measures electricity uses, cooling and heating, and the cold water and steam used to heat and cool a building, he said.
“When you walk into a building, when it’s in your face like that it would make you think twice about stuff,” he said.
It could motivate students to conserve, and Engineer said he hopes if the system is put to use, it could start competition between students in different dorms.
“If we have all the Tri-Towers hooked up, you could have a competition between all those buildings pretty easily,” Engineer said.
Engineer is working to develop a plan to submit to the chancellor, who he said was excited about the idea.
According to Engineer, he has only worked on this for about a month-and-a-half, and Dawkins said they hope groups within the University will help to fund the project.
Meredith Parr, a senior in biology who is in charge of the Sustainability Commission, said the group is working on another energy competition similar to last year’s water usage competition against UNC-Chapel Hill.
This one would be more focused on general energy usage, she said.