1

Updating to Sustainable
Thermostats
Project Proposal

Eriana Koncelik & Alisha Parzanese

Table of Contents
I. Mission Statement..........3

II. Abstract..........3

III. Statement of Need............3

VII. References...........13

I. Mission Statement: Our mission in this proposal is to inform and persuade The Richard
Stockton College of New Jersey on how beneficial transitioning to Cypress Wireless Pneumatic
Thermostats will be for the school. It will improve the air temperature throughout the campus.
We will explain how this new thermostat system is a more affordable and sustainable option
when comparing it with our current thermostat technology. An investment in the Colleges
thermostat system will have additional benefits as well, such as creating a more comfortable
atmosphere for the students and the faculty.
II. Abstract: Our ultimate objective is to improve the temperature and overall quality of the air in
The Richard Stockton College campus by using more sustainable technologies that have shown
to be more cost effective. We can improve the indoor air quality by keeping the air temperatures
in the buildings at relatively constant temperatures, opposed to the major drops and peeks we
see with the current thermostat system. Doing this creates a comfortable atmosphere which will
improve the experience the students and the facility will have at the collage. Case studies are
provided to show how this was effective at saving energy for other buildings. To begin this
process at Stockton, a pilot program will be conducted in the Arts and Science building which
will include installing a wireless pneumatic thermostat system purchased from the Cypress
Envirosystems company. Following the installation, an analysis of the new systems energy use
will be compared to the previous systems energy intake. After a comparison has been
completed with the case study examples and the benefits analyzed, a questionnaire will be
distributed by email to the facility and the students that attend the Arts and Science building to
see how they react to the updated system.
III. Statement of Need: Stocktons buildings require the use of thermostats, like any other
building, but because it requires such a large quantity of them to meet the demands of its large
building size it is difficult to manage. During an academic year, students and faculty at the
Stockton campus spend the majority of their time in these academic buildings. Their possible
exposure to low or high temperature that could affect their comfortability should be taken into
consideration. The outdated system Stockton is using is a waste of energy and the schools
financial resources. The schools current systems are manual devices which do not allow for
remote readings, diagnostics, or setpoint control (Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat).
IV. Detailed Project Description:
A. Goals: Our overall goal is to upgrade the College's thermostat systems throughout
the campus in efforts to conserve energy, money, and address complains of many faculty and
students. Also, to complete an implementation of the Arts and Science building pilot program
experiment.
B. Proposed Technology: T
he sustainable thermostat technology that we are
proposing comes from a company called Cypress Envirosystems which develops sustainable
technologies in efforts to improve older buildings and plants productivity. These technologies
were designed to have a minimum disruption and expense on the buildings that are being
considered for improvements. In order to have these minimum disruptions, they are designed to

be installed within minutes, the cost of applying their technologies is a small percentage than
other applications. These benefits of the installation of this new technology can be a money
saving opportunity for the college which will leave the school with extra money to invest in other
projects.
The name of the technology that we are proposing from this company is known as the
Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT) which, provides standard pneumatic thermostats with
networked Direct Digital Control (DDC) functionality (Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat
Preliminary Assessment). One of the benefits stated about the WPT technology on the
company's website is that is has the ability to integrate with existing automation systems such
as Siemens and Honeywell or can operate as a stand alone technology. In addition to installing
this new technology, the Cypress website explains that you do not need to replace the current,
pneumatic pipes, run wires, replace actuators or disturb tenants. (Wireless Pneumatic
Thermostat (WPT)). This new technology is also explained on the cypress website to have the
added benefit to, selectively retrofit individual thermostats for incremental benefits. (Wireless
Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT)). Other benefits stated by the companies website are that the
WPT technologys battery powered devices regularly transmit battery status and also a
communications link status, which can be viewed and programmed for alarm notification, remote
wireless setpoint control and monitoring of temperature and pressure, page/cell notification of
excursions, automatic self-calibration, programmable temperature setbacks, occupancy
override, enables demand response strategies, BACnet interface for integration with Building
Management Systems, and has optional deadband control.
C. How it can be installed: In order to install these new sustainable thermostats,
Cypress offers assistance and they also offer to teach the maintenance staff how to operate the
new system software at no additional cost. There's also a step by step guide which shows you
how to install this new Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat software. In addition, since it can be
integrated as a stand alone technology, it can be easily integrated as a case study for the Arts
and Science building at Richard Stockton College.This guide is given as followed:

1. Cost:
-Campus wide Total: $140,000
-Arts and Science Total: $5000
The Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat can be purchased online on the
gsaadvantage.gov website which gives the price of $483.70 per unit. If the school were to
consider installing the Deadband Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat the cost would be slightly
higher at the given price of $555.73 per unit. The installation of the units is included and they will
also show the schools maintenance crew how to install and maintain them. The amount of

square footage we intend to install the thermostat systems in is about 861,000 square feet. This
includes everything, and more, from the Campus center, Unified science center, Big Blue, and
the Academic Buildings. This only includes assignable space which is offices, classrooms,
conference rooms, athletic facilities. Corridors, bathrooms, storage and other areas are not
included. To make sure these areas have adequate heating and air condition as well, they have
been added into the square footage. This space amounted to 172,200 square feet. The total is
1,033,200 square feet of space to be updated to the Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats.
To get an accurate estimate of how much the entire update would cost a representative
from the company was consulted. For the area we will be converting it would cost an estimated
$120,677.00. In order to get a more accurate estimate a free consultation could be conducted
by a professional from the Cypress Envirosystems company. The proposal will be requesting a
total of $140,000.00 in funding which would include miscellaneous cost, such as repairing any
damaged thermostats in the school before updating them (because they run off the same base)
and it also accounts for fluctuations in the estimate.
Before the campus wide installation, the Arts and Science building pilot program
experiment will take place. The area being updated in the experiment equals a total of 40,000
square feet. The experiment will require an estimated $4,670.00. Including miscellaneous cost
and room for fluxuation, a total budget of $5000.00 is required. As mentioned before the
installation cost are covered in the units price.This experiment is important because it give the
college a chance to test out the WPTs before committing to a larger project.
We request that Stockton completes an official assessment conducted by the Cypress
Envirosystems company before finalizing any budget approval.
2. Timeline:
-Campus wide Total: 1 week
-Arts and science Building Total: 2 days
It only takes a few minutes to update each individual thermostat. The proposed plan is to
divided up the installation process, to minimize interruption to students and faculty. In total, the
update would only take an estimated week to complete. The school should expect to see a
significant drop in their energy consumption immediately after installation is completed. The
WPTs are known to have paybacks within as little time as 18 months.
The Arts and Science building pilot program experiment will take only an estimated two
days to completely install.
3. Evaluation of Success: In order to evaluate our proposal, an analysis of
energy savings will be done and a questionnaire will be distributed by email to the facility and
the student body that attend classes, have offices, teach, live or are regularly on the campus.
The assessment of energy savings will compare the energy consumption pre updating to the
energy consumption recorded post updating. If the evaluation and analysis of the energy
consumption show a drop in complaints and savings in energy, which is similar to the case
studies that the Cypress company provided on their website, then we can conclude that the
installation of the WPTs were a success.
This questionnaire will explain to recipients when exactly this new thermostat system
was installed and contain a series of questions based on the period after installation. The
questions that will be asked in the questionnaire are as followed:

A. Have you noticed any changes in the air temperature throughout the
building?
B. If you are a faculty member and have an office, does the air
temperature in your facility office seem more uniform that it has before this
installation took place?
C. Does the temperature seem more comfortable than it was before this
installation?
D. Are their any parts of the campus that you think are more warmer or
more colder than the other rooms?
E. Do you have any complaints or frustrations with the air temperatures
recently?
This evaluation of the Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat will first be implemented on a
smaller scale with the Arts and Science building pilot program experiment, where it will only be
distributed to faculty and students using that building.
V. Air Quality Case Study Examples: Cypress Envirosystems provided a detailed case study
based on an education facility which had installed the wireless pneumatic thermostat system
and had shown various benefits from its installation. On the Cypress site, they explain that WPT
technology was selected by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Green Proving
Ground. On the GSA website they state that they selected this new technology because 40% of
GSA buildings still use pneumatic thermostats and they want to obtain the benefits from
installing this new technology which is energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, has operations and
maintenance, and deployment potential. Another case study and its detailed description is listed
below.
The University of California at San Diego:
Building use: Multi-story building with a mixture of research labs, offices and
classrooms
Building size: 125,000 square feet
Project area: 112,500 square feet
MBCx contractor: Eaton Energy Solutions
Annual energy savings: 5
38,900 kWh & 57,000 therms
Project cost (after rebate): $14,600
Simple payback: 0.2 years
Benefits:
Estimated annual utility bill savings of $94,900
Greenhouse gas emission reduction of 538 metric tons of CO2e annually
WPTs can be controlled and monitored remotely via the existing Johnson
Controls Metasys building automation system (BAS)

PROJECT SUMMARY
Site: McGill-Mandler Hall
Location: UC San Diego
Project area 112,500 square feet
Built: 1970
ENERGY INFORMATION
Annual electricity use before retrofit: 2
,561,500 kWh
Annual natural gas use before retrofit: 1
12,000 therms
Annual electricity savings: 5
38,900 kWh
Annual natural gas savings: 5
7,000 therms
PROJECT ECONOMICS
Annual utility cost savings: $
94,900
Total project cost: $
295,700
Utility & CEC incentives:
SDG&E UC Partnership Program Rebate (expected) - $186,300
Energy Technology Assistance Program Rebate - $94,800
Simple payback: 0
.2 years (3.1 years without rebates)
EQUIPMENT INSTALLED
Basic project components:
250 Cypress Envirosystems Deadband Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats
3 Cypress Envirosystems Green Box Controllers
25 Cypress Envirosystems "Wall Powered" or "24VAC Powered" Repeaters
Outcome
Fans run fewer hours, reducing fan electricity use
Less heating and cooling energy is required during periods of low occupancy
Centralized control of set points reduces unnecessary heating and cooling
Issues can be identified and addressed quickly, reducing wasted energy from
broken or incorrectly calibrated equipment
Reduces amount of chilled water and natural gas, thus reducing the cooling and
reheating energy that is needed
Reduces heating and cooling energy because thermostat not trying to achieve
precise zone temperature
Reduces simultaneous heating and cooling
Reduces heating and cooling energy because HVAC system is able to better
control use of outside air

The graph above shows the energy consumption differences for The University of
California at San Diego case study.
IV. Rationale:
A. Sustainability Initiative: Stocktons Sustainability Initiative policy states that their
goal is to Reduce Stockton Colleges contribution to local and global environmental stresses
and enhance and preserve the existing natural resources on campus(Sustainability Initiative).
By implementing this proposed system Stockton can become more sustainable by limiting the
amount of energy it requires to maintain appropriate temperatures throughout its campus. The
Cypress Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats are eco-friendly, energy efficient and will improve the
schools LEED ranking. The Cypress Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats have also received
several awards and recognition for its efficiency. One of their recognitions came from the
building operation management in 2012 which they were selected for the top product awards.
They evaluated their selections based on innovation and usefulness to facility managers and the
Cypress Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats was recognized as having that ability. Another
Recognition came from the Building Green Top-10 Product for 2012. Their product was selected
based on its evaluation as the most innovative product and was also seen as the most prized
green build product. It was recently added to their GreenSpec Directory. A second recognition
came from The Boston Consulting Group. They were recognized based on case study of a
building complex which showed that their device reduced the amount of electricity while also
reducing carbon dioxide emissions. One of their wins came from Gases & Instrumentation
International 2010 Golden Gas Awards. This award showed that they solved issues that are
currently facing the gas industry such as environmental green attributes and cost
effectiveness. A second win came from the BuilConn. They received the Buildy award in the

year 2009 during the connectivity week. This award honored the leaders, visionaries, and
implementers that created the Cypress Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats which helped improve
the smart devices and smart systems in building and other complexes. These thermostats have
proven to be sustainable, cost effective and energy reducing products countless times.
Integrating them into The Stockton campus will only improve the schools sustainability.
B. Energy savings: The Cypress system will cut energy cost of one of the schools
larger sources of energy consumption. Stockton has an annual footprint of 2,573 Metric Tons
eCO2 emissions for heating (Hossay 13). Heating is also the largest consumer of energy in the

schools dorms; as shown in the chart above (Hossay 62). In addition, the overall energy use
goes up and down in correlation to the changing temperatures. This indicates that the energy
differences observed can be attributed to the different demands on the thermostat systems; as
shown In the Monthly Electric Use And Mean Monthly Temperature chart that did an analysis for
the years 2002 to 2004 (Hossay 21). The Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat is designed and has
been proven to cut energy use. It conserves energy but doesnt compromise the control over the
temperatures the user has.

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A comment given by the General Services Administration about energy savings from its
experience using this system was that it has been shown to reduce HVAC energy use by
between 18% and 30%. (Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Preliminary Assessment). In receive
mode, the energy consumption is 22mA, and in +4dBm transmit mode, the peak energy
consumption is 35mA. Since Cypress Envirosystems sensor products typically use a very low
duty cycle for transmitting data, and are consequently in sleep mode for over 99% of the time.
The overall power consumption is dominated by the sleep current, which is extremely low at
<1uA for each WPT device. Each device has an estimated battery life of more than 2 years.
A case-study was conducted by the Boston Consulting Group on a 300,000 square foot
building. It was conducted to see if the system did save electricity and ultimately lead to a
reduction of overall carbon dioxide emissions. They concluded that from its usage there were,
reductions in both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions (New Global
e-Sustainability Initiative).They recorded that, the WPT installation reduced energy
consumption by 2,207 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day and reduced CO2-equivalent emissions by
approximately 345 tons per year (New Global e-Sustainability Initiative).They also make a
recording that this lead to an annual savings of one ton of carbon dioxide emissions and about
2300 KWh. Cypresss WPT device, . . .relieves strain on the electrical grid and reduces
demand during periods of high usage . . . (Cypress Envirosystems' Wireless Pneumatic).This
ultimately saves the building energy which in turn saves money.
C. Achieve stable temperatures: Within the many halls, classrooms, offices and
various communal areas around Stockton, clear and distinctive changes in temperatures can be
detected. With the updated system, classrooms and offices would have the freedom to adjust
the temperatures of that particular room, but this should prove unnecessary because the system
regulates the temperatures for maximum comfort. The WPT can be ordered with a concealed
cover for more communal areas, such as the halls to insure that people are not constantly
changing the temperature.
D. Complaints of students and faculty: A survey of a number of people around
Stockton was conducted. They were asked about their own personal experiences with the

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indoor temperatures while they have been attending classes at the Richard Stockton College.
One of the experiences was from the new Unified Science Center building: During the days
when the outdoor temperature are cooler the rooms within the building are too warm, which
makes it uncomfortable when everyone is wearing warm clothing. Another Stockton student
commented stating that when the temperatures are warmer outside the indoor air temperatures
are unbearably cold and require students to always come prepared with thick clothing to stay
warm when indoors. Another anonymous student comment came from an individual that has
had classes in the Arts and Science building: this individual stated that there is a bathroom that
is annually warmer than the other rest rooms in the building. An additional student comment is
from a student that has taken classes in one of the main complex buildings: this student stated
that his or her classroom was always much warmer than then the other classes they were
attending, which is very distracting. The student explained that the professor had to make
multiple complaints in order for them to finally change the temperature in the classroom.
Faculty members are also having issues with the temperatures on campus. Dr.Tait
Chirenje, the Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Stockton, states that
Temperature control is a big issue for me because I tend to come to my office during so called
off hours. Ive been tempted to bring a small fan to my office for those days when the
temperature is set too high for me (this applies to late summer and fall). I also find the lack of
temperature control very frustrating because the room temperatures go down substantially on
weekends when faculty are not in their offices. In such instances, one has to wear a sweater
just to be comfortable. I had similar experiences in the A and S Building during the summer
when the college only uses four of the five weekdays for activities. The claim there is that this
practice saves money, but I doubt that because the whole A and S building and B wing (and
others) would still be air conditioned when nobody is around.
These personal testimonies outline and expose some of the many temperature problems
within the stockton campus from firsthand experiences. They are important because they
represent the voice and opinions of Stocktons 8,458 students (2013). They talk about the
temperature extremes in cold and warm seasons that cause many issues for students and
faculty. They also mention the problems with the lack of uniform temperatures in the school. The
halls can also vary in temperatures from wing to wing in the main complex. These temperature
issues can all be solved with the installation of Cypresss Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats
(WPTs).
E: Provide better knowledge of energy use: T
he Cypress company states that,
diagnostic data generated by the WPT enables retro and ongoing commissioning to save
energy and reduce maintenance costs. (Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat). In addition to this,
the Cypress company offers devices that improve the knowledge of amount of energy that is
being used by a building such as the Wireless Gauge Reader (WGR) which is explained by the
cypress company to read gauges and collect date. They state that, like the WPT, it can be
installed in minutes and can clamp on to existing gauges. The second device is the Wireless
Transducer Reader (WTR) which is explained by the cypress company to have the ability to,
clamp-on non-invasive ultrasonic flow meters to measure flow of liquids or gas, or paired with
clamp-on current sensors to measure electrical current (Cypress Envirosystems). A better
knowledge of their heating and cooling energy consumption will benefit Stockton in many ways.

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For example, it will provide better research for annual energy consumption analysis and give a
better overall understanding of the consumption.
F. Aesthetically pleasing: T
he proposed W
ireless Pneumatic Thermostat is sleeker in
design. The old thermostats are eyesores that are bringing the overall look of the school down.
The WPTs would be an aesthetic to proudly point out within the school. They give a more
technologically innovative and environmentally conscious feel to buildings. They have been
implemented and installed in hundreds of facilities and have been repeatedly recognized by
industry thought leaders. Some of the companys many clients include Stanford University,
NASA, The University of Notre Dame, PPG Industries, SunPower, and Google. Since this
technology is shown to be a sustainable technology this will improve the colleges image as
being known for its sustainable practices and referred to as New Jersey's Green College.

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VII. References
Case Studies" Cypress Envirosystems. Cypress Envirosystem, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"Clients" Cypress Envirosystems. Cypress Envirosystem, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"Commercial Buildings - Solutions" C
ypress Envirosystems. Cypress Envirosystem, n.d. Web.
18 Nov. 2013.
"Cypress Envirosystems' Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Wins Prestigious Buildy Award for
Smart Devices" Automated Buildings. Control Solutions, June 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Hossay, Patrick, and Tait Chirenje. "Institutional Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and
Energy Analysis" The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey 1.0 Feb. 2009. Web. 18 Nov.
2013.
Parkman, Don. "New Global E-Sustainability Initiative Study Quantifies Energy and Carbon
Emission Savings of Cypress Envirosystems Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat" Cypress
Envirosystems. Cypress Envirosystems, 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Sustainability Initiative New Jerseys Green College. Richard Stockton College of New Jersey,
n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Cypress Envirosystem. Cypress Envirosystem, n.d. Web. 18
Nov. 2013.
"Wireless Pneumatic Thermostats Help UCSD Reach Sustainability Goals by Reducing
Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 538 Tons/year." C
ase Study Wireless HVAC. University of
California at San Diego, 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat. U.S. General Services
Administration, 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat (WPT)" Cypress Envirosystems. Cypress Envirosystem, 2008.
Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

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