Electrical Deregulation - Planning for Success in Texas Schools

Beginning January 1, 2002, Texas' electric industry is opening to customer choice, giving consumers the power to choose the company that provides their electricity. Under electrical deregulation in Texas, there are three separate players. The Retail Electric Provider (REP) markets power to the consumer (public) and serves as the customer point of contact. The Power Generation Company generates the electricity and is already deregulated. The transmission and distribution utilities (wires) remain regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). As of the writing of this abstract in October 2001, REP's indicate that only about 15% of Texas ISD's have taken any action. Ready or not pricing and purchasing methods of electricity in Texas will change. This paper discusses major deregulation issues in Texas Schools (e.g. procurement process, contracts, workloads, uncertainty. etc.). The before and after scenarios of deregulation are compared. Texas Schools, to be prepared for success, need to understand their energy usage and patterns, district characteristics, deregulation options and pricing, and terms/conditions. This paper provides Texas Schools with specific homework, electrical deregulation options, procurement process, and RFP guidelines. Owning the fine print is as essential as terms and conditions and may be as important as the price. Examples will be included. The decision making process for all size school districts will be discussed. The experience of the authors in assisting Texas school districts in this process will be shared. After deregulation, homework will also be addressed

Helpful Hints for Operating Schools

Effective operation of school buildings in periods of both total and partial occupancy requires active management and proactive maintenance. Prevention, response, policy implementation, and adequate training are the main elements of a successful operations program. This paper will discuss helpful hints that schools can use to maintain a proper building environment and save energy at the same time. Two case studies will also be included. The first is the TEAMS program, developed by Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. The second is an effective energy policy and program employed by Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD. The experience of the authors gained through assisting Texas school districts will also be shared

Daylighting Prediction Software: Comparative Analysis and Application

Daylighting is a beneficial design strategy since it may provide energy savings and contribute to a more sustainable design. In recent studies, daylighting has also been shown to increase staff and student productivity and to decrease absenteeism. The consulting engineer is often faced with the dilemma of how to design a daylighted building. What tools are available to predict the amount of daylighting? What are the design limitations and parameters? How much time is required? How does the data compare to the “real world”? The purpose of this paper is to answer these questions and provide useful information for the design of daylighted areas with the assistance of software-based simulation. A survey was made of the available software programs for the calibrated modeling of light scattered in enclosed spaces. These software packages used algorithms based on either total radiosity (flux transfer) computations or physically accurate ray tracing. A summary of this survey along with the selection criteria used in selecting a software program are presented. “Radiance”, a reverse ray tracing method software package, was chosen for use in the simulations. An existing school was modeled with the Radiance software and predictions of daylighting contributions were compared with actual data taken at the site location. The use of daylighting also requires a highly specialized lighting system. This system incorporates the use of controllable ballasts and lighting sensors to maximize the daylighting contribution to the overall required illumination. Some design criteria for this system is also discussed

Harvesting the Rain, An Overview of the Rainwater Collection Systems at McKinney ISD

The primary goal of sustainable design is to utilize the natural resources offered by the surrounding environment. Considering the drought conditions over the past several years, water is a resource that received significant consideration in the planning and design phases at four elementary schools in McKinney ISD. By harvesting the rainwater from the roof of the building and channeling this water into six oncampus storage tanks, enough rainwater can be collected to flush the toilets and irrigate the school's lawn areas. The rainwater collection and utilization system includes gutters to direct the water to the cisterns, cisterns to collect the rainwater and pumps to distribute the water. A floor plan of Walker Elementary School is shown in Figure 1. Other features of the system include a piping loop for tank equalization, a circulation system for freeze protection, a booster system for flushing, a tie-in to City water for make-up water and chemical treatment. Another element of sustainable design is “eco education” which is a concept that incorporates sustainability into the curriculum so that students can understand the design and how it impacts the environment. By making this collection system visible, it is a very powerful teaching tool for students to learn about water conservation. The purpose of this paper is to present detailed information on the rainwater collection and utilization system at four elementary schools in McKinney ISD. This information will include planning issues and considerations, design features and constraints, construction needs and maintenance and operation requirements

Harvesting the Rain, An Overview of the Rainwater Collection Systems at McKinney ISD

The primary goal of sustainable design is to utilize the natural resources offered by the surrounding environment. Considering the drought conditions over the past several years, water is a resource that received significant consideration in the planning and design phases at four elementary schools in McKinney ISD. By harvesting the rainwater from the roof of the building and channeling this water into six oncampus storage tanks, enough rainwater can be collected to flush the toilets and irrigate the school's lawn areas. The rainwater collection and utilization system includes gutters to direct the water to the cisterns, cisterns to collect the rainwater and pumps to distribute the water. A floor plan of Walker Elementary School is shown in Figure 1. Other features of the system include a piping loop for tank equalization, a circulation system for freeze protection, a booster system for flushing, a tie-in to City water for make-up water and chemical treatment. Another element of sustainable design is “eco education” which is a concept that incorporates sustainability into the curriculum so that students can understand the design and how it impacts the environment. By making this collection system visible, it is a very powerful teaching tool for students to learn about water conservation. The purpose of this paper is to present detailed information on the rainwater collection and utilization system at four elementary schools in McKinney ISD. This information will include planning issues and considerations, design features and constraints, construction needs and maintenance and operation requirements

Multipartite Entanglement in Rabi Driven Superconducting Qubits

Exploring highly connected networks of qubits is invaluable for implementing various quantum algorithms and simulations as it allows for entangling qubits with reduced circuit depth. Here, we demonstrate a multi-qubit STAR (Sideband Tone Assisted Rabi driven) gate. Our scheme is inspired by the ion qubit M{\o}lmer-S{\o}rensen gate and is mediated by a shared photonic mode and Rabi-driven superconducting qubits, which relaxes restrictions on qubit frequencies during fabrication and supports scalability. We achieve a two-qubit gate with maximum state fidelity of 0.95 in 310 ns, a three-qubit gate with state fidelity 0.905 in 217 ns, and a four-qubit gate with state fidelity 0.66 in 200 ns. Furthermore, we develop a model of the gate that show the four-qubit gate is limited by shared resonator losses and the spread of qubit-resonator couplings, which must be addressed to reach high-fidelity operations.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figure