Ky. campus tracking, posting energy use in dorms

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October 12, 2009

Anonymous The Daily Independent Mon Oct 12, 2009, 10:52 AM EDT

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A Kentucky campus is tracking energy use in its dorms, then posting the information online for students to see how that use translates into buckets of burned coal, hours run on a laptop or even the production time for a number of hamburgers.

Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green is providing the service as part of a "Reduce Your Use" contest for students. The goal is to see which residence hall can show the greatest percentage of decrease in used energy.

The university's sustainability coordinator, Christian Ryan-Downing, told The Bowling Green Daily News that devices were recently placed on the heating, cooling and ventilation meters in the residence halls so the results can be read from a remote location.

"Individual behavior changes can make a really big difference," she said. "People feel so overwhelmed and think, 'If I turn my computer off, what difference does it make?' but it does make a difference and we're seeing that on our own campus."

The contest started Oct. 5, and by Friday, Hugh Poland Hall led the way with a 36.2 percent reduction and all the residence halls saved 30,840 kilowatt-hours of energy.

Energy use is tracked by Lucid Design Group, which takes the information and creates real-time conversions, providing students with the ability to see how their behaviors impact energy consumption.

Other universities using an online tracking system have reported between 20 percent and 30 percent savings on energy in residence halls, Ryan-Downing said. If that were the case at WKU, the system would pay for itself within two months, she said.

"While it is really competitive and we love the sport of competition, it's really about the awareness and the fact that it allows us to have a conversation about energy efficiency and how different aspects of a building might make a difference," she said.

On the Web: www.wku.edu/housing/dashboard.htm.

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