Richard J. Daley Library
Dating from 1963, the library is named for former Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was instrumental in bringing a campus of the University of Illinois to the city of Chicago. Considered an anchor building of the historic Walter Netsch campus, the four-story library was built in two stages: first, the central structure, followed by additions on the north and south ends.
The library's energy savings project involves adjusting controls of the HVAC system's air handling units, which pull air in to a building or push air out into the atmosphere. Adjusting when and how these units run, though seemingly small changes, will add up to significant financial savings and a major reduction in the university's carbon footprint.
Project details Heading link
| Project Start Date: | December 2, 2019 |
| Approximate Project End Date: | February, 2020 |
| Project Manager: | Andrew Barrett |
| Estimated Financial Savings: | $117,978 annually |
| Estimated Energy Savings: | 377,036 Kilowatt hours annually |
| Estimated Natural Gas Savings: | 4,036 MMBtus annually |
Energy Savings Heading link
The 377,036 kilowatt hours and 22.155 therms of natural gas that UIC will save annually after this project’s completion means that UIC will have prevented 475 metric tons of CO2 475from entering the atmosphere.
These emissions would have taken the 3,894 trees on UIC’s campus over 5 years to absorb.”
475 metric tons of Co2 emissions is equivalent to: Heading link
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1,100 barrels of oil consumed
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83 homes' electricity use for one year
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21,816 trees' annual carbon sequestration capacity
Energy Conservation Measures Heading link
- Turning off the air handling unit fans that move air between the building and outdoors during the library’s unoccupied period, and reducing their scheduled operation on an area by area basis, based on when each part of the library is open.
- Optimizing the start and stop times of the air handling units to decrease their overall run time, and implementing warm-up and cool-down times where the AHU is on, but no air is being pulled from outside. This will minimize the overall start-up time and reduce the amount of outside air pulled into the space.
- Syncing air dampers in select air handling units with CO2 sensors, so that outside air is only pulled into the building when necessary for air quality.
- Repairing damaged hot water and chilled water valves in air handling units to prevent leaks and increase the efficiency of the heated and cooled water.
- Program a discharge static pressure reset sequence, and prevent the building automation system from overriding the sequence.