title: Towards carbon neutral university campus: The impact of occupancy condition on higher educational building energy uses
Creators: name: Gui, Xuechen
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: energy conservation
subject: carbon emission reduction
subject: higher education institution
subject: campus occupancy

description: To respond to calls for energy conservation and carbon reduction, many universities have proposed targets and strategies to achieve a carbon-neutral campus. However, those strategies overlook the special occupancy conditions in higher education campuses. To help those campuses better achieve carbon neutrality, this study investigated the impacts on energy use patterns of spaces with various occupancy conditions from static and dynamic dimensions, with the goal of proposing an integrated approach to campus planning, building design, facility management and policy setting. This study selected 122 buildings at Griffith University in subtropical Australia and collected their weekly energy use and occupancy conditions data. First, an “area-energy use” multiple linear regression (MLR) model was built to link energy use and space use to understand the relation between them. Next, this study analysed the data regarding occupancy conditions and compared the data from two different academic calendars—semester and trimester systems—to address its role in regulating the occupancy conditions of campus buildings and consequently their energy consumption. Third, the energy use characteristics during the COVID-19 academic year (February 17, 2020, to February 21, 2021) and a normal academic year (February 18, 2019, to February 16, 2020) were compared using a t-test and an MLR model to speculate the occupancy conditions under COVID-19. Finally, the results of the Griffith University study by the energy use data were compared to other university campuses worldwide. The results showed that wet laboratories used significant amounts of energy and that the health discipline was the most energy-intensive of all other disciplines due to their high wet laboratory use. Also, when a change was made from a semester to trimester academic calendar, campus energy consumption was reduced by 213,090 kWh per year (an approximate 5% reduction). The energy consumption of teaching-dedicated spaces decreased by 505,521 kWh per year (an approximate 3% reduction), and that of research spaces increased by 153,893 kWh per year (an approximate 2% increase). It was inferred that the shift to a more flexible calendar system decreased the teaching space energy consumption, such that the savings could be spent on increased research activities. During the COVID-19 academic year, 9,646,933 kWh of energy (or approximately 24.88 kWh/m2 of energy use intensity (EUI)) was saved, which accounted for 16% of the total energy use in the academic year. However, during COVID-19, some researchers stayed on campus for their work. The situation of other universities implied the same conclusion: research spaces have a higher EUI and still operate under COVID-19 conditions. Based on the results of this study, this thesis makes suggestions on campus planning, building design, facility management, policy and investment decisions that reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy. This study is the first to incorporate the complex occupancy conditions of the higher educational sector into energy-saving and carbon-reducing strategies. This strategy can not only guide current carbon emission reduction policies but also predict carbon emissions by future higher educational campuses.