Improving access to public building energy use to promote better energy policy

We recently used money from a National Science Foundation grant to install additional monitoring and sensing equipment in the engineering building at our educational institution. This allows students access to various types of data used in the operation of the building. They now use the actual building as a Living Laboratory for thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and Heating, Ventilation, & Air-Conditioning (HVAC) classes. The data is accessed through an internet interface and is therefore accessible anywhere there is an internet connection. We have also used this data in visits with middle school children to illustrate the concepts of building energy use. Placing this data on a public website will enable the public at large to increase their understanding of the amount of energy it takes to run a building and where that energy is used. Better citizen education regarding how energy is used for building heating, cooling, and ventilation should result in better decisions in the development of public energy policy. This paper will discuss how we went about gaining access to that data, and the potential we see for taking this information to the public.