The University of California, Davis has used innovation and advanced data tools to work toward its goal of net-zero emissions by 2025. AVEVA™ PI System™ integrates data from multiple campus systems, AVEVA™ PI Vision™ displays it clearly and securely, and AVEVA™ System Platform lets engineers easily adjust control algorithms so utilities run at maximum efficiency. Three main sustainability initiatives—optimizing the chilled water system, improving HVAC scheduling, and switching from steam to a low-temperature hot water heating system—have led to massive energy and monetary savings and have ensured UC Davis is on track to meet its goal.
“We've achieved some of the more obvious efficiencies, but to reach our 2025 goal we need to go deeper. That increasingly requires things like user engagement, campus engagement, and optimization. In the last five years, the use of real-time data and the PI System has become increasingly integral to our operations and our goals.”
David Trombly, Engineering Supervisor, UC Davis
Goals
- Achieve carbon neutrality by 2025
- Improve HVAC scheduling
- Retrofit district steam heating
Challenges
- 1,000 buildings with diverse energy needs
- Self-sustaining budget
- Aging facilities infrastructure
Solutions
Results
- Expected annual savings of $150,000 from chilled water optimization, and 62% reduction in gas usage from heating system retrofit
- 46% reduction in energy-use intensity since 2009, a cost savings of $15 million
- Projected savings of $197M over 60 years from shift to low-temperature hot water heating
AVEVA PI System has also helped the university’s researchers make new data-driven breakthroughs. Researchers at UC Davis’s Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Sciences, for example, have used AVEVA PI System to monitor and improve fermentation in the winemaking process.
Related Success Stories
Stay in the know: Keep up to date on the latest happenings around the industry.
