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    First Quarter Overview

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    This quarter, I have been working on a project Dr. Bill and I have named “Hotel X.” The purpose of this project is to monitor and analyze the energy expended down at “Hotel X.” To do this, we use sensors made by Veris Industries (http://www.veris.com/Category/Power-fslEnergy-spcMonitoring.aspx). These sensors detect the amount of energy expended by each *wire, and then, using a 5V output, the sensors are able to send the information it has just received from the hotel, all the way up to the monitoring room in the Energy Lab. This process happens every five minutes and is recorded on Elab2, which is one of the many monitoring systems we have up at the Energy Lab. From Elab2, we are able to analyze the data collected. Soon, we will be able to significantly reduce the Hotel’s electric bill by using the data to detect areas where electricity can be saved. For example, say we are able to detect and air conditioner in the hotel that runs unnecessarily throughout the day. After we have identified this as an air conditioner, we can take this information to the hotel. We will be able to show them how much they are spending, how much they would be able to save, and how to save it.

    I have spent the majority of this quarter working out the kinks in my project and learning more about energy auditing. Because I had worked on similar projects in the previous semester, I was thankfully not starting at square one. I had some basic background information about what to look for while studying graphs. As this quarter progressed, I started to recognize issues in the system and I was able to match energy patterns with different household items.

    The very fist steps of the project basically consisted of blindly studying the graphs on Elab2, then discussing my ideas with Dr. Bill. By doing that frequently, I was soon able to detect patterns in the data. Soon after that, I became interested matching the patterns I saw in my data to household items people use everyday. So, after many discussions with Dr. Bill, I was capable of detecting and indentifying the different phases in my data, as household appliances being used in the hotel.

    One of Dr. Bill’s favorite things to discuss is where this project will take me after high school. Soon, companies across the globe will be competing to be environmentally friendly not only to save money, but as a method of propaganda. For example, say two rival businesses are constantly competing for customers. One of the companies, “Business A”, decides to visit an energy consultant (me) that who is able to save “Business A” $10,000 dollars a year. Because of this “Business A” is able to drive prices down therefore, attracting more customers. When this happens, “Business B”, will be forced to hire an energy consultant to get those same low prices as “Business A.” Propaganda plays into this because businesses will use being “environmentally friendly” as an advertisement strategy. Naturally, consumers will be more attracted to the business that is concerned with our planet.

    In addition to the “Hotel X” project, Dr. Bill is teaching me the automation side of Elab2. This quarter, Dr. Bill and I dedicated two days to learning about the monitoring system and how to fix it if something is not reading, or if something goes wrong with Elab2. Though we have not gotten far in this, I know the basic steps needed to re-boot the system in the case that Dr. Bill is not there to do it himself.

    The next step is to bring the financial side into the project. I plan to start calculating how much money the hotel is spending on each wire weekly. To do this, I will calculate the weekly average for each phase, then, multiply it by the most electricity rate by HELCO. By the end of next quarter, I hope to have all of this weekly information included in my portfolio.

    *See “Hotel X Analysis” for a table organizing the three different phases