Energy

Energy conservation has been a priority at McGill for many years. Since 2002, the university has invested over $10 million in various energy projects, reducing its energy intensity in 2009- 2010 by 5.7% relative to 2002-2003. Despite this progress, McGill’s per square-meter energy consumption is among the highest for Quebec universities. This stems from the considerable space devoted to research laboratories at McGill, which can require five to 10 times more energy than office/teaching space, and from our large number of historic buildings, which are less energy efficient than modern buildings.

In 2010, McGill developed a Five-Year Energy Management Plan as part of its overall objective to promote energy conservation leadership and participation throughout the McGill community. The plan consists of an integrated suite of initiatives designed to monitor electricity and steam consumption and condensate returns in real time, to provide an immediate and complete energy picture of McGill’s core buildings, to identify opportunities for energy conservation in individual buildings and their support systems, and to implement energy conservation measures through specific projects.

As part of the SRI, some elements of this Plan have been prioritized or accelerated. This will allow us to better focus on “quick wins” that will generate savings within a two- to three-year window. We expect to achieve most objectives by 2016. We’ve outlined below the progress on some of the key initiatives:

Energy Management Information System (EMIS)

Any energy plan begins with information – to allow rapid detection of performance issues, to ensure that projects meet forecast targets, and to provide data for analysis, reporting, tracking and measurement. The new Energy Management Information System at McGill has now been fully implemented, with all meters installed, calibrated, and connected to the monitoring system. These meters monitor electricity and steam consumption and condensate returns in real time, to provide a complete energy picture of McGill buildings. This fiscal year, the new system has enabled the University to address 40 sources of energy inefficiency, resulting in savings of approximately $200,000.

Lighting Retrofits

Lighting technology has evolved substantially over the past few years, with incandescent and high-bay lighting now largely prohibited by law, as well as some fluorescent lighting. From the University’s standpoint, these changes have required a retrofit of much of our lighting, with a plan to include other technologies like occupancy sensors and LED lighting that go beyond the regulatory requirements. A total of 11 buildings will be retrofitted by the end of FY 2013, and by FY 2015 we will have completed about 41 buildings. The savings this financial year (FY 2013) are expected to be $130,000 and, by the end of financial year 2015-2016, we will have achieved annual savings of about $800,000.

Energy Audits and Building Re-Commissioning

Energy audits are used to assess energy consumption, thus identifying opportunities to save on annual energy costs. Coupled with the energy-audit program is a program to re-commission buildings where we have identified substantial opportunities for savings. The re-commissioning process involves the modification of equipment operation and systems (such as HVAC) to ensure optimum energy efficiency. By the end of the current financial year (FY 2013), 21 buildings will have been audited and six buildings will have been re-commissioned. Next year (FY 2014), 15 buildings will be audited and re-commissioned, growing to a total of 56 buildings completed by the end of financial year 2015-2016 (FY 2016).  While the savings for the current financial year (FY 2013) will be fairly modest ($200,000), we anticipate that within two years, there will be close to $1 million in savings generated.

Energy Conservation Projects

Several larger projects have been identified as top priorities because of the magnitude of potential savings from conservation and retrofit efforts. All of these retrofits are incorporating the most cost-effective energy conservation practices. The Otto-Maass retrofit, Burnside heat recovery and McLennan-Redpath Libraries HVAC upgrade have now been completed. The Macdonald Campus energy project assessment has also been completed.  The final design and construction of this project will begin in Spring 2013.