Save energy, campus urged

With budgets shrinking and costs rising, the campus will have a tough time meeting its utility bills unless workers help reduce the university’s energy appetite, says Physical Plant director John Harrod.

Harrod is appealing to employees to take steps that will help cut consumption that cost the university more than $35.3 million in 2000-01, about $6.2 million more than budgeted.

“The university is faced with a serious energy budget challenge, one that requires everyone’s attention and cooperation,” Harrod says. “Greater saving can be realized with attention to practicing and promoting energy consciousness as a way of life at the university.”

Campus workers have made a big difference in summers with efforts to help cope with power demands created by soaring temperatures, and Harrod hopes to convert that seasonal cooperation to a year-round habit.

A number of factors have pushed up energy use during the last 10 years: higher fuel and electricity prices, abnormal temperatures, and campus expansion. New buildings, additions and remodeling have added more than 3.2 million square feet to campus facilities, boosting electrical consumption by about 47.5 million kilowatt hours each year. During the last 10 years, the number of computers has increased, and now tops 30,000, with electricity usage up accordingly.

Physical Plant has been taking steps to increase efficiency by replacing aging, power-hungry devices and upgrading buildings. For example:

Electric motors: More than 9,000 motors across campus together consume the largest share of electricity. To reduce costs, more than 2,500 of these motors are being replaced with higher-efficiency motors.
Lighting: Most campus interior lights, more than 200,000 fixtures, have been converted to utilize electronic ballasts. Now, workers are installing more than 10,000 sensors that will turn room lights on and off automatically as people come and go.
Windows: With the age of the campus, many buildings have old, leaky windows with single-ply glass. Replacement would cost millions, so as a quick solution, workers plan to install storm panels to reduce air infiltration to and from building interiors.
Bathrooms: Surveys say the campus operates 3,300 toilets and 1,500 urinals — and that doesn’t include the hospital or residence halls. To cut water and sewer bills, the Physical Plant is replacing all old toilets with new 1.6-gallon units. Harrod says this effort should help reduce water — and money — flushed away by more than half.

Labs are another target for improvement in coming years. Harrod estimates that several million dollars would be needed for a comprehensive program to modify or convert many of the campus’s 1,700 laboratory fume hoods, which exhaust heated or cooled air along with gases. In addition to being energy-inefficient, some older hoods may even be unsafe.

For the short term, Physical Plant proposes measures to study building and lab heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems and, when possible, recondition systems. That would entail replacing some hoods while resetting others to reduce exhaust and save energy.

Despite budget constraints, the Wisconsin Energy Initiative will help Physical Plant continue energy conservation work. The program established by the Department of Administration with the Johnson Controls Corp., provides support for the Physical Plant as it identifies and implements energy conservation projects.

How can you help?
Workers can make a big difference through everyday conservation measures. For example, campus academic buildings have more than 18,000 thermostats controlling room temperature within each building. “We rely on room occupants to assist us in adjusting their room thermostats to energy-conscious cooling and heating settings,” says John Harrod, physical plant director.

Here’s what else you can do:

Make sure your windows are closed (check the storm window too).
Use natural daylight illumination during the daylight hours.
Close shades during the unoccupied periods to minimize heat gain/loss.
Close the sash on laboratory fume hoods.
Close entry and vestibule doors.
Turn off copy machines, computers and lights when not in use.
Unplug coffee machines when not in use.