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UCSD Awarded with Cool Planet Membership for Using Cutting Edge Energy Efficiency Technology to Combat Climate Change
San Diego, June 30, 2010 – The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) is using a cutting edge technology called an Energy Dashboard to improve the efficiency of their operations, reduce energy use, and combat climate change. The new Energy Dashboard provides continually updated energy information for the facilities and equipment at the university. The dashboard informs UC San Diegos comprehensive energy efficiency program which is saving $900,000 a year, reducing energy consumption by 19 million kilowatt hours, and reducing 9,600 metric tons of greenhouse gases.
In one project, facilitated by a San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) incentive program, the university used information provided by the Energy Dashboard to identify inefficiencies in their computer servers. The Energy Dashboard grew out of a simple premise by Yuvraj Agarwal, a research scientist in the Jacobs School of Engineerings Computer Science and Engineering department, that if UC San Diego can measure energy use, it can do a better job reducing its energy usage. The dashboard provides campus microgrid managers with data on energy use by buildings, floors within buildings and in some cases rooms on a floor — a level of detail that is helping the campus reduce energy consumption by $900,000 a year.
As a result of this finding, UC San Diego replaced 514 older computer servers with 270 energy-efficient models. The project reduced energy consumption by 7.9 million kilowatt-hours, saving the university $680,000 annually, and prevents 2,600 metric tons of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere each year.
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