Energy Conservation in Maryland Public Schools. Analysis of 1982 Data in Relation to the 1978-81 Study

摘要

The analysis of Maryland schools energy use data through 1981 (dated September 10, 1982) indicated that schools that participated in the Institutional Conservation Program (ICP) did no better in saving energy than schools that did not participate. Indeed in the year following receipt of ICP energy conservation measure (ECM) grants, the energy use of schools that received the grants actually increased significantly. No variable perceptible in the data or in external data, such as weather records, could be found to explain this perverse finding. Accordingly, an additional year's data was analyzed to see if: (1) the perverse energy use records of the ECM buildings reversed themselves, (2) the ECM energy use pattern provided evidence that major energy savings that did not occur in the first year occurred in the second year after receipt of ECM grants, and (3) the savings accrued by other categories of ICP participants and nonparticipants continued during 1982. Buildings that initiated ECM's in 1981 (based on grants received in 1980) had achieved savings that exceeded those of all other categories of participants and nonparticipants by 1982. Because this finding reverses the results of analysis of data from 1978 to 1981, it is reasonable to conclude that during 1982 the benefits of ECM's approved in 1980 did not demonstrate their effects until 1982. (ERA citation 08:023809)