A campus-wide campaign, led by the Department of Physical Plant Operations, continues this year in an effort to converse energy and reduce energy-related costs. The project, underway since 2001, has realized savings primarily by shutting unnecessary energy to buildings during downtime, retrofitting rooms with energy-saving devices and implementing an energy management system.

“Saving energy yields two powerful benefits,” says Lou Poandl, director of physical plant operations. “It reduces the amount of contaminants that enter the environment, and it saves money.  By cutting emissions, we leave the world cleaner and healthier for coming generations. Wasting energy is never a good idea, but the current prices give us an added incentive to conserve.  The recently announced reduction of state funding makes conservation all the more important.”

Physical Plant Operations has the following tips for faculty and staff to save energy:

1. Turn off lights if leaving the office for more than 15 minutes
2. Shut down computers completely at the end of the day
3. On sunny days during the summer months, use daylight instead of electric lights
4. If the office has shades on windows, use them to keep out the sun in summer
5. In winter months open all curtains and shades to let the natural sunlight in
6. Keep vents unobstructed; don’t block with tables, bookcases, etc.
7. Turn off all appliances such as coffeemakers and microwaves at the end of the day

The conservation efforts, which includes the collaborative work of the electrical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning and plumbing personnel, call for placing buildings on campus into an energy-saving mode from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. weekdays and according to classroom use on the weekend. Air conditioning and heat are reduced to conserve energy. If certain rooms are needed during that time, individual spaces can have air conditioning or heat reprogrammed to optimum conditions. The exceptions to changing temperatures are the Library, lab rooms, residence halls and other rooms which need to have a constant temperature. The systems for many, but not all, buildings are controlled by computers. Additional savings have come from retrofitting buildings on campus with energy-efficient fluorescent lights, and occupancy sensors in more than 300 rooms on campus such as conference rooms, offices, and rest rooms. New buildings on campus such as the Student Center will have energy-saving devices as part of their design.

Reducing energy usage is also a contributing factor for reducing the contaminants that are emitted into the environment. The University has won awards from state and federal agencies and organizations for the improvements it has made in this area.

As energy prices have increased, the University’s use of electrical and natural gas usage has decreased. Electric usage has been reduced by about 12 percent, and gas has been brought down by more than 34 percent. Furthermore, aggregation agreements with sister institutions and the utility suppliers also save money. In total, the program has saved $4.6 million since its inception.