Shelton State Community College has been awarded a 2016 AEC POWER-UP Conservation Award in the Educational Conservation category! Shelton’s accomplishments showcase their commitment to creating a sustainable infrastructure that will support growing admissions and state-of-the-art learning environments. SEA is very proud to have assisted them in this endeavor.
The Project:
SEA was tasked with developing and implementing a “Best Value” approach for energy conservation while maintaining ongoing operations and ZERO CAPITAL EXPENDITURES. It was determined that Continuous Commissioning® would achieve the desired results.
Acting in partnership with Texas A&M University, SEA is one of only five engineering firms licensed to offer Continuous Commissioning® (CC®). CC® is an ongoing process to resolve operating problems, improve comfort, and optimize energy use for existing commercial and institutional buildings.
A complete assessment of 39 air handling units, the central plant and all of the 520 VAV terminal boxes was recommended. After discussions with stakeholders at Shelton State, SEA targeted specific energy intensive equipment to maximize the savings and generate immediate results. In mid-June 2015, SEA began Phase I of the CC® project on the Martin Campus main building. The project involved onsite evaluation and optimization of approximately 30% of the HVAC system. The process included:
• Identifying and solving existing operational problems
• Improving building thermal comfort and indoor air quality
• Minimizing building energy consumption
• Minimizing building energy cost
• Providing knowledge-based and hands on training to in-house facility management staff
The results of this project demonstrates the economic value of performing building commissioning. A simplistic approach with immediate results allows replication to other facilities throughout the region.
The savings generated from this effort allows Shelton State Community College to reallocate money to programs that directly influence the education of the student.