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OSU launches energy conservation program |
A comprehensive energy conservation initiative expected to save more than $22 million over the next seven years is well under way throughout the Oklahoma State University System.
CONTACT: Gary Shutt
405.744.6260
Gary.shutt@okstate.edu
OSU launches energy conservation program
Students, staff and faculty asked to join campus climate change
(STILLWATER, OKLA. -- OCT. 3, 2007) -- A comprehensive energy conservation initiative expected to save more than $22 million over the next seven years is well under way throughout the Oklahoma State University System.
Many building environmental systems already have been adjusted to limit consumption, and the next implementation stages of the program developed in partnership with Energy Education Inc. will ask all faculty, staff and students for action. (Dr. William S. Spears is founder and CEO of Energy Education. http://spears.okstate.edu/ssb-alumni-association/about-william-s.-spears.html
“EEI’s program in no way requires us to compromise the university’s research and education mission. We will not limit laboratory operations or disrupt essential activities,” said Interim OSU System CEO and President Marlene Strathe. “Most of the changes, such as establishing building heating and cooling schedules according to seasons and times of occupancy, will go largely unnoticed.”
The program, including standardized best practices and guidelines that promote responsible energy management, is designed to limit utility energy consumption primarily when buildings and spaces are unoccupied.
“While much of the work will take place behind the scenes, all students, faculty and staff are asked to do their part to conserve and help create a culture of conservation across all OSU campuses,” Strathe said.
“The standardized best practices outlined in the program – shutting off lights, powering off computers and monitors when not in use, keeping windows closed, setting the thermostat higher or lower when leaving a room for long periods of time – are things most people do at home to save money and conserve energy.”
Strathe continued, “By all of us working together, OSU can become a model of thoughtful stewardship, not only of natural resources and the environment, but also taxpayer and tuition dollars.”
OSU has enlisted EEI to jumpstart conservation efforts and prevent rising utility costs from encumbering its educational pursuits and mission. Specializing in people-oriented energy conservation services, the company has helped more than 850 clients, including hundreds of public school systems, save more than $1.3 billion. The customized, multiyear program EEI has developed for OSU’s five campuses is its first for a higher education institution.
EEI consultants have worked with OSU Physical Plant Services staff for several months assessing buildings and mechanical systems and equipment in developing the conservation program. Energy managers at every campus – five in Stillwater and one each in Tulsa, Okmulgee and Oklahoma City – are guiding its implementation.
“The biggest thing we’re doing is learning class and building occupancy schedules and setting back heating, ventilation and air conditioning schedules and the air handling systems to accommodate occupancy, which we’re approaching one building at a time,” said Jenny Gililland, an energy manager on OSU’s Stillwater campus. “By coordinating schedules for when people are actually inside, we have significantly reduced energy consumption for many buildings.”
“We’re moving on to lighting and other electricity usage issues, and ultimately, we’ll have a strategic plan for every building that will include implementation procedures,” Gililland said. “We’ve also begun communicating the standardized best practices to people on every campus, and we’ll soon have a website with the guidelines as well as the energy managers’ contact information if people have questions or are interested in having us give group presentations.”
Optimal temperature ranges for heating and cooling, natural lighting, water usage and unplugging unused appliances and electronics are among the topics addressed in the guidelines.
Setting the power management function on 100 computers and monitors, enabling them to enter low-power, sleep mode during inactive periods, can save enough electricity to light more than 30 homes for one year, according to EPA estimates. And the 48-ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is the equivalent of removing nine cars from the road and planting 13 acres of trees.
For OSU, where five campus grids support thousands of computers, such a small, simple measure to conserve can have a substantial impact, according to Garrett Self, EEI vice president.
“Getting people in the habit of switching their computers over to sleep mode and turning off their monitors requires a shift in mindset, but if everybody does it when they leave their offices, you save incrementally,” Self said. “Multiply that by everyone on campus, and it’s a tremendous amount of savings.”
Regular reports on how well the conservation program is working will be made available to building occupants, with the first expected to be released later this month. The energy managers will continue performing energy audits while compiling information gathered from sensors and monitors measuring relative humidity, temperature and dew point in interior spaces.
Making everyone aware how much energy is consumed is a key component of the Energy Education program.
“During the month of August, the bill for chilled water to keep the Student Union cool was more than $57,000, and few people on campus are probably aware of that,” Self said. “It’s the responsibility of the energy managers to communicate and educate, initially with information about the best practices and better ways to operate equipment, and to motivate with positive reinforcement and assessments showing the impact of conservation.
“Hopefully, the awareness will turn into ownership.”
Oklahoma’s only university with a statewide presence, OSU is a five-campus, public land-grant educational system that improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research and outreach. Established in 1890, the Stillwater campus is the home of the OSU System. The STATE’s university boasts students from all 50 states and nearly 120 nations and has more than 200,000 alumni throughout the world.
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