CHAPTER I - Energy Audit Overview

Welcome to a new way of learning science. In this course you will be asked to work as a member of a student team conducting an energy audit of your high school. You will take scientific measurements, question school staff, and obtain various kinds of information related to how your school uses energy. As you finish each investigation, you will write a scientific report with graphs and recommendations and present it to school officials. Your team's recommendations will cost the school little or no money and, if acted upon, will likely save at least 10 percent of last year's energy bill. These savings can continue this year and in the years to come. Is this a lot of money? In this study you will find out. Dollars saved may be available for such things as computers, athletic events, school dances, or for other school needs. As important, energy savings help the earth by reducing resource use and environmental pollution.

You will find that your school uses lots of energy, and that energy costs both money and the environment! Dollars are leaking out of your school every day, and it is up to you to find out the location and size of the leaks. In this workbook you are asked to find information. So, who has this information or where can you find it? It is up to you to find the right people and get the information you need; much like detectives investigating a crime scene. As in any investigation, you will collect a lot of information, develop a list of suspects, organize your information, and present your findings along with recommendations. Let's look at an example of school energy use. At Roosevelt High School in Portland Oregon, the electricity, fuel oil, and natural gas bills for the 1993 school year came to $109,943. Of that, $73,199 was for electricity; $23,177 for #5 fuel oil; and $13,567 for natural gas. The electricity bill for November of 1992, just one month, was $6,544. What was the electricity used for? You probably will think of lights. But, what other parts of your school use electricity? Where are other energy forms used in your school? Often about 10% of the energy cost of your high school can easily be saved. Can you or your team meet or beat this goal?

A crime investigation is usually initiated with the discovery of a loss or injury. But how do you know that an "energy crime" has been committed and energy is being wasted. One tool is energy accounting. This is tracking your energy bills

Tracking expenditures helps prioritize where you should look first for savings, it enables you to measure whether steps you implement make a difference, and it permits you to spot unexpected anomalies that can lead to significant savings. In this workbook our focus will be expanded to include some other services such as water and garbage. Savings are often available by reducing water use and solid waste generated by your school.

The second major tool you will use is the audit. This involves going through your building to identify what is present. Where is energy being used, what type of energy, and how much is being used? How much solid waste is being collected from your school? Where is it generated and what are its characteristics? You then compare what you have with the cost and savings possible with other options to recommend specific actions.

In this project you will need to:

Energy Basics

Energy Conversion Efficiency

_____ $ 10 bills

_____ $100 bills

In 1990, the average price of obtaining 250,000 kilocalories for space or water heating in the United States was $5.50 using natural gas, $5.55 using kerosene, $6 using fuel oil, $8 using propane, and $23 using electricity. Whether one fuel costs less than another in a specific application will depend both on how much the energy costs and on the efficiency of the conversion process that is used to convert the energy to the desired end product, in this case heat.

Some schools have saved money by using equipment that could use either oil or natural gas and using that fuel that was least expensive at a given time. Energy cost however is only one of the factors that must be considered in considering which is best in a specific application. Other factors include the cost of the necessary equipment, convenience, safety, environmental impacts and other factors

Energy Units: Developing a common basis for comparison. You probably have already encountered many of the ways energy is measured. The concepts of calorie, Calorie (Kilocalorie), British Thermal Unit (BTU), Therm and Kilowatt Hour all have to do with measuring amounts of energy. Many different units can be encountered when measuring energy use in a school. As an example, Roosevelt High School during January, 1993, made the following energy purchases:

Make a prediction: From this one month's data (1/12) of a year, what do you think was the total cost of energy at Roosevelt High School?

Why would the month of January not be a good representative month?

To compare the use of different energy sources it is important to know the definitions of the different energy units and how to convert from one to another.

Definitions: (Note: See Table D-1 Auditor Workbook Level I JRB Associates)

Unit __________________________

calorie (c): Energy needed to Raise 1 gram water 1^o Centigrade (c)

How do you compare Therms with Barrels with Kilowatt hours to do a specific task?

Question: A 200 Watt computer represents how much "horsepower"? ________HP

Investigative Questions:

How much does a KWH cost? ______________(Call your Electric Co.)

How much does a Therm cost? ______________ (Call your Gas company)

How much does a gallon of #5 fuel oil cost? _______________ (Call a local Fuel Co.)

Group Discussion: