Project Update & Result: "Fun with Switch Twiddling" Science Center Light Shut Off and Energy Conservation

Our main goal for this project is to reduce the number of lights left on so that the school can save power and money. To do this we can raise awareness by promoting a more energy efficient facilities on campus.

Two week before spring break Brendan and I met up with Sean and walked around the Science Center to see which room we can go around and turn off the lights and which rooms we are not going to touch.We are not going to touch the lab and the professor offices. The main area we will focus on are the hall ways and the atrium since it uses the highest wattage in the building . Sean said he’s also going to change some of the watts of the lights and also have a sensor for some area such as the restrooms. We already have a spread sheet of what rooms we can go in and turn off the lights so we can start turning off the lights and collecting data. How much does the university actually save from doing this? How many lights are actually left on during the night? I’m really interested to see and gather more data for it. Its a habit for me since I was a kid to turn off the lights when Im not using it. Whenever Im at the gym at Welch I will try to turn off the personal Tv on the machines went Im done using it and on other machines if people are not using it.

When I was walking around the Science Center that day a lot of lights were turn on even though there wasn’t any people in them or any activity occurring.

Sean also told us that there are student groups who is also working on this. Brandon emailed them and we are waiting to hear back from them. So that we can coordinate with them and start turning off the lights and get the project going. Since a lot of lights are on during the day and night when no one is using it. We will leave some of the hall way lights on for safety reasons.

Research

There are 3 schools that did a project similar to us. Its interesting to see how they did it and we can defiantly use and adapt their model to fit us. Since their school is much bigger than us. If they can do it so can we!

1) Penn State “Friday Night Lights”

Penn State goal is also to raise awareness and their aim is to minimize pollution by reducing $1 million per month of their electric bill. This is also run by student group volunteers by having around 20 to 40 students each Friday night.  They turn off around 1,500 to 2,500 light bulbs every Friday night. A lot of organizations are also involved which bring the community togeher at the end voluenteers get free pizza and soft drinks. http://live.psu.edu/story/23439

2) Cornell “Light Off Cornell”

They ran a pilot program in the Spring of 2010 and finally launched the program in the Fall of 2010. By having student volunteers to only turn off the lights in assigned and approved building. They saved about $60,000 each year by having this program. Cornell is very high-tech their students can either record the data by hand or by using the lights off Cornell application on their smart phone. This application can help calculate the amount of Carbon Dioxide and money saved. People want to know if their effort is really making a difference. They also have a website for students to sign up and volunteer. Also to be updated with any information. http://energyandsustainability.fs.cornell.edu/lightsoff/information.cfm

3) Bowling Green State “Friday Night Lights”

Same as Penn State but they save over $25,000 during the 2010 – 2011 academic year.

http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/sustainability/page96842.html

Next task:

To coordinate with the student group, hold discussions the importance of turning off lights?

Start turning off the lights in the science center

email Sean gather data about how much the university is spending on electricity? how much will we save?

After Spring Break Update: 

We chose Friday after Spring break to go to the Science Center after it was close around 9 pm. There were still some people around but very few. We observed that the first floor  hallway lights especially the Atrium  were left on. The Atrium lights cost around $900 to $1000 a year to maintain.

By turning off the Atrium lights only will save a lot of money since you can’t close some of the head lights it either all on or off and it takes a while for it to turn on. There are 248 plus lights available in the Science Center.  To keep track of the rooms by floor we have a blue print of each room. Sean also told us that there’s a website we can go to and see how much money we save by doing this.

Findings:

• More lights are left on during school day hours than after hours on Friday.
• About half of the computers in the rooms were off which is higher than we expected but the computer in the common area were always on.
• Smaller offices had a higher tendency to have the lights off compared to empty classrooms.
• Third floor lights were mostly turned off followed by the second floor.

Pictures (Before)

After

 Things to keep in mind :

• To gain access to the buildings and classrooms and maybe offices?
• Communications since faculty and staff like to be aware of whats going on
• Coordinate with public safety to gain access to Science Center
• House keeping they can help us keep track with lights and maybe help us turn the lights off
• Most importanly for this to work we need to recruit volunteers and  to form student groups

In  the Future: 

1) New light bulbs: by replacing the traditional light bulbs with LEDs especially the  Atrium hallway (maybe lower watts) and the stairs ways

2) Light clocks/ timers: work in progress the timer in the bathroom. Applying sensors to common areas such as the hallway. Make it work only during after hours.

3) Consolidate switches

4) Create a website and facebook group to keep communication open5) Actually create a student group maybe thru the Environmental club or Tree house.

5) Can apply to other buildings on campus

6) Maybe look into late night on Thursday and compare?

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