Gnomes do not maintain the air conditioning in university buildings.
Neither do humans.
UA Facilities Management engineers are two-thirds completed with their invention six years in the making, the Centralized Computer Command Center, or C3 Center, which is a Web-based system consolidating the university's 15 main infrastructures into a single interface.
The UA has copyrighted the system, which manages and controls the utility systems, fire systems, energy management systems and security systems in 103 main buildings on campus, including the residence halls, the UA Main Library, the Student Union Memorial Center, the Manuel T. Pacheco Integrated Learning Center and the research labs, said Al Tarcola, Facilities Management director.
"People assume there's a little gnome in the corner doing something, but actually it's a very complex city that we operate," said Dick Roberts, the budget director.
About 112 people access the system, which is "monitored 24/7 and staffed constantly," said Joseph Branaum, senior staff technician for Facilities Management maintenance and Integrated Systems Group manager.
Tarcola said the system is designed to keep the university as efficient as possible.
"The metering provides a way to use qualitative and quantitative information to save money," Tarcola said. "The UA today has no peer institution in utilities costs. We're the lowest per square foot in the U.S."
Branaum said the system relinquishes the need for manual labor because meter readers are no longer necessary, and computerized timers control one-fourth of the university's irrigation systems.
Tarcola said the system monitors the rainfall to determine the need to irrigate. He said every plant on campus will be watered by computerized irrigation by the end of the calendar year.
The system also provides diagnostics data, which allows Facilities Management to monitor the efficiency of the machines and be more directed with maintenance efforts.
"If a filter's dirty or a motor gets too hot, we can see it on the computer and we don't waste time looking at it, " Tarcola said. "It helps us extend the life of the equipment to get the biggest bang out of the buck."
Roberts said maintaining efficient machines - "the idea is that you can monitor and understand what's going on from remote locations and make adjustments accordingly" - is the system's most important function.
"It allows us to be ahead of the crisis, not behind the crisis," Roberts said.
The program monitors "key variables" of the buildings' operation, which helps facilities management anticipate machine failure.
"If we fix it before it breaks, there's no downtime," Roberts said.
Since 2002, the university has manufactured 40 percent of its own power in three power plants on campus - the Central Heating and Refrigeration Plant, 640 N. Mountain Ave., Central Refrigeration Unit, 1339 E. Helen St., and the Arizona Health Sciences Center Central Heating and Refrigeration plant at the Arizona Health Sciences Center.
"With C3 we can fully optimize the three plants in the most efficient way," said Annie Deutsch, senior staff technician for Facilities Management utilities. "Our charge is to spend the taxpayers' money wisely and save money," she said.