Emerado Public School: Energy Audit & Energy Conservation Alternatives

1. Emerado Public School: Energy Audit & Energy Conservation Alternatives Undergraduate Thesis Mechanical Engineering Kristin McKenzie March 15th, 2007

2. Purpose • Conduct an energy audit of an existing school in Winkler • Analyzing Manitoba Hydro data • Modeling the building through a computer program • Develop fossil fuel energy displacement strategy • Incorporate renewable energy • Implement in existing buildings

3. Procedure #1: Analyze Current Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning System (HVAC) #4: Research Energy Efficient HVAC Alternatives Technical Analysis Cost Analysis #2: Computer Generated Building Model Electricity Consumption Natural Gas Consumption #3: Conduct Alternative Energy Analysis Electricity Consumption Natural Gas Consumption

4. Procedure Computer Generated #5: Compare Electric & Natural Gas Consumption Results Actual Conservation Alternatives #6: Recommendation Reduce Costs Reduce Consumption Reduce Environmental Impact

5. Current Heating, Ventilation & Cooling Equipment Installed Heating Cooling Ventilation Heat Recovery Unit

6. Building Heating • 2 Aerco Condensing Boilers • High Efficiency • Maximum heat recovery from flue gases • Heat contained in water vapor is released through condensing and re-directed into the boiler • Efficiency of approx. • 95%-98% HHV • Low inlet water temperature • <140F • 1 MMBtu/hr

7. Building Cooling A Trane, 70 ton chiller is installed to provide building cooling Cold Water to School Qin Hot Water from School Hot refrigerant liquid Evaporator CHILLER Qout Cold refrigerant Refrigerant liquid-vapor mixture Expand Mechanical Work Compressor Compressed vapor

8. Building Ventilation • Trane M-Series Climate Control AHU • Supply: 33,000 CFM • No pre-heat coil • Provides supply air for all school zones excluding the gym • Trane M-Series Climate Control AHU • Supply: 5,000 CFM • No pre-heat coil • Provides supply air for only the gym

9. Heat Recovery Unit – Cycle #1 Exhausted Air (from Building) OUTSIDE Aluminum Cassettes Damper Aluminum Cassettes Supply Air (to AHU) OUTSIDE

10. Heat Recovery Unit – Cycle #2 Exhausted Air (from Building) Supply Air (to AHU) OUTSIDE Heated Aluminum Cassettes Damper Aluminum Cassettes OUTSIDE

11. Computer Building Modeling & Energy Simulation Procedure Results

12. eQUEST Procedure • Draft building floor plans in AutoCAD • Import floor plans into eQUEST • Create Building Shells • 9 Shells required to model the Emerado School • Create building zones within all shells • Multiple shells required within each shell to model the school Shell #1

13. eQUEST Procedure • Following procedure completed for all shells: • Roof, wall, floor, window, door construction • Building operation schedule • Activity areas • Specify heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and parameters • Shell #9: • Upper Level Shell #2: Shell #3: Shell #4: Shell #8: Shell #1: Main Level Shell #5: Shell #6: Shell #7:

14. Simulation Results Actual Trane Chiller Input: 70 tons (840 MBtu/hr) eQUEST Calculated Required Input: 911 MBtu/hr Actual Aerco Condensing Boiler Input: 1000 MBtu/hr * 2 = 2000 MBtu/hr eQUEST Calculated Required Input: 2049 MBtu/hr

15. Simulation Results

16. Building Energy Conservation Alternatives Biomass BioFuel Boiler Absorption Chiller

17. Biomass • Biomass • living or biological material that has recently been living, providing renewable energy • Plant or animal matter • Forest waste • Municipal waste • Food processing waste • Form of stored solar energy that is developed when sun is captured through the process of photosynthesis • Grown from: • Hemp, corn, willow, sugarcane, switchgrass • BioFuel • Fuel derived from Biomass

18. Locally Produced BioFuel • Local producer in Manitoba • Prairie BioEnergy • Produces • Compressed biomass cubes made of a mixture of wood by products and flax • Energy Content • 7900 Btu/lb • Density • 33 pounds/ft² • Moisture Content • Approx 5%-6%

19. Locally Produced BioFuel • Product Handling • Product Displacement • Conveyor • Large screw auger • Storage • hopper • Product must be kept dry • Delivery System • Slow speed auger • Combustion System • Ability to handle ash

20. Pelco Hot Water Boiler • Locally distributed hot water boiler • Solid fuel fired boiler • Automatic feed auger • Automatic ash removal system

21. Analysis If required, condensing boilers will operate at part capacity Pelco HW boiler will run at near full capacity

22. Analysis • Prairie Fuel Cube Energy Content: • 7900 Btu/lb • Prairie Fuel Cube Moisture Content: • 5%-6% of total mass • BioFuel Boiler Input: • 2.5 MMBtu/hour • Required BioFuel: • 2,500,000*6% + 2,000,000 = 2.6 MMBtu/hour • Required biomass: • 335.4 lb/hour • 8,050 lb/day • Approx 4 tons/day Biomass 40 ton storage

23. NATURAL GAS Blended Rate $0.3810/m³ HHV .035GJ/m³ Energy Input 2.5 MMBtu/hr = 2.6 GJ/hr Required Volume NG 75.36 m3/hr Hourly Cost $29/hr BIOMASS Cost $75/BDT HHV 7.4GJ/m³ Energy Input 2.5 MMBtu/hr = 2.6 GJ/hr Required Biomass 0.14 tons/hr Hourly Cost $11/hr Cost Comparison

24. Cost Comparison

25. Absorption Chiller Cold Water to School Qin Hot Water from School Hot refrigerant liquid ABSORPTION CHILLER Evaporator Cold refrigerant Refrigerant liquid-vapor mixture Expand Heat Input From Boiler Compressor Compressed vapor **Trane 100 ton absorption chiller, approximately $155,000 Canadian Dollars

26. Is Biomass Feasible? + + + Pelco Hot Water Boiler Prairie BioEnergy Displacement Equipment • Renewable energy • Resource • Eliminates fossil fuel • Dependency • Healthier for the • Environment • Reduced fuel costs = + Potential Manitoba Hydro Chiller Incentives Absorption Chiller

27. Conclusion • Gained experience through studying and analyzing the current HVAC system installed • Biomass provides an environmentally friendly, renewable resource, and readily available fuel is approx 1/3 of the cost of natural gas

28. Further Work • Energy Conservation Alternative • BioFuel Boiler • Cost Analysis • Solar Panels • Technical Analysis • Cost Analysis • Design Recommendations

29. Dr. E. Bibeau, P. Eng Thesis Advisor Dr. P. Zanetel, P. Eng Thesis Advisor Robert Bisson, P. Eng Public Schools Finance Board Mechanical Engineer George Marchildon, P.Eng Public Schools Finance Board Mechanical Engineer Terry Silcox Manitoba Hydro Stephane Gauthier Prairie BioEnergy Gerry Porter Entropic Energy Acknowledgements

30. Questions???