A low carbon campus through energy efficiency and energy conservation measures | |
| Author | Autchara Poohngamnil |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.ET-10-01 |
| Subject(s) | Energy conservation--Thailand Energy consumption--Thailand Greenhouse gas mitigation--Thailand |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Energy |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Global climate change due to the anthropogenic activities is the one biggest issue that the humanity is facing today. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions being the main source of the global warming are the major source of global climate change. Building sector is one significant contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions. Many educational institutes in the world are moving towards low carbon campus through mitigation of GHG emissions. Energy efficiency and energy conservation are most suitable to GHG emissions reduction. AIT is an educational institute, which contributes to greenhouse gas emission through its activities in the campus. The carbon footprint due to major activities in AIT campus was analyzed for a better understanding of how AIT emits GHG emissions. Electricity consumption accounts for as much as 50% of GHG emissions, followed by transportation (37%), waste generation (11 %), refrigerant leakage (1 %) and stationary combustion (1 %) with a total of 14,895 tCO₂eq/year. The average GHG emission of AIT was assessed to be 4.32 tCO₂eq/capita. The study focused on mitigation of GHG emissions through energy efficiency and energy conservation measures. AIT consumes about 12 GWh/year of electricity which causes about 7,488 tCO₂eq/year of GHG emissions. EEM laboratory, corridors and restrooms in the South Academic Building and the Ambient Lab Building were selected for the implementation of energy efficiency and energy conservation measures. A number of measures (technical & awareness) were implemented during the courses of this study regarding from changing lamps, using of pull switches, sensors etc. By implementing in EEM laboratory, electricity consumption was reduced by 20% by the technical measures. Moreover, about 10% of electricity consumption was reduced by energy saving promotion campaign. So, the overall electricity saving was about 30%. The payback period of energy efficiency measures was found to be around one year. Due to these implementations, AIT's GHG emissions could be reduced about 58,962 kg CO₂eq/year. Policy options for AIT to move towards low carbon campus are also discussed in detail. |
| Year | 2010 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Energy Technology (ET) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kumar, Sivanappan; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Mohanty, Brahmanand;Weerakorn Ongsakul;Hoang Le Tien; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | RTG Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2010 |