Beat the Peak - Day 2

If historical records are predictive, then Tuesday (9/10/13) is our day to Beat the Peak.  In both 2011 and 2012 the campus had the annual maximum electricity use on days with an 89F high.  Tuesday's high is forecast to be 89.  Reducing our electrical load just 12% during the hottest time of one day will potentially save the college over $3000 for the year! Check out the "Energy" tab on this blog for more information.

Tuesday and Wednesday, between 1 PM and 4 PM,  all members of campus are asked to make an effort to reduce their use of electricity.  These individual efforts can lead to a collective result of lower electric bills and a reduced carbon footprint for campus.

Here's what you can do to help

Students

• Turn off your lights, fans, and all electronics before you leave your room.  
• If you see electricity being used where it doesn't need to be, like lights on in an empty common area or classroom, turn them off! Your tuition dollars help pay the bills. Don't  be complacent and  watch your money be wasted.

Faculty and Staff

• Close your office door so that air conditioning can work as effectively as possible.  (Perhaps post a sign "This door is closed to conserve energy, please knock".) 
• Turn off your air conditioner before leaving for the day, of course!
• Turn off lights  when leaving any room on campus.
• If you have good natural lighting, consider not using lights at all.

Depending on the weather, I may post only more "Beat the Peak" reminder.  I hope to be able to share good news of reduced Peak Electricity Use when we receive our campus utility bill in October.  Let's use less so that we have more!

More. Together.

Keep our Electricity demand down

Thank you to all the members of the campus community who have been making the effort to reduce our electricity load during this very hot week.  As I've walked through buildings on campus to escape the outdoor heat, I see lots of closed doors with friendly notes asking passers-by to come in.
Here's a picture of a door in Smith Hall (and it's not mine!)

On another matter, I visited the farm where organic waste from The Commons kitchen is taken earlier in the week.  Sodexo employees separate compostable, raw fruits and veggies which are then transported to Frasier Farms. There they are added to the compost pile where they decompose and are eventually used to build up the soil on the farm.  Rather than ending up in the landfill in Berlin, the waste helps local veggies grow.

Beat the Peak - Day 1

Is it HOT our there!?  On Tuesday, August 27, 2013 between 1 PM and 4 PM we will have our first opportunity this academic year to "Beat the Peak".  To beat the electricity peak we have at the start of each year, we need to make individual efforts to see a collective result.
Here's what you can do to help.

Students

• Turn off your lights, fans, and all electronics before you leave your room.  
• If you see electricity being used where it doesn't need to be, like lights on in a common area during the middle of the day, turn them off!

Faculty and Staff

• Close your office door so that air conditioning can work as effectively as possible.  (Perhaps post a sign "This door is closed to conserve energy, please knock".
• Turn off lights  when leaving any room on campus. 
• If you have good natural lighting, consider not using lights at all.

To get more information about the electricity peak, check out the Energy tab on this blog
or go to http://riponcollegesustainability.blogspot.com/p/energy.html

I will be sending out a Beat the Peak reminder about five more times during the first couple of weeks of classes, depending on the weather forecast.  I hope to be able to share good news of reduced Peak Electricity Use when we receive our campus utility bill in October.  Let's use less so that we have more!

More. Together.