Investigation of Energy Conservation Potentials in Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria

Abstract

Energy conservation in buildings is given utmost importance today by organizations all over the world because an effective energy management in an enterprise leads to significant cost savings in addition to indirect benefits, such as extended equipment life, increased comfort, safety, and productivity. An effective and successful energy management program begins with an energy audit, which is a systematic approach for assessing energy end-use efficiency of all concerned systems/equipment.to identify energy conserving measures (ECMs). This paper analyzed the data obtained based on the extracted electricity utility bills and Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) consumption records for 7 years (i.e. from 2009 to 2015) for Kaduna Polytechnic, being the two energy sources, as well as site surveys and analysis of the energy end users present. The records have shown that, the institution consumes annually an average electrical energy of 1445448 kWh and an average of 11093.14143 liters of AGO, which is equivalent to 118918.48 kWh during normal operation. The result of the investigation and analysis of the energy conservation potentials in the institution have shown that, energy savings of up to 7.5% of the total energy can be achieved by switching-off all security lights during the day. While turning off the air conditioners in the early morning hours of between 8am to 10am would provide a saving of up to 10% of the total energy. Furthermore, a saving of 19.5% of the total energy can be achieved when the incandescent lamps are replaced with the energy efficient ones. The energy conservation measures (ECMs) followed in this research had shown significant savings in terms of both energy and cost, and if well implemented, can pave the way for a sustainable future towards energy management in the institution.