Energy Conservation Tips
There are many things that everyone can do to help reduce the energy used here on campus. If we all did everything on this list consistently, we could save 30% or more of our non-HVAC energy use. You may think "it is not my money, so why should I?" If we did save this much, it would save the university hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, money that could be used for other things. Make a commitment to do your part.
- Turn lights out when leaving a room (though not if someone is still there).
- Shut off computers, printers and copiers at the end of the day instead of just letting them go into sleep mode. You would be surprised at the phantom loads still present.
- If you plug your computer, monitor, printer, copier, spot heater and other plug loads into a power strip, you can kill the power to all of them at once by flipping the switch on the power strip (make sure that your computer is shut down first though).
- Unplug your laptop charger and other chargers from the wall when not in use. The transformer still uses some power even if it is not charging anything.
- Don't use a spot heater unless you absolutely need it. At the end of the day unplug it. It certainly doesn't need to run all night or weekend.
- Instead of everyone having a mini-fridge, have one standard refrigerator for the whole office. One regular size refrigerator will use less energy than two mini-fridges.
- If using a small area in a larger room, consider using task lighting to light your work area instead of the entire room.
- Turn down the thermostat in the winter (up in the summer) just a few degrees can save 10% of the energy used for heating (or cooling).
