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Get your sleep, eat healthy, study hard....and turn off the lights
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It seems that Mom and Dad’s advice, at least some of it, is catching on among today’s environmentally conscious college students.

Working towards a sustainable campus, more colleges and universities are installing energy monitoring systems in college dorms, providing students real-time feedback on their electricity and water consumption.

Students learn that their day-to-day habits of turning off lights and reducing other energy and water use can pay big dividends in cutting energy consumption.

Below is a sampling of student energy monitoring initiatives on campuses around the country, along with contact information.

   
Oberlin College notes that U.S. citizens spend more than 90% of their lives inside buildings.

Residential and commercial buildings account for two-thirds of the electricity used in the U.S.; 36% of U.S. greenhouse gases; 9% of world greenhouse gas emissions; and 12% of U.S. fresh water consumption.

Activities that take place within buildings account for over 90% of the energy used on the Oberlin College campus.

As part of an effort to create a more sustainable campus, Oberlin installed a feedback system on dorm water and electricity use. The premise of the feedback system is that providing dormitory residents with easily interpretable real-time feedback on electricity and water consumption -- and on the financial and environmental impact of this consumption -- will motivate and allow students to conserve resources. Currently, electricity is monitored in 21 dormitories and student houses. Electricity consumption for 16 of them is displayed in real time on a custom-designed web site: www.oberlin.edu/dormenergy/

During a two-week dorm energy competition at Oberlin held in 2005, dorms on average reduced electricity use by 32%. The two dorms with real-time feedback won with 56% reductions in electricity.

For more information, contact Scott Wargo, director of news service, 440/775-8474, scott.wargo@oberlin.edu


In recent years, Amherst College has installed energy metering systems in many of its newly built or renovated residence halls, and begun using data from this metering to keep score in friendly "energy competitions" among the buildings’ communities. In addition to enabling administrators to monitor student energy usage, the contests make it attractive to students on a very fundamental level to pay attention to just how much energy they waste: The building that is able to reduce its consumption by the highest percentage per person over a four-week period is awarded a pizza party. And while the college has not yet installed the technology to provide students with real-time data displays, Director of Facilities Jim Brassord says he is considering it for the future--given the popularity of the energy competitions and especially the pizza parties.
For more information, contact Caroline Jenkins Hanna, director of media relations, Amherst College, 413/542-8417, channa@amherst.edu.   

 

The college has installed an energy monitoring system in its new student housing. The touch screen provides information on student programs, recycling, the environmental attributes of how the building was constructed, information on utility usage and costs for the college as a whole, and live energy monitoring (heating, electricity, and hot water) for the dorm. Computer screens are located next to the elevator, main lounge, and kitchen. Bates anticipates that all new residence halls will have this energy monitoring feature.
For more information, contact Julie Rosenbach, environmental coordinator, 207/786-8367, jrosenba@bates.edu; or Bryan McNulty, director of communications and media relations, Bates College, 207/786-6328, bmcnulty@bates.edu

 


Student energy monitoring will be part of a sustainable living community at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University, which recently broke ground. It will have an entire building devoted to sustainable practices including organic garden space, solar panel roof panels, an interactive green roof, dual-flush toilets, and reusing shower and sink water to irrigate the surrounding landscaping.

Energy, A/C, and domestic water metering in buildings will allow students the opportunity to monitor their energy use and adapt intelligently.

Students living within the sustainable community at Barrett also will have the opportunity to earn a certificate from the new School of Sustainability. The complex as a whole will be LEED Silver certified with various sustainable features like operable windows in all rooms. It will be complete by Fall 2009.

For more information, contact Mark Jacobs, Barrett dean, 480/965-2354, mark.jacobs@asu.edu; Jessica Peet, student, Barrett Honors College Council vice president, 717/965-6889, jessica.peet@asu.edu; or Sarah Auffret, assistant director of media relations, Arizona State University, 480/965-6991, sarah.auffret@asu.edu.


Through an energy management system, Binghamton University can monitor real-time electricity consumption building by building. This capability was put to the test last year when Binghamton ran its first Energy Conservation Contest, pitting residential communities against one another to see which group of students could save the most electricity. During the five-week competition, the management system helped monitor consumption in each community’s electricity usage.

The overall winner, Mountainview College, saved more than 11 percent in electricity use per student over the five-week period. The annual equivalent savings for the contest amounted to more than $88,000. With the university’s electricity bill for a single day topping $25,000, creative conservation efforts such as the energy contest are key to keeping costs in check. Organizers are already gearing up for the next contest, which is scheduled to take place during the spring 2008 semester.

For more information, contact Gail Glover, director of media relations, Binghamton University, 607/777-2174, gglover@binghamton.edu.


Over the past couple of years Case Western Reserve University has been working to add energy monitoring meters to each of its campus buildings, allowing students and others to better manage their energy use. These meters provide the university real-time energy consumption data for individual buildings and areas of campus. Although a significant financial investment up front, individual metering and the feedback that the real-time data provides "has been instrumental in raising the campus awareness of the impact of our current behaviors," says Linda Robson, Finance & Administration Fellow for Energy Studies.

An example of how energy monitoring has benefited the campus occurred this summer. Dealing with high temperatures (in the mid to upper 90s) and high humidity for several days, Case Western Reserve ran the risk of moving into an energy threshold zone of consumption, due to the extra demand for cooling. Using the real-time, online data capabilities, Facilities Services partnered with Case Daily, a daily university-wide e-newsletter, to share information about the situation and to request people to turn off lighting and pieces of equipment (large and small) that were unnecessary. "Campus buy-in and response was quick. We closely monitored campus graphs over that day and watched as the campus turned itself off, moving us back down to more manageable levels of energy use," says Robson.

Case students are able to monitor energy usage for most of the campus’ buildings through the on-line system found on the university’s Facilities Services home page (Campus Real Power and Village at 115, Case’s LEED certified residential village): www.case.edu/finadmin/plantsrv/

For more information, contact Linda Robson, Finance & Administration Fellow for Energy Studies, 216/368-5328, linda.robson@case.edu; Gene Matthews, director of Facilities Services, 216/368-2580, ecm4@case.edu; or Jason Tirotta, News and Information specialist, Case Western Reserve University, 216/368-6890, jason.tirotta@case.edu.



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