the campus - Dimension Data
CASE STUDY OF A RETROFIT OF POWER SAVING DEVICES IN A COMMERCIAL BUILDING – THE CAMPUS OFFICE PARK, BRYANSTON
Electricity in South Africa is predominantly generated by burning coal. The one operating nuclear power plant at Koeberg supplies less than 6% of the total power generated by Eskom. Generating electricity not only requires the burning of coal but also consumes a tremendous quantity of water which is heated to produce steam to power the generators. The total process of generating electricity has significant environmental impact as shown below.
Each saved KWh results in the following environmental savings:
Coal saved (kg):
0.49
Water saved (l):
1.27
Ash produced (g):
132,62
Ash emitted (g):
0.29
SO2 emissions (g) becomes acid rain:
7.56
NOx emissions (g) becomes acid rain:
3.55
CO2 emissions (kg) primary greenhouse gas:
0.89
Lighting accounts for 30% to 40% of a commercial building’s energy costs, and the installation of so-called ‘intelligent lighting’ is one of the fastest ways to increase the energy efficiency and reduce the operating costs of commercial buildings, thereby providing the biggest impact with the least amount of capital input. (Van der Merwe, 2007)
This is an aerial photograph of The Campus. It is a large scale office park which surrounds a cricket oval. Each large building is approx 6,000m2 or larger and the smaller ones approx 1,200m2
The Campus is the head office of the Dimension Data Group. Dimension Data is a specialist IT services and solutions provider that helps clients plan, build, support and manage their IT infrastructures. The group is positioned at the forefront of networking and communications in nearly 40 countries around the world and operates across 5 key geographies: Middle East & Africa, Americas (North and South), Europe, Asia and Australia. Each of these regional business units operates under the umbrella of the Dimension Data Group Head Office located at The Campus, in Bryanston in Johannesburg. (Caldwell,2008)
Dimension Data (DD) is listed on both the Johannesburg (JSE) and London Stock Exchanges (LSE). Due to the fact that DD is listed on the LSE they have been invited to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaire submission.
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organisation aiming to create a lasting relationship between shareholders and corporations regarding the implications for shareholder value and commercial operations presented by climate change. Its goal is to facilitate a dialogue, supported by quality information, from which a rational response to climate change will emerge.
This questionnaire is issued by a group of institutional investors with a combined US$57 trillion of assets under management. On their behalf it seeks information on the business risks and opportunities presented by climate change and greenhouse gas emissions data from the world’s largest 3,000 organisations. A growing number of investors are using the results of this questionnaire to assess the sustainable value of businesses. (Caldwell, 2008)
It was from this initiative that DD decided to create regional Carbon management teams under the in the Australia region to measure their carbon footprint and from there put plans into place to reduce it. From this benchmarking it became apparent that one of the best areas of reducing the carbon footprint was reducing power consumption. The South African sector of the group had already begun the power saving process through the retrofitting of power saving devices in 2005. (Caldwell, 2007) Retrofitting refers to the addition of new technology or features to older systems. In this case it refers to the addition of technology to existing buildings that will reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint, thus converting a regular building to a ‘green’ one.
The Campus building is a large-scale office park that has been operational since January 2003 and has the following characteristics:
Size
22 Hectare Site
18 Buildings
81,000m² of Offices
115,000m² of Basement
2000m² Data Centre
The Data Centre - The high amount of electrical equipment and technical devices that are used in the data centre mean that it requires a massive amount of energy. For every 1,000m2 a data centre requires 1MVa of power. To put in perspective a standard 6,000m2 building requires 0.6 MVa The same size building which houses the data centre uses 2.1MVa
Power Usage in 2005
Power was costing DD over a million Rand per month
A million watts of lighting was used
Air – Con accounted for 41% of power usage
Plug points - 24%
Lighting - 35%
Energy demand for the building at that time was 5MVa. Currently it sits at 8MVA as the Data Centre has been extended by 1,500m2 and another 6,000m2 building has been built.
There is a central air conditioning plant for each large building. Each plant has 3 chillers.
The outgoing air temperature to the buildings was set at 5 degrees C. By changing this to 6 degrees C (1 degree change)it was found that only 2 out of the 3 chillers was needed and this amounted to a saving of 80 KWh per chiller – a total of 640KWh. This is an example of how simple variations to existing systems can be made, which while making an insignificant impact to the building and its occupants, can make a significant difference to power usage. However, it is in the lighting system in which the most significant difference was made.
Light Sensor System
A major component of The Campus’ energy consumption was derived from lighting and it was this component that was seen as the one where the most difference in power usage could be effected. At this stage environmental awareness and the South African power crisis were not as prominent as they are today and Dimension Data had not yet implemented any major green initiatives. Originally, the installation of a light sensor system was implemented purely as a cost saving approach– it was only later that the environmental aspects were considered and its impact ascertained. The reasoning behind the system was an improved bottom line through reductions in heating, lighting and air conditioning bills. A large amount of energy (and therefore money) is wasted on lighting fro commercial properties which serve little or no purpose. This can be seen clearly in the following pictures:
The Campus Rollout
The success of the pilot scheme in energy and cost savings meant that the project would be expanded to install the Electro Sense system in the entire Campus Office Park. This meant a large scale installation of 2810 sensors. This resulted in an annual power saving of 10 KWh which equates to an average power saving of 25% (this is calculated from a 73% saving in lighting, which is 35% of total power used.) The Capital expenditure was R5,823,000 and the return on the investment was realised within 24 months ( this ROI was calculated whilst ignoring Eskom’s capital input of R2,6 Million, therefore DD’s ROI was even greater.) The entire process took only three months.
In addition, the following environmental impact information was gathered and calculated by the Dimension Data South Africa Carbon Management ‘Green Team’.
780,00l of water saved
300 tons of coal not used
550 tons of CO² not emitted
These environmental impacts have a knock-on social impact which can be viewed as savings that are equivalent of taking 2593 cars off the roads, or enough electricity to supply 1229 low income families, or supplying 513 people with water for basic needs.
The Campus – After Rollout
