Week 7, Approaching the End
After receiving the macro energy data, I now have a more comprehensive understanding of consumption trends across the campus. However, while this broad data is helpful, it lacks the granularity needed to evaluate the specific energy impact of major systems, mainly appliances and HVAC. To address this, I reached out to the local director of operations to get an idea of the schools position.
With the general dataset in hand, I also began examining the requirements for earning a STAR energy rating, which is a nationally recognized benchmark for energy efficiency. Understanding these standards is crucial for validating the school’s performance and ensuring that my recommendations are aligned with established sustainability metrics.
Alongside this analysis, I concluded the final session of weekly car counting in the school’s parking lot. This effort supports my secondary waste investigation into car idling and its contribution to energy waste and emissions. I will soon begin analyzing the collected data with the goal of proposing a practical policy to reduce unnecessary idling on school grounds.
To prepare for the final stages of the project, I also dedicated time to updating my official project timeline and planning the organization of my data for presentation. Ensuring clarity and coherence in the final product will be essential for communicating the value of this research effectively.
Overall this week was a helpful turning point into the finalization of my project.