Reducing university energy use beyond energy retrofitting: The academic calendar impacts

Gui, Xuechen; Gou, Zhonghua; Lü, Yi

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110647

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This period contained the last week of trimester 2 and the whole of trimester 3. Because there were fewer students taking courses in trimester 3 as these courses were all elective [21] , fewer students returned to campus, as indicated by the mean difference in energy use of teaching buildings. However, more staff and ordinary researchers in academic buildings returned to campus during stage 3, as indicated by the continued decrease in the mean difference in energy use for academic buildings and administration buildings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There were 31 academic buildings, four administration buildings, three retail buildings and three teaching buildings that shut down their HVAC systems during the virtual campus stage and stages 1 and 2 of the ‘Return to Campus’ policy. Academic buildings usually account for the largest proportion of buildings in higher education institutions and used the most energy [7] , [21] . Therefore, these buildings were responsible for the greatest energy savings during the COVID-19 pandemic: among the 31 academic buildings, each building shut down its HVAC system for 9 weeks on average and saved an average of 4,566 kWh (1.13 kWh/m 2 ) per week during this period, which accounted for 51.5% of their total energy use per week during the period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building energy policy has primarily focused on building design (e.g., the thermal performance of building envelopes) and building services (e.g., air conditioning and lighting). In recent years, studies have addressed the fact that energy is not used by buildings but by occupants, as occupancy conditions significantly influence the building’s operations and consequent energy uses [8] , [12] , [21] . The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the occupancy load of non-residential buildings and therefore reduced their energy use.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The t -test was adopted in RStudio to determine if there were significant differences in energy use between the typical academic year and the COVID-19 academic year. RStudio is a cross-platform integrated development environment designed for R language and has always been adopted for data analysis in similar studies [7] , [21] . The t -test is an inferential statistical analysis to identify whether a significant difference exists between the means of two groups after an intervention [34] .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to policy transformations relating to academic terms [21] and course timetable changes [12] , [15] , there are many other policies relating to future occupancy changes in higher educational institutions. Future campus predictions have become a hot topic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

The impact of COVID-19 on higher education building energy use and implications for future education building energy studies

Gui

Gou

Zhang

et al. 2021

Energy and Buildings

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Although COVID-19 has significantly changed the higher educational sector, there are few studies revealing how this pandemic has changed the energy use of higher education buildings. This study was conducted not only to disclose the energy use change under COVID-19 but also to identify the corresponding facilities management strategies for future learning and teaching delivery modes under virtual campuses. This study collected the energy use data of 122 buildings across five campuses in Griffith University, located in Southeast Queensland, Australia, during the COVID-19 academic year (February 17, 2020, to February 21, 2021) and during a typical normal academic year (February 18, 2019, to February 16, 2020) by PI Vision Platform, and compared the data using the t -test and multiple linear regression. The results indicated that learning and administration activities became off campus during the pandemic, while research activities remained on campus. During the COVID-19 academic year, an amount of 9,646,933 kWh energy or around 24.88 kWh/m 2 of energy use intensity was saved, which accounted for 16% of the total energy use per academic year. Specifically, the shutting down of air conditioning in academic buildings, administration buildings, retail buildings and teaching buildings during COVID-19 saved 4,566 kWh (1.13 kWh/m 2 ), 966 kWh (0.8 kWh/m 2 ), 1,472 kWh (1.4 kWh/m 2 ) and 860 kWh (1.3 kWh/m 2 ) of electricity use per week, respectively, which accounted for 51.5%, 44.3%, 48.3% and 57.1% of total energy use per week during this period, respectively. Based on this analysis and the changing educational environment, this study also speculated on the energy implications of future teaching and learning practices, which provided guidance to the facilities management under virtual campuses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The impact of COVID-19 on higher education building energy use and implications for future education building energy studies

Gui

Gou

Zhang

et al. 2021

Energy and Buildings

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Towards a Greater Engagement of Students in Sustainability Efforts

Filho

2023

World Sustainability Series

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Energy Efficiency in the Higher Education Institutions: A Review of Actions and Their Contribution to Sustainable Development

Munaro,

John

2024

Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering

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Universities are among the largest public sectors and energy consumers in many countries worldwide. They are considered crucial places to learn about opportunities to adopt sustainable and renewable energy to meet global greenhouse gas emission targets and incentivize economic growth. In this study, different energy efficiency strategies on university campuses were analyzed to investigate the level of engagement in practical actions at universities and the reduction of the environmental impacts of this sector. The results show that energy actions on university campuses are fewer and focused on plans for renewing energy systems and reducing energy consumption in buildings. Only a small portion of universities’ energy consumption comes from renewable sources. There is a need for more empirical studies on the description of actions and their impacts on the sustainability of campuses, in addition to the need to better understand and study the connections between energy use and energy efficiency in university campuses. An integrated approach to different energy strategies, in parallel with the knowledge of available technologies and the commitment of university stakeholders, in partnership with government support and energy concessionaires, is essential to improve energy performance and reduce the energy footprint of the universities.

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Reducing university energy use beyond energy retrofitting: The academic calendar impacts

Cited by 25 publications

References 35 publications

The impact of COVID-19 on higher education building energy use and implications for future education building energy studies

The impact of COVID-19 on higher education building energy use and implications for future education building energy studies

Towards a Greater Engagement of Students in Sustainability Efforts

Energy Efficiency in the Higher Education Institutions: A Review of Actions and Their Contribution to Sustainable Development

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