California Community College District Aims To Improve Energy Efficiency with Analytics

The San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) has launched an energy efficiency project designed to reduce energy waste and create a cohesive facility management system across its three colleges and 82 buildings.

The 40,000-student district has contracted with Schneider Electric to upgrade its building automation and control systems and install its Building Analytics system for real-time analysis of building systems with actionable suggestions for energy reductions.

"SMCCCD is the first community college in California to bring building control, energy management and building analytics onto one platform, allowing facility managers to visualize, analyze and realize significant energy savings," according to a news release. "Once completed later this year, the district will have the ability to continually monitor and improve its energy performance from a single interface while achieving its broader education goals."

"San Mateo County Community College is committed to being intelligent and intentional about resource use. We know that we can effectively protect the environment, maximize our utility savings and appropriately focus on maintaining affordable, high quality education to our community," said Joe Fullerton, energy and sustainability manager at SMCCCD, in a prepared statement. "We're excited to partner with Schneider Electric on this project and to leverage their expertise to support the mission of the district. Together we can continue the critical work of engaging our campus communities in our sustainability initiatives. This project is a fantastic example of how we are supporting 'living labs' and using all available resources to optimize the educational environment for our students and staff."

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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