New sustainable technology to be installed in residence halls
Building Dashboard will monitor energy consumption in a handful of residence halls.
Published Aug. 29, 2008
MU might become greener next spring with the arrival of new energy-monitoring software on campus.
The MU Information Technology Committee awarded former Sustain Mizzou President Ben Datema a $25,000 grant after hearing his proposal to use Building Dashboard on campus.
Building Dashboard, a software program created by the Lucid Design Group, monitors the amount of energy a building uses every 20 seconds instead of every month.
Datema presented his proposal to the committee after hearing it wanted to give grants to students and staff members with original ideas centered on technology. The committee awarded five such grants totaling $100,000.
"They (the committee) were just looking for innovative ways to use money to promote the use of technology at Mizzou and since I think about sustainability all the time, I instantly tried to think of how we could connect sustainability and technology to do something innovative and improve the campus," Datema said.
Building Dashboard is equipped with numerous features that monitor energy usage. In real time, anyone can access the Web-based system and observe everything from electricity usage over an hourly period to water usage over an annual period.
Datema hopes Building Dashboard's features will encourage students to decease their personal energy usage as they see how much energy they are consuming.
To achieve that task, Datema, in conjunction with the Residential Life Department, is planning a competition between the three or four residence halls that will receive Building Dashboard monitors next semester. The specific residence halls have not yet been picked. Datema said Building Dashboard will be used somewhat like a scoreboard to see which residence hall uses the least amount of energy in a semester.
"The opportunity came up with this grant," Datema said. "This technology basically will make it incredibly easy to run the competition like that."
Mike McKean, chairman of the Information Technology Committee, said the committee awarded Datema the grant because of his proposal's potential impact.
"It uses technology in ways we have not used it on this campus before," McKean said.
McKean said the results of the competition Datema is planning would help determine whether to expand the presence of Building Dashboard to other residence halls.
"If (Datema and Sustain Mizzou) can just get it off the ground and run this competition and test it the first time, they will learn what works best," McKean said. "Then potentially the campus can invest in this technology for all of the dormitories."
Current Sustain Mizzou President Pat Margherio said he is pleased by the university's willingness to adopt and embrace green technologies. Sustain Mizzou will offer Datema 100 hours in volunteer service to help publicize the technology and organize the competition.
"It is definitely setting a precedent for universities to start implementing these systems so they can save energy, save money, and really help students learn about energy conservation," Margherio said.
Margherio said the hardest part of a conservation project is showing people their change really does make a difference. He said once people realize their personal influence, projects like Datema's become increasingly effective.
"If they see that they are going to be reducing energy, if they see that their energy usage goes down, it is going to have a lasting effect," Margherio said.
Datema believes people will embrace Building Dashboard and energy conservation on campus.
"I typically come at it (energy conservation) with the standpoint that people want to do the right thing," Datema said. "In my experience, that is true the vast majority of the time."