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THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO |
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Conventional thinking suggests that when your facility increases in size by 20 per cent, you will use 20 per cent more electricity. Knowing this wouldn't fly with his senior management team, Gary Bridgens of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) decided to try some unconventional thinking instead. In November 2008, the AGO completed a four-year construction project that added approximately 100,000 square feet of gallery space to its existing 486,000-square-foot floor plan. The design of the new gallery space had distinct architectural characteristics that needed to be integrated into the gallery's operations. For instance, the new façade over Dundas Street in Toronto brings in much more direct sunlight which has an effect on the temperature of that part of the gallery. Not surprisingly, the renovation caused increases in both electricity use and electricity costs. Bridgens, the Deputy Director of Projects and Operations, met these challenges head on with a plan to reduce energy by changing the way in which the gallery's heating and cooling systems worked. The plan was achieved through a combination of consumption reduction and pricing strategies. It saved the gallery over half a million dollars in electricity costs during the first year of implementation. The original design of the facility called for their three 900 tonne chillers to operate during winter months in order to control humidity, but Bridgens saw an opportunity to turn the chillers off by harvesting free cool air from outside. To do this, he would have to stay within defined and non-negotiable temperature and humidity levels, necessary for the conservation of the gallery's art collection. So he programmed his building automation system to measure inside and outside temperature and dew points. Bridgens found that if the outside air was within certain thresholds, their air handling system could bring in the outside air and reduce chiller loads and even shut them down under certain conditions – a huge energy savings. The gallery's automation system regulates the flow of the outside air through several dampers based on what they need internally to maintain gallery conditions. The results of the changes were staggering. The gallery's winter electricity consumption (kilowatt hours) and their demand levels (kilowatts) dropped by almost 40 per cent resulting in a significant reduction on all charge types on their electricity bill. “Once we determined the optimum sequence of operation for the automation software,” said Bridgens, “we found that we used even less electricity than we had forecast.” Through this process, the gallery began to find more opportunities that would not have been otherwise discovered. Fans that were not responding to the automation system were quickly detected, because the operations team was constantly tracking the air handling process. Bridgens uses online meter data to analyze the results of this project and other energy savings initiatives. He performs a daily and weekly analysis to pinpoint the cause of unexpected changes in electricity use. For instance, if there is an evening function in the gallery, he will know to expect higher consumption. Conversely, if he sees lower electricity use in an overnight period, he tries to identify the cause to potentially replicate it. He also contrasts the gallery's usage against a weekly forecast of electricity use. One of the AGO's other priorities has been to investigate the potential of LED and other efficient lighting technologies. It's a process that didn't start overnight. Since 2003, Mike Peroff, Manager of Plant Operations, has created a lighting inventory which tracks the wattage and type of the thousands of lights within the Gallery and the hours that they are on. “The rate of return is king,” Peroff notes. “We need to show that a lighting project will guarantee results before we start.” Last year, their lighting retrofits saved over 38,000 kWh of electricity which helped the AGO qualify for an incentive payment through the gallery's local distribution company, Toronto Hydro. Peroff started with specific rooms in non-art containing areas of the gallery. His plan for new lighting, including LED technology, shows that lighting quality typically improves the functionality of a space in addition to reducing costs. Often lighting quality is enhanced with fewer lights required. “We want to show that maintenance and functionality improve with a combination of better lighting and motion sensors, while at the same time, ensuring the new equipment does not compromise the art. Gallery staff as well as external professional resources, suppliers and experts provided input that we can use in future projects,” says Peroff. Bridgens and Peroff are not done yet. Bridgens has an energy management plan that contains objectives, approaches and timelines for the next round of projects. Competition for capital dollars from other parts of the organization is tight. Peroff notes that “to get capital funding for energy management initiatives, we need to build credibility through results.” Bridgens adds, “It's also credibility in terms of our most important stakeholder: the gallery patrons. Energy management is not only about reducing our consumption, but about ensuring that our patrons have a great experience at the AGO.” The plan includes upgrading technology and revising operational processes in tandem. Both Bridgens and Peroff want to integrate more of their operational equipment into the gallery's building automation system. “Equipment operating as designed doesn't always mean it is operating efficiently,” notes Bridgens. As part of the next phase, they will investigate the installation of variable speed drives (VSDs) on their HVAC fans and implement low-energy lighting solutions in other parts of the gallery. He estimates that the VSDs should decrease their overnight electricity use by approximately 10 to 15 per cent. These measures would reduce the gallery's total electricity consumption to the levels close to those experienced before the gallery's renovation project was completed. ABOUT THE AGO |
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