ICONICS > Case Studies > University transforms energy management with big data solution

University transforms energy management with big data solution

Company Size

1,000+

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

ICONICS FDD solution
Microsoft SQL Server

Tech Stack

Big Data
Internet of Things
SQL Server

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Environmental Impact Reduction
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics
Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Sensors - Environmental Sensors

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Facility Management
Maintenance

Use Cases

Building Energy Management
Predictive Maintenance
Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is a public research university based in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the state’s oldest university and currently serves more than 25,000 students. UNL is a strong proponent of environmental sustainability and has set ambitious goals to reduce energy use across its buildings. The university has a Building Systems Maintenance (BSM) team that ensures the comfort of students, faculty, and staff by maintaining optimal building temperatures, functioning alarm systems, and lighting. The BSM team is also responsible for installing energy-efficient equipment and automating building systems to minimize energy waste. The university has over 16.5 million gross square feet of building space, making energy savings a significant focus for its resource management efforts.

The Challenge

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) had set an ambitious goal of reducing energy use by 15 percent across many of its buildings. To achieve this, the university had been installing energy-efficient equipment and automating building systems to ensure that mechanical and electrical equipment minimized energy waste. However, just like a brand-new car that’s driven off the lot, building equipment starts to deteriorate as soon as it’s installed, losing energy efficiency over time. To mitigate deterioration, UNL had in the past performed ad-hoc recommissioning, but was now developing a comprehensive recommissioning program. The university wanted to find a way to maintain optimal performance without the expense of periodic recommissioning.

The Solution

To reduce energy consumption and maintain optimal performance of building equipment, UNL implemented a fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) solution developed by Microsoft CityNext partner ICONICS. The solution combines big data with the Internet of Things (IoT) to help UNL identify and fix problems well before mechanical equipment breaks down. The university has attached sensors to equipment in buildings across its campus to monitor performance in real time. When a sensor captures a reading outside of designated parameters set by the BSM team, an alert is triggered and sent to the university’s maintenance control center, where the issue is either fixed remotely or a technician is dispatched to the building. UNL began installing the ICONICS FDD solution in early 2016 and currently uses it to monitor 52 buildings. In the next few years, the university plans to track as many as 80 major university buildings with FDD, along with five campus utility plants.

Operational Impact

UNL is avoiding catastrophic breakdowns, while maintaining energy efficiency gains. Rather than recommissioning campus buildings every five years and watching energy efficiency diminish over time, the BSM team now continuously commissions mechanical systems—making small adjustments to preserve building equipment performance.
By resolving issues as soon as they occur, the university is also cutting energy costs.
The BSM team has also transformed how it operates. When an alert is triggered, engineers often fix the issue remotely, at little to no cost. If technicians need to physically travel to the building, they have detailed information about the problem before they arrive, allowing them to repair issues faster.
By addressing issues before they become critical, BSM helps maintain a more comfortable learning atmosphere for UNL students and faculty, which also improves relations.

Quantitative Benefit

It’s possible to avoid energy costs of as much as $25,000 per air handler each year—a savings of 84 percent.
In the first year of implementation, the solution detected about 1,100 faults on average each month. Left uncorrected for a year, these would have added up to almost $200,000 in wasted energy.