Bay Area Rapid Transit

At a Glance

Industry

Government/Public Administration

Project Type

Data Analysis

Year

2016

Location

Oakland, CA

Summary

Ellen Czaika analyzed energy data for San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and designed a pilot test that contracts with vendors to install sub-meters.

Goals 

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) wants to reduce their buildings’ energy use and manage consumption in real-time. They have meter-level data, but are interested in finding the sub-building energy use for each of the 45 train station buildings they operate. To help determine which components of the building use the most energy--HVAC, lighting, elevators, escalators, fare gates--and identify saving opportunities, BART enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Ellen Czaika. 

Solutions

Ellen dove into her project by creating a pilot test that contracts with vendors to install sub-meters and analyze the energy data that BART was after. To determine which stations to include in the pilot, she created a matrix of different characteristics of the stations:

  • Mean weekday ridership for the calendar year 2015
  • Station Access Typology (urban, urban with parking, balanced intermodal, intermodal-auto reliant, auto dependent)
  • Number of electrical panels in the station
  • Above or below ground status--if below, number of levels until platform
  • Square footage of the platform(s)
  • Transfer or connecting station
  • Available parking
  • Year built and last modernized

After pinpointing specific stations, Ellen outlined the requirements for a Request for Qualifications for vendors. She itemized what BART would need to conduct this pilot test, such as the ability to collect and analyze sub-metering data and to install (or sub-contract) sub-meters. 

Potential Impact

Ellen’s finding will help guide BART’s future plans to optimize stations for energy efficiency through infrastructure changes, automated building management or both. By understanding how stations in the pilot test use electricity, BART can more appropriately plan modernization retrofits and manage buildings. 

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