University initiates green campaign

The University has announced a new energy conservation campaign that will aim to cut energy costs and improve sustainability across campus. The Get Green campaign will attempt to save some of the funds currently allocated to energy and utilities to distribute them to other activities.

"Energy conservation is an important initiative," said Executive Vice President Patrick Keating in a press release. "Today, Boston College spends approximately $23 million a year for energy-related costs. These costs have been growing rapidly in the past few years as a result of price increases and greater consumption." Keating said that this new effort will necessitate the involvement of faculty, staff, and students to be successful.

"In that regard, we will be regularly publicizing our conservation efforts and asking all members of the community to be mindful of energy savings," Keating said.

Deirdre Manning, director of sustainability and energy management, said that much of the new campaign has to do with education. "We're basically looking to just create awareness around the consumption of energy." She said that much of what students and faculty do on a daily basis can have an impact on the University's energy consumption and utilities bill, which currently accounts for 3 percent of the University's budget. "With an education campaign we'll aim to change what have become some fairly common behaviors," Manning said.

Manning said that the campaign will involve the retrofitting of many buildings on campus to be more energy efficient, a process that is ongoing. Manning said that by this spring, there will be approximately six buildings that will undergo retro-commissioning, in which an engineer will assess the building's energy consumption. There are also plans to implement water retrofits to buildings on Newton campus, and to install combustion controls on the central heating plan.

Manning said that lighting retrofits are ongoing across campus, and that over winter break, nine buildings were retrofitted with energy-efficient lighting. She said that the changes in Gasson, Carney, Burns, and six other buildings will save 350,000 kilowatt hours annually.

"But as much as we can do from a facilities standpoint to improve the buildings, it's every individual's energy-use behavior that can really help us," Michael Jednak, director of facilities services, said in a press release. "It's all of the little refrigerators that are in offices all over the campus, the space heaters that are plugged in, the printers and copiers that are left on overnight, the lights that are left on when they are not needed during the day. That's the waste that we are trying to eliminate. That's the change that the community can make to help us save money."

The University campaign is starting off at the end of the Green Week program organized by the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC). Manning said that students' actions have been important in keeping environmental issues prominent among University concerns. "The timing of this is definitely looking to build on the momentum of the UGBC and the past week," she said. "UGBC has been phenomenal. The interest and the level of involvement we've seen from the organization has been terrific."

University Spokesman Jack Dunn said that the new campaign allows for student involvement. "We know students take seriously the University's mission to make a difference in the world, and are increasingly aware and active when it comes to environmental issues. This campaign can support the desire they already have to get involved in conservation measures, by showing how easy it is to make a significant difference," he said.

Manning said that small efforts can truly make a difference, and that part of communicating this to the University requires education. She said one goal of the campaign is to turn "an otherwise meaningless equivalent of energy into something people may understand."

"A lot of people just do the same thing day in and day out and they're really not cognizant of their actions," Manning said of the way some people consume energy.

Manning said she would like to implement Green Teams, a person or group of people in residence halls and office buildings who would function as peer educators and who would be provided with the information to help change small behaviors.

"It would be sort of an environmental perspective," she said.

Manning said that student and University interests are in accord on environmental issues. "There are definitely faculty members who are interested," she said. The University has put significant resources behind environmental programs as well, she said. "There has been a significant sum of money that has been invested in these projects."

Energy conservation just makes good financial sense, Manning said, especially given today's economic climate. "We're looking to try to target the biggest bang for the buck," she said. "The cheapest kilowatt hour is the one you don't use." The money saved from utilities costs can be put to other things, she said.

"Today, Boston College spends approximately $23 million a year for energy-related costs. These costs have been growing rapidly in the past few years as a result of price increases and greater consumption," Keating said.