Energy

The Institute for Sustainable Solutions has released a list of the funded projects for spring 2011.  Congratulations! Click "read more" and scroll down the page for more details on each proposal.

• Social Equity and Environmental Health for Sustainable Cities: A Search for Solutions

• Grassroots Gardening Project at the Learning Gardens Laboratory

• Farm Partnership with Wealth Underground Farm

• Educate, Access, Thrive: Underserved Populations and Healthy Food (EatUp); An Equity and Community Food Systems Project

• 4th Annual Earth Day Festival: Sustainability in Action!

• Enhancing Social Equity by Creating a Campus that is Friendly for All Ages and Abilities

• Take Back the Tap at Portland State

• Leading the Way: Developing Community Food System Leaders

• Greenspace Rehabilitation Project

• Climate Change Impact of Food Purchasing, Preparation, and Waste in PSU’s Dining Services

• Spring Energy Challenge - PSU Campus

• Education as Sustainability: Integrating Sustainability Education into the University Studies Peer Mentor Program

Single best way to conserve electricity? Turn things off when you aren't using them! This sound incredibly simple. Almost childish. But we continue to leave the lights, computers, speakers, monitors, printers, copiers, play stations, dvd players, stereos, or whatever else you can think of on... when we aren't using them.  And it all adds up.

Often conservationists get tagged as people who won't be happy until everyone is sitting cold and in the dark. That couldn't be further from the truth! Rather, our mission is to make sure we are educated about where our resources come from and working to use our resources efficiently. And it's not an efficient use of resources if an appliance is using electricity and not even being enjoyed! 

Of a building's total energy consumption, 30% is typically associated with lighting. Here are three easy ways to minimize your use of electricity for lighting: 

• Make use of natural lighting. I know sunny days are few this time of year, but if you can turn your desk lamp off when the sun is streaming in the window, do it! Besides, relocating to an area where more natural light is available can, especially in these parts, brighten your day far more than typical indoor lighting. 
• Turn off lights if you are leaving for more than 5 minutes. Flipping the lights on and off has no impact on the life of the lamp (once upon a time it did, but technology has come so far, modern light bulbs are designed to be turned on/off millions of times). In fact, this handy article from US Dept of Energy, says that "turning off fluorescent lights for more than 5 seconds will save more energy than will be consumed in turning them back on again." Now, I'm not suggesting you turn off your lights that often, but 5 minutes is the general rule of thumb.
• Use CFL, LED, or fluorescent lights. Incandescent bulbs are a thing of the past. At most 15% of the electricity they use goes to light. The rest? Heat.

If you are a PSU staff or faculty member working in URBN, MCB, or EDBA buildings, please check out our excellent pilot project for Watt Stoppers - these handy power strips will help turn off your desk equipment, even if you forget. They are free of charge and I'll come help install them myself. Send me an email at energy@pdx.edu if interested. 

Residents at PSU? Stay tuned for more information about or next Monday night program for our Energy Challenge 2011. We'll have smart strips, LED bulbs, and other energy saving tools available to win!

I've been hyping this up for months, so let's get started saving some electricity!

Tonight the EcoReps will kick off our residential energy challenge event with a Candlelit dinner in Victor's dining hall (first floor of Ondine) followed by Blackout Board Games in Broadway.

We'll be turning off the lights and creating a little ambiance with glow sticks - as romantic as the candles sounded, we didn't want to navigate the fire safety issues. And don't worry, the emergency lights will provide plenty light to find your way.

After the dinner we're encouraging all residents of Broadway to shut off their lights (think, Portland State level Earth Hour) and join the EcoReps for some board games and non-electric fun. 

Between these first two events, we're hoping to see a dip in the electricity used in both Ondine and Broadway residence halls. Each Monday we'll be having an event to raise awareness about electricity conservation. Keep an eye out - there will be prizes, food, and more! 

I've started collecting electricity data for each building last week and we'll be posting stats about how much electricity each building is using as the month progresses. By the end, we should know how much each building has reduced from last year, how much electricity the average resident of each building uses, which building saved more electricity throughout the month, and how much electricity per square foot these buildings use.

At the end of the month we're planning a final celebration (all residents of Broadway and Ondine are invited) to showcase our electricity savings and the results of the Energy Conservation Art Contest!

One of our commenters suggested taking a look at the library - the revolving doors vs the traditional doors - to see which actually kept heat in the building and what they might look like with the thermal camera. 

So, here's a (somewhat awkward) shot of the library (courtesy of Google Maps)

And below the break are two thermal images of the area we're talking about: