Lesson Overview

Students will learn about building monitoring systems and how energy is used at their school. Groups will share what they found out about their school energy usage. Students will discuss ways they can use energy more efficiently at their school.

Target Grades: 6-8

Set Up Time: 5 minutes

Class Time: 1 hour

Lesson Resources

Objectives

1. Learn what building monitoring is

2. Understand how a building monitoring system is utilized to use energy more efficiently

3. Identify electricity use patterns for energy used efficiently in a school

Guiding question: How can building monitoring systems help our school save energy?

Educational Standards

ALASKA CULTURAL STANDARDS: B3 & B4

ALASKA ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS:
Reading for Informational Text: 6-8 RST.KI.1; 6-8 RST.CS.4; 6-8 RST.IKI.7
Writing: 6-8 WSLST.PDW.6; 6-8 WSLST.RBPK.9
Speaking and Listening Standards: 6-8 SP.CC.1
6-8 SP.PKI.4; 6-8 SP.PKI.5; 6-8 SP.PKI.6; 6-8 RST.IKI.7

ALASKA MATHEMATICS STANDARDS: 6.SP.5

ALASKA DIGITAL LITERACY STANDARDS: 6-12.EL.4; 6-12.KC.1; 6-12.CT.2; 6-12.CT.2; 6-12.CT.4

ENERGY LITERACY CONCEPTS: 5.3, 6.2, 6.6, 6.8

NGSS: MS-PS3-4; MS-LS2-5

Lesson Preparation:
Gather Materials:
  • Computers or tablets with Internet access (1 per group of 2-3 students), to access the Building Monitoring (BMON) dashboard
  • BMON Presentation (and computer/projector set up for viewing)

When evaluating the energy needs of a community, energy efficiency is an important consideration as it usually is the most cost-effective way to reduce energy cost. Building Monitoring Systems are used to manage and measure energy use.   

Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) developed a free open source building monitoring system called BMON. It measures real-time energy use and provides a complete summary of operating performance. The system is able to track building occupancy, temperature, electricity, and fuel use as well as access data from multiple sources, including established weather stations, building automation systems, databases, and other points.

BMON uses gateways, sensors, and a web-based interface or dashboard which is publicly accessible. Some of the advantages of BMON over other systems are that it is:

– Non-proprietary

– Open source

– Less expensive

– Can be modified by the user to adapt to local situations

– Can be seen by multiple users

Some key design benefits of building monitoring are tracking actual flow rates and BTU demand. It allows for proper sizing of a system (such as heating or ventilation system) on actual data and not estimates. The real-time data can also be used for retrofits. The BMON dashboard shows multiple values and has graphing capability. This data can be used to identify the peak demand of a building and see if a load reduction is possible. 

British Thermal Unit (BTU) – A traditional unit of heat defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. 

Building Management System (BMS)– A computer-based control system installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems and security systems. A BMS consists of software and hardware; the software program, usually configured in a hierarchical manner, can be proprietary or open source.

Building Monitoring (BMON)– A free open source building monitoring system that measures real-time energy use and provides a complete summary of operating performance. 

CCF– A common natural gas volumetric measurement. A gas meter measures the volume of natural gas used in hundreds of cubic feet (CCF). One CCF of natural gas equals approximately 100,000 Btu’s. The volume of 100 cubic feet (CF). 1 CCF = 100 CF (Cubic Feet).

Data Averaging– Used to average data during a period of time.

Database– An organized collection of data, generally stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. 

Electrical Energy– A form of kinetic energy. Electrical energy is the movement of electrons.

Energy–  The ability to do work or the ability to move an object. Electrical energy is usually measured in kilowatt hours (kWh), while heat energy is usually measured in British thermal units (Btu).

Energy Consumption–  The use of energy as a source of heat or power or as a raw material input to a manufacturing process.

Energy Efficiency–  Refers to activities that are aimed at reducing the energy used by substituting technically more advanced equipment, typically without affecting the services provided.

Energy Use Intensity–  The measurement of a building’s energy consumption relative to its gross square footage.

Histogram – A display of statistical information that uses rectangles to show the frequency of data items in successive numeric intervals of equal size. It is an accurate representation of the distribution of numerical data. It is an estimate of the probability distribution of a continuous variable.

Kilowatt Hour (kWh) – The amount of energy, often electricity, used by an appliance/house/school/etc over time. The kilowatt hour is commonly used as a billing unit for energy delivered to consumers by electric utilities.

Kilowatt (kW) –  A kilowatt is 1,000 watts, which is a measure of power. 

Scatter Plot – A graph in which the values of two variables are plotted along two axes, the pattern of the resulting points revealing any correlation present. The data are displayed as a collection of points.

Sensor – A device whose purpose is to respond to detect a physical stimulus (such as heat, light, sound, pressure, magnetism, or a particular motion) and transmits a resulting impulse (as for measurement or operating a control).

Therm – A measure of heat energy.One therm is equivalent to 100,000 BTUs or 100 CF (Cubic Feet).

Gear Up:
  • With help from students, identify different ways that your school uses electricity. You can also discuss how you school uses heating if your school is recording heating data. 
  • Discuss with your students ways that electricity can be used efficiently. Go over what energy efficiency means.
  • Ask what other ways your students know of reducing their energy use (such as energy conservation which includes turning off lights when not in use, lowering the thermostat in a heated environment, etc.). 
Activity:
  • Group students into teams of 2-3. Each group should have access to a computer to be able to look at the BMON dashboard. Distribute the BMON Student Worksheet to every student.
  • For this activity, tell your students that they are the Energy Manager/Operations Director at their school. They will be using real-time energy data to better understand how much electricity is used at their school and when. 
  • Give the BMON dashboard link to your students. Students will look at the BMON dashboard for their school and see how much energy or electricity is used at their school throughout the day and at different times of the year. They will use this data to complete the BMON Student Worksheet.
  • Ask each group to share one thing they found out about how their school uses electricity during this exercise. Ask students to listen to other groups and try not to repeat what other groups shared.
  • Finally, discuss what next steps your classroom could take to use energy more efficiently in your classroom or your school. You can refer to the lesson Energy Efficiency Action plan found here: https://akenergysmart.org/energy-efficient-action-plan/
Extension:
  • If possible, ask a member of the school maintenance staff to give your class a tour of the BMON infrastructure within the school. Take a tour of the school and try to find various BMON sensors and have students document energy efficient technology they observe throughout the school.
Evaluation:

Ask students to:

  • Complete and submit the student worksheet.
  • Share something learned or something surprising during their exploration of the BMON dashboard.
  • Share a few ways to save energy through both energy efficiency and conservation.