For a comprehensive energy management program to be successful, the people who work, study, or live in the building must be active participants. Regularly turning off the lights in unoccupied or daylit spaces, lowering the blinds to keep out the summer sun/heat, closing the sash on laboratory fume hoods that are not in use, and shutting down computers at the end of the day could save significant amounts of energy.
Visual cues, training, and feedback on energy consumption can help influence behavior. A number of programs exist to create awareness for responsible consumption.
- More than 15,000 "Please Turn Off the Light" stickers are affixed to light switches across campus to encourage the last person out of a room to darken it. These are provided free to departments and building managers from the UNC Sustainability Office.
- Lab researchers in the four buildings with variable air volume fume hoods are taught that the sash (or door) should be closed when nobody is using it. Just one fume hood can use as much energy in a year as five households. The Caudill physical sciences building alone contains 108 fume hoods. This effort includes signage and education campaigns, and is lead by the Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee.
- The Energy Management Program hosts the University's "Save Energy" website, which documents current campus practices and savings, as well as offer energy saving tips for the campus community.
- Energy Services is currently working with a wide range of campus partners to develop a building dashboard program that will create better transparency of energy consumption for building occupants. This will be an important tool in the future as students and staff will be empowered to monitor and reduce their energy usage in real-time.
Resources:
"Please Turn Off the Light" Sticker Request Form
Links:
Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee - http://respc.unc.edu/
Energy Management Program - http://save-energy.unc.edu/
Energy Services - http://www.energy.unc.edu/