The facilities division and Office of Energy Management are planning another energy conservation campaign to take place over Spring Break, after receiving positive results from energy saving efforts during winter break.
C.C. Maurer, energy conservation coordinator, said it is a smaller scale effort, and expects fewer savings than those over winter break.
However, this time students who live in dorms can have a large impact on the outcome, as the University is asking that students help cut down on energy consumption. Maurer said to save energy, students can make sure to shut down their computers before leaving for break. It would be better, she said, for students to unplug their computers, TVs and any other appliances.
Remembering to turn off any lights and reporting any leaks are also major contributions. “It’s really just common sense,” Maurer said.
“Part of the conservation is to save money, but we are also committed to saving energy,” she said.
The University, along with other organizations in North Carolina, has made a commitment to the State to save an overall four percent of its energy consumption, according to Maurer.
Cutting down on energy helps the environment by allowing power plants to burn less fossil fuels that pollute the atmosphere, according to Energy Star’s Web site, a government-supported organization dedicated to energy efficiency and conservation.
N.C. State’s energy costs, including water, for last year totaled more than $24 million, according to Maurer. The costs have risen significantly every year.
This year the University plans to spend up to $30 million on energy, Maurer said. This estimate reveals the impact of rising energy costs and higher consumption rates due to construction around campus, with many buildings fully occupied as a result.
Will Reynolds, a senior in film studies, is president of Students for Sustainable Energy, an organization that promotes energy conservation awareness.
He said he feels that because students who stay in dorms are not handed their energy bills every month, some may not feel the need to help conserve.
He recalled an experience while living in Carroll Hall his junior year after transferring to NCSU.
“My roommate would open the window and turn on the air-conditioning,” Reynolds said. “It was just so wasteful.”
He said wasteful energy consumption not only affects the environment, it affects students.
“It will affect their wallet eventually — I can see tuition prices going up [as a result],” Reynolds said.
Maurer said students could feel the indirect effects of wasteful consumption of energy as well.
“It affects budgets in other ways. If [Housing] spends more money for energy it will indirectly affect other programs,” she said.
“There is so much consumption, we are using energy at such an alarming rate, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight,” Reynolds said.
According to Reynolds, people may not make the effort to conserve energy because many believe that just one person can’t make a difference.
“Little things add up,” he said, and explained that the idea that a simple act made by one person can produce big results when many contribute. “Part of being in school is to learn new things, including how to become a better citizen.”
Reynolds said he believes a part of becoming a better citizen is to be mindful of energy consumption.
Tacora Jones, a freshman in agricultural and plant sciences, lives in Lee Hall and said she won’t leave her lights or desktop on when she leaves for spring break. “I will probably take my computer with me though,” Jones said.
Rachel Watts, a sophomore in biological engineering, lived in Wood Hall her freshman year and now lives off-campus.
She said she doesn’t remember any energy conservation efforts made while she was there, but that she would have done her part to help out if the University had asked.
Maurer said he sent an announcement asking students to help conserve energy to the online Housing newsletter, State of Living and Learning, which can be viewed at www.ncsu.edu/housing/state/index.php.
