Boston University Reduces Energy Consumption and Improves Sustainability with Cimetrics BAS Analytics
Increase in Energy Management Funding: Research Center Boosts Energy Investment by Over 100%
Boston University, a large urban campus with a variety of building types, has partnered with Cimetrics to optimize its Building Automation System (BAS) and achieve significant energy savings. Over the past decade, the university has seen impressive results, including a 150% return on invested capital and a reduction of 1,202 Metric Tons of CO2 emissions.
Cimetrics engineers use their Analytika software to provide ongoing project reviews and actionable recommendations, helping the school to achieve the best performance and longest lifespan from its automation system. The partnership between Cimetrics and Boston University extends beyond the BAS, aiding the school in implementing new technologies and complying with state regulations.
The monitoring of five university buildings, comprising a total of 559,787 square feet, has resulted in energy cost savings of $639,014 over 10 years. Systems monitored include 32 Air Handling Units, 29 exhaust fans, 22 boilers and heat exchangers, 35 hot water pumps, 11 chilled water pumps, 800 terminal units, and 23 air conditioning units.
One of the most significant achievements came from lowering the setpoints and implementing new schedules for VAV units in one of the buildings, resulting in $95,247 a year in cooling, heating, and fan electric energy savings. Ongoing monitoring of an AHU in one of the campus buildings found signs of a possible inefficient economizer and a leaking preheat valve, resulting in combined annual energy savings of approximately $18,000.
Annually, Boston University realizes $413K in energy cost savings by implementing findings and recommendations made by the Cimetrics engineering team and Analytika Pro. Simple repairs, such as a leaking cooling valve in one of the buildings, resulted in $37,645 a year in cooling and heating energy savings.
Cimetrics also leverages the power of Analytika to participate in utility incentives, bringing further value to the school's investment in energy management. The school has saved 8,076 MMBTU of steam over 10 years and 852 MWh of electricity. Over the years, Analytika Pro identified 120 opportunities for efficiency improvement, resulting in significant annual energy cost savings.
The university has also implemented a new biorepository system, replacing standalone freezers, with custom calculations by Cimetrics justifying its energy use and demand costs. Analytika's forecasting capabilities are used to validate equipment upgrades such as replacing fans with VFDs and to measure the success of ongoing maintenance programs such as periodic AHU coil cleaning.
While there are no widely published case studies explicitly naming Cimetrics as the provider for Boston-based higher education institutions, Cimetrics is known for its expertise in BAS monitoring and analytics, and its solutions have been deployed in various educational and institutional settings to improve energy efficiency. Institutions such as MIT, Boston University, Northeastern University, and Harvard University could all benefit from BAS analytics, as they are known for their sustainability initiatives and complex building environments.
To identify documented Cimetrics case studies within Boston higher education, your best approach may be to contact Cimetrics directly for client references or case studies in the Boston education sector, review Cimetrics customer success stories on their official website or industry reports on BAS in higher education, or check industry presentations from conferences focused on building automation and energy efficiency in academia.
Science and technology are integral parts of Boston University's partnership with Cimetrics, as the university leverages Cimetrics' Analytika software and their engineering team's expertise to monitor and optimize various systems, leading to energy cost savings and environmental improvements. Financing is also a crucial factor, as the university has seen a 150% return on invested capital over the past decade due to the energy savings achieved through this partnership.
