Highlights
Master’s students conducted a fume hood behavior audit in two engineering buildings
Sashimi was used to monitor sash height and hood use over a period of 3 months
Students found $22,000 in untapped annual savings due to poor fume hood habits
Abstract
Chemical fume hoods are among the most energy-intensive components of laboratory infrastructure, yet the efficiency of modern VAV systems relies heavily on user compliance. This case study details a student-led initiative at the University of Pennsylvania designed to quantify and bridge the "behavior-technology gap" through the deployment of Internet of Things sensors. Utilizing the "Campus as Lab" framework, Master’s students in the Engineering Sustainability at Penn course deployed "Sashimi" monitoring systems across 12 fume hoods in four engineering laboratories. Over a three-month period, the team audited sash behavior and implemented a dual-intervention strategy consisting of visual prompts and weekly feedback reports. The study revealed that sash mismanagement was largely habitual rather than operational, with less than an 11% difference in sash openness between working and non-working hours. The identification of behavioral "plateaus"—periods where sashes remained open for days or weeks—uncovered nearly $22,000 in untapped annual savings across the pilot group. While the behavioral interventions yielded mixed immediate results, the project provided significant experiential learning outcomes, helping students develop critical skills in technical troubleshooting, stakeholder management, and the application of sustainability theory in active research environments.
The full case study can be downloaded below.
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