Sustainable campus improvement program design using energy efficiency and conservation

Reducing energy consumption is critical to improving campus sustainability. Both increased efficiency of built infrastructure and conservation by users can contribute. This work investigates feedback in the design of energy improvement programs that exploit both efficiency and conservation by developing a system dynamics model. The model formalizes the paid-from-savings approach and is validated using a sustainability program at a major university. Model simulations use five program designs, two forms of performance (energy savings and monetary savings), and capital requirements to test four hypotheses. This research indicated the existence of a trade-off space of program designs in which the preferred design will depend upon specific objectives. Other conclusions partially support improved performance with more investment and recommend the use of conservation to fund efficiency under capital constraints. A feedback analysis provides a richer explanation of the drivers of program success. The scientific contributions include an improved understanding of campus sustainability improvement program design, a formal dynamic model for program design, and an innovative staged design as an advanced solution to the dynamic challenges of designing campus sustainability improvement programs.

[1]  Nisha. Singh.  Creating a 'Green University'. , 2010 .

[2]  Nicholas A. Ashford,et al.  Assessing and rationalizing the management of a portfolio of clean technologies: experience from a French environmental fund and a World Bank Cleaner Production demonstration project in China. , 1998 .

[3]  Bernadette O’Regan,et al.  Using system dynamics to model the interaction between environmental and economic factors in the mining industry , 2006 .

[4]  Robert J. Koester,et al.  Greening of the campus: a whole-systems approach , 2006 .

[5]  Hung-Ming Chen,et al.  Persuasive feedback model for inducing energy conservation behaviors of building users based on interaction with a virtual object , 2012 .

[6]  Paul Schönsleben,et al.  Integrating energy efficiency performance in production management – gap analysis between industrial needs and scientific literature , 2011 .

[7]  Habib M. Alshuwaikhat,et al.  An integrated approach to achieving campus sustainability: Assessment of the current campus environmental management practices , 2008 .

[8]  Brian Veitch,et al.  Uncertainty-based quantitative assessment of sustainability for higher education institutions , 2011 .

[9]  L. Sauvé,et al.  Three Decades of International Guidelines for Environment-Related Education: A Critical Hermeneutic of the United Nations Discourse , 2007 .

[10]  Bing Xue,et al.  Creating a “green university” in China: a case of Shenyang University , 2013 .

[11]  Emily Flynn.  Stanford University: The Building Energy Retrofit Programs. Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Study Series. , 2011 .

[12]  Dano Weisbord.  Greening the Bottom Line: The Trend toward Green Revolving Funds on Campus , 2011 .

[13]  Rodrigo Lozano,et al.  Teaching organisational change management for sustainability: designing and delivering a course at the University of Leeds to better prepare future sustainability change agents , 2015 .

[14]  Franz Wirl.  Dynamics of commodity taxation: An example of an energy tax , 1991 .

[15]  Walter Leal Filho,et al.  Sustainable universities – a study of critical success factors for participatory approaches , 2015 .

[16]  M. Lee,et al.  US Energy Conservation and Efficiency: Benefits and Costs , 2004 .

[17]  Roger F. Naill,et al.  A System Dynamics Model for National Energy Policy Planning , 1992 .

[18]  Dagnija Blumberga,et al.  Sustainable development modelling for the energy sector , 2014 .

[19]  Leith Sharp,et al.  Green campuses: the road from little victories to systemic transformation , 2002 .

[20]  J. Palm,et al.  Categorizing Barriers to Energy Efficiency – an Interdisciplinary Perspective , 2010 .

[21]  Cédric Philibert,et al.  Beyond Kyoto: Energy Dynamics and Climate Stabilisation , 2002 .

[22]  Mark Orlowski,et al.  Green Revolving Funds: An Introductory Guide to Implementation & Management. , 2013 .

[23]  T. Pettigrew,et al.  Energy conservation behavior: The difficult path from information to action. , 1986 .

[24]  Steffen Bayer,et al.  Business dynamics: Systems thinking and modeling for a complex world , 2004 .

[25]  Davide Fiorello,et al.  The ASTRA model for strategic assessment of transport policies , 2010 .

[26]  David N. Ford,et al.  Designing Perpetual Sustainability Improvement Programs for Built Infrastructures. , 2012 .

[27]  D. Lane,et al.  Only connect! An annotated bibliography reflecting the breadth and diversity of systems thinking , 2007 .

[28]  Ted Mero.  The Billion Dollar Green Challenge , 2012 .

[29]  Vladimir Dobes,et al.  New tool for promotion of energy management and cleaner production on no-cure no-pay , 2010 .

[30]  L. Velazquez,et al.  Sustainable university: what can be the matter? , 2006 .

[31]  K. Sopian,et al.  A review of energy aspects of green roofs , 2013 .

[32]  Mitchell Thomashow,et al.  The Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus , 1959 .

[33]  P. Georgiadis,et al.  Sustainability in electrical and electronic equipment closed-loop supply chains: A System Dynamics approach , 2008 .

[34]  Michael Jackson,et al.  Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers , 2003 .

[35]  Eckehard Schnieder,et al.  Impact assessment in the automotive industry: mandatory market introduction of alternative powertrain technologies , 2010 .

[36]  Yan Zhao,et al.  An integrated environmental impact assessment of corn-based polyols compared with petroleum-based polyols production , 2014 .

[37]  C. Vlek,et al.  A review of intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation , 2005 .

[38]  A. Carrico,et al.  Motivating energy conservation in the workplace: An evaluation of the use of group-level feedback and peer education , 2011 .

[39]  Richard B. Howarth,et al.  Market barriers to energy efficiency , 1993 .

[40]  Helio Garcia Leite,et al.  Evaluation of forest growth and carbon stock in forestry projects by system dynamics , 2015 .

[41]  Michel J. J. Handgraaf,et al.  Public Praise vs. Private Pay: Effects of Rewards on Energy Conservation in the Workplace , 2013 .

[42]  Sora Lee,et al.  Dynamic and multidimensional measurement of product-service system (PSS) sustainability: a triple bottom line (TBL)-based system dynamics approach , 2012 .

[43]  Alison McKay,et al.  Sustainability in the Malaysian palm oil industry , 2014 .

[44]  Tarah Wright,et al.  Facilities management directors’ conceptualizations of sustainability in higher education , 2012 .

[45]  Ann Taket,et al.  Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention. , 1991 .