Energy Modeling Of Jails: A Case Study Of Watauga County Detention Facility

There are approximately 3,200 jails across the U.S. housing over 700,000 people daily. Detention facilities have considerable utility demand; in 2011 North Carolina prisons spent $48 million on energy and water utility bills. One reason for the high energy bills is the aging building stock of detention facilities. However, the constant need for electricity, heating, and ventilation create the possibility of significant savings from retrofits. In order to realize these savings, substantial capital expenditure is required for appropriate projects. Typically, the allocation of scarce capital is determined by creating an energy model to evaluate the potential savings. Though there is a large amount of high-level statistics, there is little information about the detailed energy flows needed for energy modeling. Additionally, few modeling programs have detention facility default settings. The purpose of this study is to identify and quantify the energy flows of Watauga County Detention Facility, a jail of medium size and age in North Carolina. The jail will be modeled in two programs and those models will be used to evaluate retrofit options. This study will provide insight into how a detention facility can be accurately modeled with specific information about the appropriateness of the software evaluated.