International Consensus On Standardization Of Data: Developing A Strategy To Enhance Energy Efficiency In The Campus Of University Of Northern Iowa

Factors Contributing to Energy Consumption

Discuss About The International Consensus On Standardization Of Data.

Energy consumption and reduction in its consumption is one of the most prominent concerns that has been surfacing at a global level. Most of the organisations, institutions, homes and others are attempting to identify and adopt the tools and technologies that are capable of developing the discussed scenario. The reason behind such high level of desirable lays base on the fact that the discussed measure is not just favourable from financial perspective but is also capable of developing a sustainable future. Hence, the discussed paper has attempted to support the discussed global cause by offering recommendations for the tools and techniques that are capable of offering reduced energy consumption and enhanced energy efficiency in the campus of University of Northern Iowa (UNI).

The objectives of the paper have been achieved by discussing the key factors that needs to be taken in consideration while discussion a plan of action that has assist in fulfilling the objective. The assumptions made to recommend solutions for enhanced energy efficiency and other crucial details has been discussed before concluding the paper and offer potential recommendations to mitigate energy consumption and enhance energy efficiency.

The purpose of the paper is to develop a strategy consisting of tools and techniques that are capable of mitigating energy consumption and in the process enhancing the energy efficiency of the campus. The following sections has offered strategy, plan of actions and other crucial factors that has assist in achieving the purpose of the paper.

The strategy to attain the discussed goals has been achieved by adopting the primary data collection method. The primary data has been collected from the students, the professors and other stakeholders of the organisation. Additionally, secondary data has been requested from the energy department of the institution. The secondary data has assist in understanding the sources that are responsible for the energy consumption while the primary data has offer assistance with the development of the strategy to mitigate the energy consuming sources and in the process enhance the efficiency. The strategy for reducing energy consumption has been deduced on the data collected from the above discussed means and the knowledge acquired by the author while pursuing the ETS (Environment, Technology and Society) course. The consideration of the disruptive tools and techniques available in the energy preservation literary works has also been taken in consideration to present the strategy for fulfilling the objective.

Plan of Action

The plan of action for the discussed scenario was step based and the steps that were assessed has been discussed as follows

Identification- The first step was to analyse the sources that were responsible for the energy consumption and the identification revealed that the following items were responsible for most of the power consumption

Lab instruments are the sources that are responsible for most of the energy consumption. The lab instruments in discussion extend from hydrology to chemistry, applied physics and all other departmental instruments that are used for the research, operations and training purposes. The operation of the instruments in consideration consumes power however, it also consumes huge power if the equipment is suffering from any fault or is left plugged in the power source.

Computer has become an integral part of day to day life and are responsible for huge power inside of a campus and in the discussed scenario is also one of the most prominent source of power consumption. From Labs to offices and residents all of the places computer and other computing devices are established themselves and hence consumes a lot of energy. The computing devices includes the printers, fax machines and other devices which are also visible in almost every section of the campus and consumes a lot of energy.

Kitchen and its equipment’s are also one of the primary source of energy consumption and needs to be assessed to mitigate the power consumption within the campus and hence are a subject of discussion in the paper. The freezes, exhausts, microwave ovens and other primary cooking & kitchen instruments are high power consuming and are in dire need of technology to reduce their energy consumption.

The occupant comfort are the instruments that are used for the comfort purposes and the most core components of the discussed category are the fans, air conditioners, desk lamps, space heaters and other devices. The energy use of the devices in consideration is very high and should be made more energy efficient.

The gym and the training instruments that are part of the gyms and other training zones of a campus are also high energy consuming and needs strategy that can assist in mitigating the energy consumption while, in the process making the section in context more energy efficient.

The laundry tools installed within a campus are also energy consuming and hence, are in need of tools and techniques that can offer their assistance in mitigating the amount of energy consumed by the discussed instrument types.

Strategies and Techniques for Energy Reduction

The miscellaneous category consists of all the tools apart from the above mentioned tools that are responsible for consuming electricity within a campus. It may include the mobile, laptop and other gadgets charging tools, hair straightener and all the other instruments that are used by the associates who are associated with the campus and the energy consumption.

The second step as part of plan of action to decrease the energy consumption and in the process enhance the energy efficiency is the strategies (tools & techniques) that can assist in attaining the discussed measure has been categorised in three categories and discussed as follows:

The technical aspect is one of the prominent discussion and has been considered in the discussed section. The technical strategies that are in existence which are capable of reducing the energy consumption within a campus has been discussed.

The energy consuming sources can be manipulated to reduce the consumption in the energy by adopting lab equipment that are low power consuming and are does not emit carbon expellant. However, only adoption of energy friendly equipment cannot mitigate the energy consumption, their adequate use is also the factor that needs to be taken in consideration. Hence. The rated energy efficient equipment should be purchased for the institutional use which will enable the university to increase the energy efficiency. Additionally, to attain the discussed objective a monitoring system should be attached with the lab instruments that will measure and notify the system if any instrument is consuming excessive power. It will be effective for all the devices that consumes energy. The discussed monitoring system can be placed by use of the smart technology. The technology in discussion is the IoT (Internet of Things) or it would be more adequate to state CoT (Cloud of Things). The systems of the university should be attached to the cloud based IoT networks that will enable the monitoring of the system and even cut the power if programmed to cut the power in case of energy waste. The IoT has proved its prominence in monitoring, notifying and control the systems that are associated with it and hence will be capable of controlling the lab, kitchen, computers and all the other network. The reason for recommending cloud based IoT lays basis on the fact that cloud will extend the network to the whole campus and in dire situations can be accessed by the higher management of the university from remote location and if need they can also control the instruments part of the university. However, IoT will itself consume energy and hence the power consumption must be reduced to make the implementation feasible. The energy consumption in the IoT can be mitigated by using “hybrid topology” and “ultra-low powered Bluetooth low energy wireless device”. Additionally, other techniques can also be approached to mitigate the energy consumption by th IoT.

Technical Aspects

The environment is capable of assisting the humanity in unimaginable & different pattern. The scenario in energy reduction can also be considered the same as the environment is capable of mitigating the energy consumption with the campus and is the topic of discussion in the discussed section.

As stated above environment is capable of assisting in offering reduction in energy consumption through the means such as the passive cooling also known as the natural cooling which can reduce the power consumption of air conditioning and other cooling means that are required for other instruments such as instruments and plants. Green buildings can also assist in reducing the energy consumption of the lights, fans and other necessary electrical requirements of a room or building. Adequate windows and ventilation along other necessary lighting and cooling means are also capable of reducing energy consumption. Other means which includes environmental involvement can be adopted to enhance the energy efficiency of the campus.

Like the technical and environmental aspects, social aspects are also capable of mitigating the energy consumption and in the process enhance energy efficiency and has been discussed in the following section.

Just like the social responsibility of the institution, the individuals associated with the institution also holds social responsibility. They can fulfil their social responsibility in energy consumption by unplugging the devices when not in use. Adequate attention should be cited to the most commonly used instruments such as the computing devices, occupant comfort, gym instruments and others because it will save a great amount of energy. The social responsibility of the individuals is not limited to only their actions but it extends to awaking their friends and other associates about the benefits of energy saving.

The above discussed strategies and tools can be adopted to mitigate the energy consumption of the University of Northern Iowa and in the process increase the energy efficiency of the campus.

The final step is to implement the proposed strategies within the campus either virtually to simulate the results or in real-life scenario to evaluate the validity of the results.

The strategies offered above are generalised in nature and have taken very less assumptions. The only assumption made in the report is that the buildings in the campus are not based on the eco-friendly techniques.

The outcome of the proposed work is identification or development of the technique or tool that has ensure that the objective and sub-objectives of the proposed work is achieved. Additionally, it has also been expected that the proposed tool and techniques is reliable & feasible so that it can be implemented in the real-life scenario and is suitable for implementation within the organisation. The solutions proposed in the discussed report has been categories in three categories and are categorised in environmental, technical and social sections. The report has offered the most basic ideas about the tools and techniques so that the institution can manipulate its implementation strategy to make it more suitable for the organisation in consideration. Finally, in conclusion, the report will be emphasised to state that high energy consumption is not just responsible for the financial loss that a body suffers but also is a major threat for the environment and hence needs to be mitigated. Additionally, adopting the most basic ideas to mitigate the challenges in discussion can prove to be most prominent approach to attain an energy efficient environment within the organisation, institution or other similar entity.

Environmental Aspects

The discussed research work has offered an insight into the problems and instruments that are the core reason for power consumption in the institution in consideration which can be further justified by statistical method to cite in figures the amount of energy consumed by each discussed category. Additionally, the fractional stats collected about the instruments and their energy consumption can be used to develop a plan that is capable of guiding the use and controlling of the instruments so that the energy consumption is limited. The paper will also assist the users who are willing to propose a framework capable of reducing the total energy consumption within the campus by a large margin. One of the most prominent research work that the readers of the discussed article can pursue is the “Use of environment in mitigating the energy consumption and in the process enhance the energy efficiency in a campus or organisation.”. The above stated topic for further work will be of great vitality as the outcome from the work over the discussed topic will be sustainable in nature and will also develop a sense of responsibility towards the environment. The topic “social responsibility of students, professors and other institutional associates towards saving energy” is also a vital topic that can be pursued with assistance of the discussed paper. Finally, it would be stated that the paper can be reviewed by the readers to determine more opportunities for further work.

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