The average daily energy costs on the Danforth Campus are $21,268 per day. Multiply that times 365 days, and the total energy cost each year is nearly $8 million.
To reduce energy usage on the Danforth Campus by becoming more energy efficient, Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration, has formed the Danforth Campus Energy Awareness Committee (EAC).
“If even a fraction of that total amount spent on energy could instead be used for the university’s primary mission of teaching and research, the education students receive could be enriched and jobs could be protected,” said Deborah Howard, special assistant to the executive vice chancellor for administration and chair of the EAC.
“In addition, the amount of greenhouse gases released to create energy for the university could be reduced, slowing global warming and helping the university meet the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals stated in its sustainability strategic plan,” Howard said.
With the large number of computers used by Danforth Campus faculty, staff and students, an EAC focus has been information technology.
Led by Robert Guthrie, executive director of Computing & Information Technology Services in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, and Justin Hoyt, director of infrastructure in Information Services and Technology, the EAC is investigating ways to take greater advantage of server and storage virtualization and consolidate existing data centers to reduce the energy needed to store equipment on campus.
The School of Engineering also has developed a PC settings protocol to help save energy and will encourage other IT support staff to adopt those settings on the computers they manage.
“By being smarter about turning off computers, not buying unnecessary devices, and using what we have more efficiently, we can save a large amount of power,” Guthrie said.
Besides computers, labs often feature other electronic equipment that heat, cool, process and ventilate items — and use large amounts of energy to do so. For example, the cost to power a typical 5-foot fume hood for a year is $5,000.
Together with the medical campus’ Sustainability Awareness Committee — the EAC’s counterpart at the School of Medicine — the university is developing protocols for the use of lab equipment. Some protocols are as simple as closing a hood sash while not in use, which can cut operating costs of a 5-foot fume hood by more than 60 percent.
The EAC’s academic efforts — led by Clare Palmer, PhD, associate professor of philosophy in Arts & Sciences, and Tiffany Knight, PhD, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences — include developing and improving environmental teaching and learning opportunities on campus.
Led by its student members, the committee surveyed the student body on its interest in environmental classes and environmental topics in general, and it will use the results to guide its efforts. Students also have submitted a proposal to university administrators on the expansion of environmental education at WUSTL.
“The more that students know and understand about the environment and climate change, the more they are likely to get on board with the initiatives of the Energy Awareness Committee,” Palmer said. “We hope that students will both want to reduce their own emissions and also to develop their own energy-saving and environmentally focused ideas on campus.”
While the university is exploring and implementing numerous institutional changes to reduce energy use, there also are many individual choices faculty, staff and students can make to promote sustainability and cut energy costs:
- Turn off lights in unoccupied rooms or when natural light is sufficient.
- Keep room temperature low in the winter and high in the summer. Bring a sweater or extra socks in the winter, and wear light clothes in the summer.
- Don’t use space heaters. Report heating problems to your office manager.
- Check with your office manager to see if, at the end of the day, you can shut your computer down and turn off the power strip.
- Print only when you need to. Try to use e-mail, digital documents and other nonprinting methods whenever possible. You can turn documents into PDFs by going to the “print” menu and selecting “Adobe PDF” as the printer option.
- If you are going to be out of the office for a few days, unplug all appliances, including microwaves, chargers and fridges (clean the fridge first and leave the door open).
For more information about being green at the office, visit news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/13540.aspx.
For more information or to get involved in the WUSTL Energy and Sustainability Awareness Committees, e-mail Howard at deborah_howard@wustl.edu for the Danforth Campus or Wendy Flusser at flusserw@wustl.edu for the Medical Campus.