At the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, it’s taken time for some to get used to the automatic light switches and thermostats that began popping up there a few years ago.
The movement-sensing light switches can make a room go dark if there aren’t many people to sense.
“I’ve been in rooms where you have two or three folks having a meeting,” spokesman Steve Voorhies recalled Friday. “And when people are nondemonstrative, the lights will go out.”
The workaround: Wave one’s arms. Get up and move around.
“You need to have lively meetings if you want to keep the lights on,” he said. “That’s kind of funny.”
Despite minor glitches, the first two years of the Razors EDGE energy-use reduction program have saved the Fayetteville campus $5.2 million, outpacing its initial expectations, officials said this week. Savings in the first year alone amounted to $879,000, surpassing the amount guaranteed by an outside specialty contractor.
In 2008, the university hired Energy Systems Group, a subsidiary of Vectren Corp., to design and install more than $30 million in efficiency improvements to 73 campus buildings. Its contract guarantees that energy savings during a 13-year period will cover the cost of the improvements and reduce total annual energy consumption by 30 percent. The university announced the program in January 2009, and the contractor completed its work in 2011.
Since then, renovations have included installation of the “smart” lighting, more efficient heating and cooling systems, equipment designed to conserve water, and a solar-powered heater for the swimming pool in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building.
“In our building, we’ve got more of the curlicue, fluorescent light bulbs,” Voorhies said of compact fluorescent lamps. The low-flow design of restroom sinks, toilets and urinals means they use less water.
Additionally, thermostats are now automatically programmed to stay within a given range.
“I think initially there was some griping - but I’m not aware of people even being that aware of it anymore,” Voorhies said.
The EDGE in the program’s name stands for “Efficiently Delivering Green Energy.”
One of UA’s long-term goals is to become carbon-neutral by 2040. This means actions taken to reduce or offset carbon emissions balance the net amount of carbon compounds emitted into the atmosphere.
In March 2011, it joined the presidents and chancellors of the state’s nine other public universities, the state’s medical school and its two largest university systems in promising they would protect the environment by investing in energy-efficient systems and sustainable business practices. Called “A Compact With The People of Arkansas,”the 16-point pledge also addressed vows ranging from improved transparency and accountability, to increasing the state’s bachelor’s degrees, to keeping tuition and fees as low as possible without affecting academic quality.
At the Fayetteville campus, changes that occurred - some outside the scope of Razors EDGE - included more “green” garden rooftops. Students began parking their dog-eared copies of The Arkansas Traveler student newspaper on stands designed for reuse, and the campus stopped printing a paper telephone directory after the 2010-11 school year in favor of an online version.
UA-Fayetteville also signed on to the national American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which is one of at least two groups it reports utility data to, said Carlos Ochoa, director of the campus’ Office of Sustainability.
“We’re tracking the savings, but we’re also tracking the reduction in greenhouse gases,” Ochoa said.
The university estimated it has reduced its carbon footprint by more than 18,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which it equated to the energy needed to power about 1,000 homes.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/22/2013