COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwired - Aug 25, 2014) - Multifamily buildings are the new laboratory for roughly 35 students participating in a summer class called "Building Energy Informatics." Led by Dr. Kevin Hallinan, University of Dayton professor of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, students in engineering, mathematics, computer science and economics analyze state-of-the-art data and analytics from Nationwide Energy Partners to unlock opportunities to cut energy and water costs.
"In my opinion, there's no other utility doing this, so we're on the ground floor," said Dr. Hallinan. "Nationwide Energy Partners is interested in driving the collection and trending of energy data to inform innovative ideas that will help reduce costs for residents and building owners as well as supply insights to help them move toward a greener lifestyle," Dr. Hallinan noted. "Not only is it a triple incentive -- good for Nationwide Energy Partners as a utility, good for the building owner and good for the resident, but it's also good for the world."
Working with a five-year database of electricity and water usage from 220 apartment units in Columbus, students are probing variations in energy use at the individual apartment level to understand peak electricity and water usage, time-of-day patterns and variations among different types of units. The students view individual apartment data, but without any access to confidential personal information. All individual resident data is anonymous and kept confidential.
Students study whether time-shifting and other strategies can reduce energy costs. Additionally, one of Dr. Hallinan's Ph.D. candidates is using Nationwide Energy Partners' data to investigate whether solar units and batteries can reduce multifamily peak demand.
"It's exciting to see Nationwide Energy Partners' data and analytical tools set the stage for this kind of academic study and real-world research," said Kit Hagen, vice president of Solution Development at Nationwide Energy Partners. "We believe collaborative research programs like this one are essential to understanding energy consumption and vital to the success of energy efficient programs."
Nationwide Energy Partners also aims to offer the general public information on the positive economic impact of sustainability projects.
"This collected data will offer property developers and managers the opportunity to see for themselves the massive amount of energy consumed at their buildings, and hopefully realize how investing in green projects not only affects the buildings' energy footprint, but saves residents money and infuses further investment into the community in the form of jobs," said Dr. Hallinan.
For more information on what others are doing to cut down on their energy use and start saving today, visit: http://nationwideenergypartners.com/help-me-save/.
About Nationwide Energy Partners
Nationwide Energy Partners provides integrated energy services for 30,000 residents of multifamily units, as well as their property managers and developers of residential communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Tennessee and Kentucky. Nationwide Energy Partners offers installation of energy services, sub-metering, meter reading, billing, collections and customer service to meet the needs of our residential and commercial customers.
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