Matthew Fainor, ‘20, an IDEAS (Integrated Degree in Engineering, Arts & Sciences) major, worked on a cutting-edge research project for Lehigh this summer as an OSISoft intern in Philadelphia. The project, called the OSISoft Campus Metabolism Project, will help track Lehigh University resource usage to indicate where there is room for efficiency and maintenance improvements around campus. This way, the university can make decisions about where to focus their efficiency-focused projects for long-term progress, as well as give individual students access to their own environmental footprints. Here is what Fainor had to tell us about the transformative summer project:
Q1: What will the OSISoft Campus Metabolism Project accomplish?
The Lehigh University Campus Metabolism Project is a system designed and created to track the ins and outs of Lehigh University. As a physical institution, Lehigh uses a sum of resources, which are being tracked. From electricity, to natural gas, to water, to materials, these resources [the “ins” of the university] are transformed into outputs as they are used (carbon emissions, waste, etc). Overall, the System was designed as both an efficiency tool and an educational tool to track and analyze all this data. As an efficiency tool, it will empower LU Facilities to track usage over time for the campus, individual facility types (classroom buildings, dorm buildings, etc.), individual buildings, and individual utility meters attached to those buildings. This will better show which buildings on campus are not running as efficiently as they could be, where maintenance decisions need to be made, etc. As an educational tool, it will allow students to see their environmental footprint on campus in terms of how much energy and water they use and how much waste they create.
Q2: What was your role in the project?
I was hired by OSISoft as the intern to create the database for Lehigh which would house all the data being collected for the electricity usage, gas usage, water usage, and waste generation. This included creating the organizational hierarchy used to access and reference data points, creating all the calculations utilized to analyze the data (energy use intensity, which is the amount of energy a building uses per square foot, water use per capita which is the amount of water used per occupant of a residential building, etc.), and determining strategies to continue integrating the electricity, gas, water, and waste data into the database. The second part of the internship consisted of taking all the information and analytics I made functional in the database and making them accessible through visual dashboards. This included designing and creating an easy to use, visually pleasing platform.
Q3: How does the project relate to sustainability and why do you think it's important to the university?
It is difficult to increase efficiency and determine maintenance improvements without knowing where there is the most room for improvement. The Campus Metabolism Project makes the individual information and the entire campus’ environmental impact accessible, historical, and most importantly, actionable. This project is, and will, prove to be vital to Lehigh University’s sustainable development because it provides accurate insight into where students can make changes in their daily living habits to minimize their environmental impact and where Lehigh can make changes in its physical infrastructure to become more efficient.
Q4: How did you get involved and what can students/staff/faculty do if they have similar sustainability goals?
I became involved in the project because of my large involvement with the Eco-Rep Leadership Program for the past two years and my established relationship with the Office of Sustainability. If you have similar sustainability interests and goals, the first step is to reach out. Talk to the Eco-Reps you know, go to their events, and reach out to the Office of Sustainability. Start a meaningful dialogue about goals you have, and go from there.
Q5: What was your favorite part of working on the project?
I really enjoyed creating the dashboards/displays. After working for so many weeks on the “back end” of the database doing all the engineering work for the project, it was nice to connect with the communication aspect. I very much enjoyed figuring out how people would access the information, what features they would want to see, and how we would create a visually narrative platform that communicates not only the numbers on the page, but the story of Lehigh’s campus metabolism.
Q6: What have you learned from this project?
I would say the biggest thing I learned from completing this project was just how much impact you can create from the information around you. If we collect and leverage data properly (and this goes for anything), the impact can be tremendous!
The Campus Metabolism Project is an innovative process that will help Lehigh as a whole reach some of its campus sustainability goals. In the future, it has great potential to become a tool for educating students about where they can start making a difference through simple changes in their day-to-day living habits.