Plymouth University (Plymouth, U.K.) has reduced its water consumption costs by over $70,000 using equipment from resource conservation company HWM (known as FCS in the United States).
Plymouth is the largest university in southwest England, with a student body of 27,000. Conservation is a priority to Plymouth University, and it frequently searches for ways to reduce waste.
In 2011 the school began work with HWM, which installed COMLog GPRS data loggers at 21 sites in and around the campus. The instruments measure water usage every half hour, and wirelessly transmit data twice daily to a web-hosted server, Datagate, which then distributes the data to the local water utility company as part of the university’s resource management strategy.
“Half-hourly meters have brought us a whole new management regime, where we can interrogate consumption in a lot more depth,” said Paul Lumley, the university’s energy and environmental manager. “When you really want to interrogate how a building uses water, you need to have half-hourly data. It’s impossible to do otherwise.”
Aside from identifying potential leaks very quickly, the COMLogs allow the University to monitor trends in specific buildings and alert staff of any wasteful use.
“The information is paramount to affect behavioral change. I can think of two instances where I’ve relayed information to building users regarding large consumptions caused by equipment,” said Lumley. “Staff have responded really positively once they see and understand the need to improve control, and the related cost savings.”
Source: HWM
