Date of Award
5-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Committee Member
Dr. Michael Carbajales-Dale, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Elizabeth Carraway
Committee Member
Dr. David Ladner
Abstract
Clemson University has set sustainability goals in 2007 for the years 2020, 2025, and 2030. This research works in conjunction with Clemson University Facilities (CUF) to take strides towards these goals. The academic buildings on campus are metered monthly for their utility use (electricity, steam, chilled water, water, sewer, and natural gas). The patterns for all of the academic building utility use for the 2017 calendar year were captured with the use of Tableau. A foundational meter billing database was created to streamline the monthly billing process within CUF and a tool was created to analyze the resulting data. Further, this data was analyzed on an individual building basis, as well as by Clemson’s disciplinary colleges. Utility intensity (utility use per gross square foot) was projected onto a heat map within Tableau to visually see which buildings were the most intensive. Buildings that CUF should prioritize investigating retrofit applications include Hunter Hall, Godley Snell, Biosystems Research Complex, Fluor Daniel, Rhodes Engineering Hall and Annex, Earle Hall, and Olin Hall. Additionally, a framework used by Clabeaux (2017) to calculate the carbon footprint associated with Clemson University was utilized to calculate the environmental impact of each academic building’s operation phase. The total carbon footprint for the academic buildings totaled 40,722 metric tons CO2-e. Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions totaled 6,609, 32,104, and 2,009 metric tons respectively. Further, the largest flows attributing to the carbon footprint of all academic buildings were purchased electricity (Scope 2), steam generation (Scope 1), and electricity used at the chilled water plants on campus (Scope 2). These values accounted for 67%, 16%, and 11% of the total carbon footprint for the academic buildings.
Recommended Citation
Busch, Henry David, "Capturing, Mapping, and Analyzing Clemson University's Academic Building Utility Consumption" (2018). All Theses. 2822.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2822