Faghihi, V. (2016?) "Energy Improvement in Campus Buildings"
Energy Improvement in Campus Buildings
Faghihi, V.PhD Graduate in Construction Engineering and Management, Texas A&M University
Abstract
As reserves of resources grow scare researchers seek new methods of allocating them appropriately and moreover improvement in the current utilization. According to EIA’s report on energy forecast for 2011, energy price will continue to gradually rise and the demand for energy will also rise as the economic growth is forecasted to consistently move in an upward trend. With growing demand for energy, rise in price and lack of supply, one can find that there is a great need to allocate budget in a way that maximizes the benefit with limited budget especially in the building sector.
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit organization established in 1993 and is one of the leaders of green movement in promoting high performance building. One of its visions is in creating sustainable campus and promoting the adoption of LEED certifications for educational facilities. A recent publication titled “Paid-From-Savings Guide to Green Existing Buildings” is a motivating concept that provides information on how educational institutions can optimize project economics through different financing strategies. According to the report, “The paid-from-savings approach leverages cost savings generated from building system upgrades to pay for a comprehensive greening project within a defined pay-back period.”
The objective of this study is to model the sequence of how limited funds could be allocated to generate profit for energy improvement projects and, how this profit would be used as a funding source for future projects. The research identifies investment strategies in sustainability projects in university campuses to build better policies to reap the maximum benefit with the least amount of capital investment t.
Keywords: Sustainability, Financing, Project Scheduling, System Dynamics
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