Energy Management at CDU
Charles Darwin University is resolute in working to limit its negative impact on the environment. Below are examples of some of the measures the University has put in place, and continues to work on, to manage energy use across all campuses and to lessen the University’s contribution to global warming. You too can assist by following the guidelines and tips recommended in BusinessLink's Environmentally Friendly Office Guidelines (.pdf, 151kb).
Electricity use and air-conditioning
Air-conditioning on the Casuarina campus places the largest demand on energy at CDU. Since 1995, though, the University has been working to restrict the increasing use of electricity and the resulting carbon emissions. This work has resulted in the development and construction of a thermal energy storage air-conditioning system. The system, which is managed by the Building Management System (BMS), allows automatic, local and remote control of both Darwin area campuses.
Casuarina campus
The campus is cooled through four centrifugal-type chillers supplying chilled water which is stored in a tank with a total capacity of 8.3 mega litres. The chilled water is reticulated throughout the campus to multi-zoned, air-handling units (AHUs) located in each building to air-condition a total of 44 buildings.
BMS controllers control and monitor operations. The chilled water system uses off-peak power which means significant cost savings to the University ($700,000 a year) but, more importantly, the system has significantly reduced the peak time loadings on the Darwin power generating grid.
Palmerston campus
The Palmerston campus is serviced by three chillers. The campus consists of three main buildings with a total of 18 AHUs regulating the air-conditioning. The Palmerston system is controlled by 21 BMS controllers.
General power usage
The largest energy savings can occur when buildings are designed to take advantage of natural shade and light. When existing buildings are renovated, the opportunity is taken wherever possible to replace high-energy use lights with low-energy use fittings. This includes the extensive and continuing project to fit timed light controls on central teaching spaces.
Alice Springs campus
An example of these techniques is the new higher education building in Alice Springs which has been designed especially to make maximum use of shade in summer and available warmth from sun in winter. This building also has automatically opening windows to take advantage of ventilation through cross winds. This building also uses a stand-alone, chilled water system for air-conditioning, low-energy-use lights and has fully insulated walls and ceilings.
Vehicle fuel
During the past three years, CDU has replaced most of its six-cylinder, general purpose vehicles with more fuel-efficient, four-cylinder varieties. The University also continues to plant trees to mitigate vehicle emissions generated from the vehicle fleet. Consideration also is being given to using ‘hybrid passenger vehicles’. At the moment, though, they do not appear to be cost-effective.
Waste management
CDU provides paper re-cycling bins and encourages staff to place clean waste paper in these bins for re-cycling.
Water usage
While CDU has extensive water reticulation systems in place to water gardens efficiently, the University also uses drought-resistant plants and mulch to minimise water use.
The Palmerston campus uses the artesian capacity of the site to store water in the campus lake, which then forms the only source of water for reticulation.
Water-efficient services, including water-saving fittings, are installed when buildings are being constructed or refurbished.
CDU continues to explore ways to minimise ongoing energy usage.
