In conjunction with temperatures decreases in academic and residential buildings to cut costs, the UR Sustainability Council has rolled out a list of tips designed to get students, faculty and staff to conserve energy.
Highlighted in the tips was the use of revolving doors (such as those in Goergen Hall), as opposed to the standard swinging doors. According to UR’s Sustainability Council, if everyone used the available revolving doors at the University, annual savings would add up to more than $5,000.
The Sustainability Council noted that avoiding hitting the electrical power button on the doors would also conserve energy. Doors opened via the handicap button are held open for four times the amount that a manually opened door is, resulting in a loss of heat.
Another focus of energy conservation has been the powering down of idle computers.
According to the Sustainability Council’s ‘Go Green” newsletter, Facilities has identified 250 of its own computers as wasting energy and has taken steps to reduce costs.
After 10 minutes of no use, the computer monitors are set to turn off. The hard drive will shut down after 30 minutes and the computer will shut down altogether after an hour. In an attempt to quantify the energy saved, the Council noted that the powering-down initiative has the equivalent effect of planting 22 acres of trees a year and results in a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions by over 165,000 pounds.
‘Systematic changes that result in these types of energy and environmental reductions are vital and illustrate that simple step can result in huge monetary and environmental savings,” Director of Support Operations Pat Beaumont said. ‘Improvements like these help us make an overall shift towards reduced energy use.”
Willis is a member of the class of 2011.
