Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University at Kingsville – Yolanda Allen – 2012

Goals

At Texas A&M University – Kingsville, Allen was hired to find energy efficiency projects at low cost.

Solutions 

Yolanda Allen identified several no-cost lighting efficiency and occupancy projects. In restrooms and over-lit computer rooms, Allen recommended delamping and – in unoccupied rooms – a “lights off” policy. These steps could save Texas A&M more than $4,000 and 45,000 kilowatt hours annually. Additionally, Allen recommended installing occupancy sensors in offices, restrooms, classrooms and hallways, which could save $36,000 and 224,000 kilowatt hours each year. During her fellowship, Allen also studied occupancy and energy consumption in the largest building of the College of Engineering with two senior architectural engineering students. Allen and the students will present their findings at the April 2013 Architectural Engineering Institute Conference.

Potential Impact

Taken together, Allen’s recommendations, which span 191,000 square feet of real estate in the engineering and agriculture colleges, could save Texas A&M nearly $250,000 and 1,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the project lifetimes.