Most colleges and universities run HVAC on a daily building schedule, returning equipment to unoccupied settings only at night. These situations are ripe for savings with Events2HVAC.
For example, Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS, was running HVAC at occupied settings in their buildings 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. before implementing Events2HVAC.
Looking at the data for 13 zones scheduled with Events2HVAC on an average school day revealed the following results:
Baseline runtime was 15 hours/day for 13 zones = 195 hours
Events2HVAC runtime was 89.75 hours for those 13 zones. This is the amount of time rooms in those 13 zones were scheduled for classes and events.
Using Events2HVAC, occupied runtime was reduced 54%. Energy and dollar savings will depend on several factors including the unoccupied setpoints used, local cost of energy, and the efficiency of the HVAC equipment serving those zones.
The striped bars (darker)in the Ad Astra schedules below show the event schedules for the 13 zones; while the solid bars (lighter) are the old building schedules from 6 am – 9 pm for comparison.
When we talk with college facility managers, they often overestimate the use of their classrooms and other spaces. Many believe their rooms have a high occupancy rate during the day – that they are being used most of the time, and only empty a few minutes between classes.
But our experience has shown that most college spaces are empty 30-50% of the day.
Occupancy may vary based on class and event schedules, of course. A given classroom may be very busy on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but may have fewer scheduled classes on Tuesday and Thursday. This is exactly why Events2HVAC was developed.
Events2HVAC automates your HVAC schedules based on room schedules. It is a software integration that pulls data from event management systems such as EMS, CollegeNet R25/25Live, and Ad Astra, and sends occupied/unoccupied commands to your HVAC controls at the appropriate times. A pre-start time for each zone gets the space up to occupied setpoint before the class or event begins.
Colleges save money on heating, cooling, electricity, and air flow with Events2HVAC. From terminal units in the room to the upstream air handlers, equipment runtime can be significantly reduced based on room schedules without sacrificing room comfort.
To find out if Events2HVAC is compatible with your systems, refer to our Event Providers page and our Device Interfaces page. Or contact sales@events2hvac.com with any questions.