The Problem Defined:
Central College in Pella, Iowa expanded the 1203 Independence residence hall complex to include a three story addition whose layout included six modern “pods”. Each pod contains four bedrooms with shared common areas. Central College decided to build the expansion in a sustainable manner and set out to make the finished residence hall the second LEED® rated building in the State of Iowa.
Understanding that there is a great potential for energy savings at home, Central wanted a way to not only inform residents about the importance of being environmentally responsible and saving energy but also to get them excited about doing so by providing them with real time feedback regarding how their daily choices effect energy use.
Quality Attributes Software developed an internet based Green Touchscreen® that not only monitors electricity use in the residence hall but informs residents about important environmental issues and unique sustainable features of the building.
Solution Expectations:
- The application must be internet based to allow it to be viewed from multiple locations and on multiple platforms.
- The application will get residents excited about energy savings by promoting competition among the pods.
- The application will tie into the Johnson Controls Metasys Extended Architecture demonstrate in real time the operation of the solar energy / heated hot water system and the photovoltaic system at the building.
- The application will educate residents about LEED® and their expatiations.
- The application will have a user-friendly look and style that requires no training to use, as multiple users will want to quickly access information.
The Solution:
Green Touchscreen® immediately began to work with Central College to determine a simple, easy to use layout for the application. The result was an internet-based, Adobe Flash developed application that contained four sections.
- The Home tab features scrolling images of the inside and outside of the residence hall along with captions that describe each photo.
- The Energy Monitoring tab features a building directory of each floor of the addition that shows the six individual pods. The local Johnson Controls Metasys Extended Architecture system was tied into to display real time electricity information for both the entire residence hall and for each individual pod. The amount of electricity use during the past week and year for each pod is also displayed.
- The Green Features tab displays two real time animations (with data from the Johnson Control system), the first of the solar energy and hot water system and the second of the photovoltaic array system in use at the facility. It also includes LEED® information, the LEED® checklist earned by the facility and comments from the architect.
- The Resident Info tab displays information that is important to the residents such as recycling and cleaning guidelines. It also provides information on artwork within the facility and a resident training video.
Solution Benefits:
The finished application provided many benefits to Central College. Most notably, residents of the PODS addition can get real time feedback on their energy consumption on a micro level. The competition instituted between the pods as a result of this feedback not only encourages residents to conserve energy but provides them with valuable insight regarding how their habits compare to those of their peers.
Other benefits include the ability of the school to keep energy conservation and the environmental issues featured at the forefront of residents’ minds through the use of the application as the home page on computers in the residence hall computer lab as well as featuring a real time slideshow of the application on the television in a commons area.
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