Developing a Standard Energy Auditing Process for Pennsylvania State University

With buildings accounting for about 39% of our total energy consumption, it is important that buildings are maintained to continuously operate as efficiently as possible. The Pennsylvania State University has 1,784 buildings which make up over 30 million gross square feet in building space and emitted approximately 550,000 MTCO₂E during the 2011-2012 year. This is a 27.5% reduction from what the University anticipated they would have emitted had it not implemented its reduction strategy plan. While Penn State has invested $40 million to re-commission and retrofit existing buildings at University Park and several of the Commonwealth campuses, there is still more work that can be done to improve the Universities energy performance. The challenge the University faces is in determining how to invest these funds to provide the greatest impact on energy savings. This paper intends to identify and capture the current energy auditing procedure at Penn State. The research presented will: 1.) Include an examination of the project selection process, availability of useful information and reliance of information in an effort to understand current limitations; 2.) Development of a structured process for future energy audits; and 3.) Identify the key information required to produce an accurate energy audit of an existing facility and determine where BIM can be implemented. The paper will conclude with how this initiative is working to integrate Penn State's Office of Physical Plant's (OPP) Energy and Engineering Group with their Virtual Construction Group to use Building Information Modeling to better track and manage energy data on new and existing facilities at Penn State.