Facilities Management's Energy Management group oversees an extensive energy efficiency program designed to reduce and optimize energy use while maintaining or improving building heating and cooling comfort. The group has established as its goal a 5 percent reduction (from 2008 levels) in annual campus energy consumption by the end of the 2010 fiscal year.

Some of the efforts the Energy Management group is leading:

Capital Project Review: As projects are being built, Energy Management works with the Capital Project Planning and Management as well as with the departments that will ultimately occupy and use the new buildings to find options that deliver lower lifecycle costs.

Machinery Control Schedule Optimization: This means slowing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems down when a space is unoccupied. Energy Management finds ways to use the sophisticated control systems in campus buildings to automatically slow down energy-intensive HVAC and lighting systems when buildings or portions of buildings are unoccupied.

Building Recommissioning: Energy Management has begun an aggressive project to recommission all buildings on campus every four to five years. Recommissioning is accomplished in two phases. The first involves making sure existing energy and utilities consuming systems (HVAC, lighting, plumbing fixtures, etc) are operating efficiently. The second involves exploring options to upgrade existing building systems to more efficient technology. Visit the Building recommissioning page to learn more.

Energy Awareness and Culture Change: Long-term campus energy savings will come from a change in the way the campus community thinks and acts. The culture change will not happen over night, but each step counts. It all adds up. Find out What U can do.