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U. of Arizona Aims to Cut Energy Bill 5-10% Using Online Dashboard

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The University of Arizona hopes to cut its energy bill by 5 to 10 percent a year by showing students campus usage in real time via an online dashboard, KVOA Tucson reports.

The school spends about $37 million on utilities annually, Dan McCrady, a member of the UA Energy Management Facilities Team, tells the news channel. The hope, he explains, is that the online dashboard, which displays buildings’ heating, cooling and electricity, the cost of that energy use and CO2 emissions, will encourage students to conserve.

The University of Arizona says it hopes to link all campus buildings to the online system by 2013.

In a similar approach to encouraging conservation, Cleantech software company Lucid and HonestBuildings.com partnered to provide real-time energy usage for thousands of commercial buildings across the US. The partnership allows anyone to type in an address and access performance data for buildings listed on the HonestBuidlings.com platform, which provide information including square footage, EnergyStar and LEED certifications, building ownership and management, and the projects and renovations that have been performed on a building.

In August, 10 Starbucks coffee shops began a pilot program using Lucid’s Building Dashboard in an attempt to change employee’s energy-related behavior.

Earlier this month, Powerhouse Dynamics released a new version of its eMonitor mobile app for the iPhone and Android platforms, which enables users to see real-time equipment operating profiles. For example, a facility manager who receives a report of a malfunctioning roof-top HVAC unit can view the status of the unit via a smartphone to determine the best course of action for resolving the issue.

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