Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, IA
08-20-06
Cutting back
By EMILY CHRISTENSEN, Courier Staff Writer
CEDAR FALLS --- It takes four fans to keep Randyl Meyer's fourth-floor dorm
room at a comfortable temperature.
The University of Northern Iowa resident assistant has spent the last two weeks
training for her new position. Being on campus early means enduring the stifling
August heat in a room and building with no air conditioner. So, she improvises.
As more UNI students return to campus, energy consumption in the dorms will
spike as the residents attempt to maintain their cool.
"These aren't exactly the newest buildings," said Brandon Neil, a UNI sophomore
and resident assistant.
Most double-occupancy rooms have at least one television, refrigerator and
microwave. Almost all have at least one computer; many have more. Then there
are the stereos and DVD players. Smaller items, like cell phones or digital
camera battery chargers and curling irons or electric razors, are commonplace
and suck energy just like the bigger electronics.
University administrators say increased energy use and the rising cost of
providing power is sapping their budgets. This year students will pay an
additional $100 per semester as the three state universities try to cover the
bigger bills they are expecting. Since 2001 UNI has seen energy costs increase
by about $2 million to approximately $5 million in the coming year. The university
has not seen a similar increase in its revenue. The disparity is causing students
and administrators to take action.
Plans are already being made to form the University Committee for Energy
Conservation, which will be co-chaired by faculty and student leaders. The
committee will brainstorm conservation ideas and educate the campus
community about the need for such measures.
Renovations and new buildings are being designed with conservation in mind,
said Morris Mikkelsen, associate vice president for facilities management.
Student leaders at all three state universities have will pass along any moneysaving techniques working on their campuses.
"We have always been conscious about energy savings. Even 20 or 25 years
ago we were looking at light sensors to use in some buildings," said Thomas
Schellhardt, vice president for administration and finance. "We are always trying
to help the university. It is an ongoing effort."
Educating the masses
Those already on board with the push for a more environmentally friendly and
energy conscious campus agree education will be a key component in their
crusade.
UNI psychology professor Jack Yates knows change doesn't come easily. He
also knows forced change comes at a price, usually a lack of dedication to
compliance.
"We don't want to turn everyone off," he said. "What we need to say is that
change is not easy, but once you make a change, it's not difficult to stick with it.
Two weeks later you probably won't even notice the difference."
Unfortunately, the public's knowledge about how to help is limited, said William
Stigliani, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Education.
"What passes off as education is actually just information. You can't microwave
education. It has to be constantly preached and modeled, and we have no
concerted, prolonged effort to do that," he said. "... What we preach here is more
on the supply side, with little discussion about demand. We should be talking
about how much do we really need?"
Conservation has to be a group effort to take hold, said Mikkelsen. The
conservation committee will help by distributing its plan of action across campus
and keeping interest in the energy-saving measures throughout the year.
"A lot of people will be willing to make these changes, but they can't feel like they
are doing it on their own," Mikkelsen said. "If one group in one building doesn't do
it, that makes it easier for others to feel they don't have to participate. This is a
lifestyle change."
Program in the making
For two years Carol and Jack Yates have studied energy consumption in the
residence halls thanks to a grant from the Iowa Energy Center. With the help of
student leaders within four dorms on campus the duo worked to educate
students about controlling energy use.
In each of the two years the Yateses chose two dorms --- one to serve as a
control, the other as a target --- based on student interest.
The control dorm would continue with business as usual, though each student
was asked to complete a survey about energy consumption at the beginning and
end of the semester. Students in the target dorm were offered opportunities to
learn more about how to conserve energy and participated in a studentmonitored program that calculated how much energy was being consumed on
each floor.
Each week student volunteers would conduct energy surveys in a specified
number of rooms on each floor. Using a prepared checklist the students would
calculate how much energy was being used on that floor on any given day. The
floor that consumed the least amount of energy was rewarded, usually with a
pizza party.
Though they don't have hard numbers to detail energy saved, the Yateses are
confident the program pushed students in the right direction.
"Even if only 20 students get a little more sensitive to unplugging their televisions
or their cell phone chargers, they still have 60 years to go. That is a lot of energy
to be saved," said Jack Yates. "We can save a lot of money. Every single person
in this community could save a lot of money, and they are not going to be cold,
hungry and sitting in the dark to do it."
The Yateses hope to round up enough student volunteers to extend the program
to all dorms this fall.
Starting small
When Stigliani came to campus in 1994 he immediately began work to increase
energy efficiency in the dorms.
One of his first successes was the removal of 452 shower heads that pumped
out six gallons of water per minute. They were replaced with fixtures that only
passed about two gallons of water each minute. It cost the university about
$7,000 to make the change, but Stigliani said the investment has paid for itself
many times over. Each year the university saves about $70,000 and uses about
19 million fewer gallons of water.
"That's 220 million Coke cans per academic year," Stigliani said.
A $50,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources allowed the
university to replace many incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents.
Though the CFLs cost more, they last about 10 times longer than traditional
bulbs and use about 75 percent less energy.
But, if students and employees won't turn off the lights, energy is still wasted,
Stigliani said.
"When you live in an institution you have the feeling that the lights and electricity
are free since you aren't the one paying," Stigliani said.
The new campus committee will have to get creative, said Schellhardt. Many
quick fixes, like replacing windows and installing motion sensor lighting, have
been done. The university is also dealing with a limited building repair budget,
possibly nixing bigger ideas.
Mikkelsen said all new buildings are being designed for energy efficiency, but
retrofitting the older buildings is a time-consuming and costly process.
"In Baker Hall, we've replaced windows in two of the wings, but there is no
money in the building repair budget for the rest of the project," he said. "The
same thing at Price Lab. We know there are huge losses of energy through the
windows there, but we don't have the financial capability to change that."
Many of these projects are in the university's five-year plan, but Schellhardt said
a limited budget won't allow them to move forward as quickly as they would like.
The university is focusing part of that budget on replacing windows in the
residence halls.
Grant Erwin, UNI's student body president, said he is working with
representatives at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University to share
cost-saving ideas. Iowa State has already taken a step in the right direction,
Erwin said, by holding all night classes in the same building.
Erwin also hopes the committee will look at some quick fixes, like turning off the
lights in the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center lobby overnight.
"Those lights stay on 24/7 and well, that's not necessary. And yes, professors will
have to go to a different building (for night classes)," Erwin said, "but we are at
the point right now where we have to do those things to be better stewards of our
money."
Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1520 or
emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.