Energy Conservation & Demand Management

In 2014, Western determined a set of Energy Conservation Goals that would drive investment and innovation within our facilities. More recently, Western has updated its commitment to Energy Conservation. The 2019-2024 Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) report includes Western's results from 2014-2018 and the plan for moving forward.

Facilities Management continues to support these and more conservation and demand management initiatives. The following are a sampling of projects undertaken with conservation outcomes;

Initiative
Example
Description/Results
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Energy and water efficiency and conservation
efficiency upgrades
Our newest document, Western's Sustainable Design Guidelines, will help ensure that any major, minor and site construction and renovation projects target efficient energy and water systems.
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Green Building certifications
Green Building certifications
Over the past few years, Western targeted to achieve a minimum of a LEED® Silver certification for most of our major construction and renovation projects. Since 2014, we have added 8 more LEED® certified buildings, and by 2018, 18% of our building footprint will be comprised of certified green building space.
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Training and Education programming
Energy education
Western has developed and delivered a variety of training and educational programming for students, staff, and faculty, oriented towards energy conservation. An example is our Sustainable Building Workshops for graduate students and the Green Building Tours, which have been delivered to dozens of people, teaching them about sustainable design, construction, and energy/water efficiency.
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Demand Management
Chillers
Over the past few years, the Facilities Management team, in collaboration with other units and areas on campus, have worked on implementing a Demand Management program, which allows us to reduce our electricity consumption used for cooling our buildings.
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Steam meters
Metering Utilities
Western has installed steam meters in all of Central Campus’ buildings, with the purpose of enhancing business operations, preventive maintenance, research projects, raising awareness among the community, enhancing building performance and supporting our energy management efforts
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Insulation
Insulation
We have installed new insulation and removable covers in our steam and condensate pipes, to reduce heat losses and enhance the performance of our mechanical systems.
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Lighting retrofits
Lighting retofits
We believe in the use of more efficient lighting sources. We have conducted lighting retrofits in existing buildings, including incandescent lamp replacement, removal of remaining T12 lamps, installation of LED lights, occupancy sensors, ballast replacement and installation of T5 lamps and fixtures. Overall, these alternatives will help reduce our electricity consumption while providing the appropriate lighting levels in our buildings.
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Weather proofing
Entrance enhancements
Major losses in cooling and heating happen in entrances and exits of buildings. By improving weather-proofing in older buildings, with a key focus on entrances and exit, we can help reduce the amount of cooling and heating needed to maintain thermal comfort of our building occupants
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Research
Working with researchers
Western is a world-class, research-intensive university. And as such, we believe that all departments within Western should work together to foster excellence in research. Facilities Management works closely with Western’s faculty and researchers in the development and implementation of research projects related to utility management, conservation efficiency and behavioural change in buildings
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Energy conservation initiatives
Switching off the lights helps
We are looking to implement energy conservation initiatives that help engage students, staff, and faculty in energy conservation within their living/working/studying places
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Energy Dashboard
Utility dashboard
You can't manage what you don't measure. This directive encouraged Western to develop an in-house energy dashboard with real-time energy, covering all of Western’s buildings; www.energy.uwo.ca
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Energy efficient equipment, systems and designs
Boiler
Not all projects at Western are major construction and renovation. Equipment retrofits and minor construction projects are also enhanced by the use of energy-efficient equipment (e.g., boilers, water heaters, heat exchangers), systems (e.g., VFD-controlled motors) and designs
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Chilled water distribution system
Energy valve
Western has a large chilled water distribution system on campus, which helps with the cooling needs of our buildings. This system has been optimized by installing new valves, improving the temperature difference, removing unnecessary pumps and improving chilled water bridges
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Energy auditing
Energy auditing
One of our first efforts at Demand and conservation management, we conducted ASHRAE – Level I and II audits of select buildings to identify efficiency and conservation projects
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Laboratory controls
Fume hood
Also related to research, and some teaching activities as well. Western has a large number of laboratories that utilize special equipment. For example, there was an opportunity to enhance fume hoods. We improved controls in laboratories to reduce the airflow in fume hoods when units are not in use, alerting users of fume hoods left open, performing a setback of the rooms’ systems when unoccupied and control differential pressure more efficiently