As a second semester sophomore attending Boston University (BU) I had the urge to get involved in a project that utilized some of my engineering skills while also contributing to the community in a positive way. I received an email from the university detailing that a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department was searching for a couple of undergraduate students studying mechanical engineering to participate in a project working with the BU Department of Sustainability. I saw this as a good opportunity to work toward something greater by employing the skills I have been amassing throughout my academic career.
The Project: Brownstone Energy Efficiency Pilot
The goals of this project are to optimize the energy usage of various on-campus brownstone residences around BU during the heating season. Arguably, during the colder months, a lot of energy is used to heat the dorms and apartments on-campus. However, many residents have brought to attention the fact that the heating is not reliable. On days where it is warmer, the heat is still on as if it were a colder day, resulting in the rooms being uncomfortably hot. On other days, the opposite is true resulting in uncomfortably cold rooms. Further, not all rooms are made equal yet the heating system sees them that way. This results in some rooms in the same building being colder or warmer than others despite the fact that the heating system is keeping the heat at a certain level. To improve and optimize how the buildings are heated, studies had to be done on the conditions for each room in order to understand the variables at play. This would be useful in attempting the minimize the amount of energy used to heat while still keeping everyone comfortable.
The goals of this project are to optimize the energy usage of various on-campus brownstone residences around BU during the heating season. Arguably, during the colder months, a lot of energy is used to heat the dorms and apartments on-campus. However, many residents have brought to attention the fact that the heating is not reliable. On days where it is warmer, the heat is still on as if it were a colder day, resulting in the rooms being uncomfortably hot. On other days, the opposite is true resulting in uncomfortably cold rooms. Further, not all rooms are made equal yet the heating system sees them that way. This results in some rooms in the same building being colder or warmer than others despite the fact that the heating system is keeping the heat at a certain level. To improve and optimize how the buildings are heated, studies had to be done on the conditions for each room in order to understand the variables at play. This would be useful in attempting the minimize the amount of energy used to heat while still keeping everyone comfortable.
What I do:
My role in this project was to conduct studies on each building in order to figure out what was the best way to optimize how they were heated. This includes:
My role in this project was to conduct studies on each building in order to figure out what was the best way to optimize how they were heated. This includes:
- Performing temperature studies on each room in a building. This was carried out by temporarily installing a Temperature Logger in each room in a building as well as the lobby in order to keep track of the the temperature fluctuations over the course of a week. I was responsible for keeping track of 7 buildings with about 15 rooms on average (not including the lobby).
- Keeping notes on each of the rooms such as the number and locations of doors, windows, and heaters, the layout of the room via the floor plan, and places in a room where drafts/leaks could occur. These notes were vital because they could be used to explain the data gathered by the Temperature Loggers.
- Downloading the data gathered by all of the Temperature Loggers and performing an analysis of the fluctuations. For the buildings I was responsible for, I created a database using Microsoft Excel in which I inputted the data gathered by the loggers and the document would add the data to a graph where I could visualize the temperature fluctuations as a function of time and compared to the outdoor temperature.
- Maintaining, operating, and repairing the automated heat control systems that were installed in each building. Each of these heat control systems were connected to a water or steam heating system and thus I learned how they operated and how to troubleshoot problems. Additionally, these heat control systems were controlled by a Thermostat system that was connected to the internet.
- Downloading the analyzing the data from the Thermostat system. This internet connected system kept track of the lobby temperature, when the boilers were on or off, and the target temperature set by the heating system. All of this data was graphed along with the outdoor temperature in order to see how closely the lobby temperature matched the target temperature and how the outdoor temperature and boilers affected it.
- Using all of the data gathered in order to make manual adjustment to the heating control system's settings in order to optimize the heating. This included looking at how well the lobby temperature matched the target temperature, fixing problems with colder rooms, and ensuring that all rooms were within a certain temperature threshold. Following the changes, I would conduct another study in order to see the effect of the changes I made and whether the changes were successful or not.
Take-Aways:
Throughout the course of the project, I learned a lot about how to properly analyze large sets of data, how to derive meaningful results from an analysis, and how to communicate those results in a way that is easy to understand. Further, I was able to employ some of the things I learned via my engineering courses such as thermodynamics in order to study how the rooms were being heated and loosing heat. While some buildings still had issues that I could not figure out or fix by the end of the heating season, I was able to optimize a couple buildings such that the temperature would remain more or less constant despite the outdoor temperature. Further, the individual rooms within that building were within a threshold of comfortable temperatures. While they could be optimized further, I was happy with the fact that I was able to get results.
Throughout the course of the project, I learned a lot about how to properly analyze large sets of data, how to derive meaningful results from an analysis, and how to communicate those results in a way that is easy to understand. Further, I was able to employ some of the things I learned via my engineering courses such as thermodynamics in order to study how the rooms were being heated and loosing heat. While some buildings still had issues that I could not figure out or fix by the end of the heating season, I was able to optimize a couple buildings such that the temperature would remain more or less constant despite the outdoor temperature. Further, the individual rooms within that building were within a threshold of comfortable temperatures. While they could be optimized further, I was happy with the fact that I was able to get results.
Moving Forward:
Following the end of my sophomore year, I stepped away from the project because I was offered a summer internship with an outreach program in the College of Engineering I was a part of, the Technology Innovation Scholars Program. By the time I returned after the summer I was very disconnected from the project that I decided that I would move on from it.
Following the end of my sophomore year, I stepped away from the project because I was offered a summer internship with an outreach program in the College of Engineering I was a part of, the Technology Innovation Scholars Program. By the time I returned after the summer I was very disconnected from the project that I decided that I would move on from it.