Excerpt from: BethelCitizen.com
By: Alison Aloisio
August 15, 2008
Located in Hanover, Maine, Howard Pond has joined a growing list of lakes that will be monitored for the possible effects of global warming.
Dr. Dan Buckley from the University of Maine at Farmington is collaborating with other scientists and organizations. They hope to place several HOBO® Pendant loggers in 100 lakes across Maine over the next two years. The loggers are going to be used to measure and record temperature and light intensity at various depths.
Buckley recently described details of the monitoring project to Howard Pond residents. “While melting polar ice caps and glaciers get more of the attention in the global warming discussion,” explained Buckley, “climate change can have a dramatic effect on the ecology of lakes.” According to Buckley, projections show that in 50 years, this region will have the overall climate of southern Connecticut. “The scary thing is the lakes are changing faster than the air,” says Buckley.
A study of Lake Superior showed that since the 1980s, the average surface water temperature of the lake has risen about 4 degrees Fahrenheit. “In the same period”, said Buckley, “the atmospheric temperature has gone up 1 degree Fahrenheit.” “In this region, “ice out” dates are 10 to 15 days earlier than they were in the 19th century and early 20th centuries,” explained Buckley. For example, in the 1880s ice in the Rangeley lakes typically went out in mid-May; however, since the 1960s there has been a dramatic change – ice out has been happening earlier. “Some researchers,” said Buckley, “have suggested earlier ice out is the reason that lake temperatures are climbing at an accelerated rate.” This warming trend could result in the loss of cold-water fish, such as trout and salmon, from some lakes
“As for Howard Pond,” Buckley said, “The prediction will likely not be as dire.” According to Buckley, the pond is 118 feet deep which is unusually deep relative to its surface area. That characteristic will help protect it from the effects of global warming.
Howard Pond residents are not taking anything for granted. The pond’s Preservation Association will finance the placement of two pendant loggers. The loggers will record and measure temperature and light at 15-minute intervals and remain in the pond for up to 208 days. Buckley will then use the data to compare it to the data from other lakes in Maine.
The Howard Pond project will likely start next year.
Most companies don’t realize how their facility compares in terms of energy usage and efficiency because they don’t have key information about how their building is performing.
In order to determine a building’s energy efficiency, it is necessary to accurately assess its performance. Energy benchmarking provides an effective way to evaluate the energy consumption of a building to help identify potential energy cost savings opportunities.
Data loggers are important diagnostic tools that provide base-line energy measurements. Data loggers can be used to monitor a building’s energy performance which may include monitoring major energy-consuming equipment such as compressed air systems, boilers, hot water systems, chilled water systems, air handling units, indoor and outdoor temperature and electrical usage.
There are several factors to consider when benchmarking a facility, including:
- Identify benchmark goals: Determine the scale and objectives of the benchmarking project. Do you want to verify a facility’s base-line performance or perhaps identify operational and maintenance issues?
- Obtain documentation: Gather information about the facility. Utility bills offer history on the energy usage and cost associated with its existing performance. Other important documentation can include: floor plans, mechanical equipment schedules, and drawings of the buildings duct work and mechanical systems.
- Design a monitoring plan: Based on the information collected from step two, a monitoring plan can now be created. It is important to determine the monitoring metrics you want to include in the scope of the monitoring plan. Common monitoring variables include temperature, relative humidity, kWh, light on/off, and other HVAC system performance measurements which may include differential pressure gauge pressure and flow.
- Setup monitoring equipment: Note: A trained electrician should install the monitoring equipment in live electrical panels. It is important to select the optimum logging interval for your application. When monitoring transducers outputting pulses (such as kWh transducers for example) a logging interval no shorter than every 5-minute should be used.
- Collect and analyze data: After the data has been collected that was outlined in the monitoring plan, the data can be analyzed to create a details of the facility’s energy consumption. After analyzing the benchmarking results, it is important to identify cost saving opportunities and implement improvements.
Optimizing a building’s performance can improve energy usage and decrease utility costs while providing benefits to the environment. Benchmarking is an important way to accomplish these goals. It can provide information on how a building is currently performing and establish objectives for the future.
Resource Links:
: STEP 2.3: Benchmark http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=assess_performance.benchmark
: U.S. Green Building Council http://www.usgbc.org/Default.aspx
Live data from a HOBO U30 remote monitoring system collecting benchmark data can be seen here. 
