WKU Energy Conservation Shutdown Nets Big Results

January 30, 2009

Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University’s energy savings experiment over the winter break resulted in an energy reduction of 1,052,932 kilowatt hours of electricity, 1,112 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, with a cost avoidance savings of $128,340 for the three-week period. The University is facing a utility budget shortfall of more than $520,000 due to increasing energy costs and decided to execute a “hard” shutdown of the campus during the holiday break, closing the campus for an additional week, to capture savings in its energy budget.  The University is normally closed for two weeks in December. 
           
“Despite campus growth, we have managed to keep energy use consistent with conservation measures such as temperature setbacks in buildings during unoccupied hours, but increasing utility rates are making it very difficult to stay within our budget,” Energy Manager Dale Dyer said.
           
During the three week break, WKU’s Department of Facilities Management Energy Management Team set back thermostats in buildings, turned off all lighting except for safety lights, unplugged vending machines and water fountains, and turned off water heaters and all other unnecessary energy draws. Faculty and staff were asked to turn off computers, unplug electronics and appliances, and turn off office lights before leaving for the break, a protocol students in university housing have been following for years.  The WKU-Glasgow campus was also included in the shutdown.      
           
The University’s efforts to save energy over the break succeeded not only in saving money and energy, but provided a great educational opportunity for the campus community, according to Christian Ryan-Downing, sustainability coordinator for WKU.
           
“When we began to run the numbers on how much energy we could potentially save, we were astounded that we could establish a goal to save 1 million kilowatt hours in three weeks,” Ryan-Downing said. “Now we realize that those numbers were conservative. We actually exceeded our kilowatt hours goal by 5 percent and our financial savings goal by just over 50 percent.”
           
The greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 1,112 tons is the equivalent of taking 185 passenger vehicles off the road for one year. The kilowatt hours saved could provide electricity for 97 homes for one year, she said.
           
To track progress and make it available for the campus community to follow, Dr. Ouida Meier, a WKU biology professor and member of the WKU Sustainability Committee, created a website, www.wku.edu/energy, and worked with Dyer, WKU Division of Information Technology and Johnson Controls staff to access real-time usage data during the break.  The website features graphs that track energy use and dollar savings and will continue to be improved to illustrate energy usage and results of additional conservation efforts on campus.
           
Other learning opportunities resulted from the initiative as well. The Energy Management Team discovered buildings in which lights were installed without switches and learned by working with faculty and staff which buildings and areas could be shut down and which areas needed special consideration for research and laboratory operations.
           
“During the break, observant faculty and staff sent us feedback about which lights were still on and other observations of additional power uses that could be shut down,” Ryan-Downing said. “But mostly, we heard from people who were excited to see how much energy we were saving.”
           
The extra week of break is likely a one-time initiative, made possible by circumstances of the 2008 academic and calendar year, but the shutdown is a primer for future breaks, and even nights and weekends, she said.
           

WKU DECIDES NOT TO INITIATE SUMMER SHUTDOWN

Despite the better than expected results of the winter break shutdown, the University has decided not to implement a similar shutdown period in the summer as previously planned, according to John Osborne, vice president of Campus Services and Facilities.
           
“We have determined that the level of campus activity scheduled to occur during the July 6-10 proposed shutdown period is much greater than earlier anticipated,” Osborne said. “During this period there will be eight summer conference groups on campus with hundreds of people who will utilize a broad level of facilities and campus services.
           
“Given this level of activity on the campus, a July shutdown for energy conservation will not likely yield similar results to our December shutdown,” Osborne said.  “We just don’t have the same window of opportunity in July that we had in December.”
           
“There will be other opportunities to conserve and reduce our utility consumption as we ‘go green’ at WKU,” he added.  “The Sustainability Committee will be recommending a University Energy Policy that, once adopted, will provide faculty, staff and students a clearly defined action plan to conserve energy.”

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