{"68908":{"#nid":"68908","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Facilities Creates Energy Conservation Team","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith a little bit of help from a $6.7 million award from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and a newly formed Energy Conservation Team, Georgia Tech Facilities is taking on the challenge of improving energy efficiency on campus.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe focus of the team, which is lead by Michael Leasure, assistant director of energy conservation, is to ensure that the electrical and mechanical facilities at Tech consume less energy. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEnergy management has been a facet of facilities for about 10 years,\u201d said Warren Page, senior director of facilities and operations. \u201cWe thought it was time to increase our focus on this by creating a team concerned with energy conservation. Mike was given the OK to start building the team in May.\u201d \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe ARRA funding will support projects to improve motor efficiency, pipe insulation and lighting in almost every building on campus. All projects are slated to be completed by April 2012. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first project the team is tackling is motor efficiency. The goal is to install variable frequency drives (VFDs) in the numerous motors found on fans, pumps and compressors in campus buildings. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor example, a VFD might be used in a fan on an air conditioning unit,\u201d Leasure said. \u201cIf the motor frequency is reduced, the motor and fan will slow down, decreasing the air volume moving through the ductwork when not needed and decreasing the overall power demand.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith the improvements, Tech will save an estimated $440,000 a year over 5.8 years, Leasure added. The equipment driven by the motors will be turned off to install the VFDs, but Tech employees won\u2019t notice the outages, Leasure said. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe motor improvements should be completed by December. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo learn more about this project or the Energy Conservation Team, contact \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.leasure@facilities.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ELeasure\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EEditor\u2019s Note: This article is the first in a series of pieces about the projects the Energy Conservation Team is tackling. Stay tuned to learn about how the team will be improving pipe insulation on campus.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith a little bit of help from a $6.7 million award from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and a newly formed Energy Conservation Team, Georgia Tech Facilities is taking on the challenge of improving energy efficiency on campus.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"With an award from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Georgia Tech Facilities is taking on the challenge of energy efficiency on campus."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2011-07-22 16:43:15","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:48","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"68905":{"id":"68905","type":"image","title":"Facilities Implements Motor Improvements","body":null,"created":"1449177214","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:34","changed":"1475894599","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:19","alt":"Facilities Implements Motor Improvements","file":{"fid":"193364","name":"vfd.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vfd_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vfd_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2526704,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/vfd_0.jpg?itok=-VkkepBP"}}},"media_ids":["68905"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.facilities.gatech.edu\/om\/conservation.php","title":"Facilities Energy Conservation"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"13726","name":"American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding"},{"id":"13727","name":"Energy Conservation Team"},{"id":"3157","name":"Facilities"},{"id":"13728","name":"motor improvements"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.leasure@facilities.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Leasure\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EFacilities\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}