CU recently awarded three building proctors the Buff Energy Star Award and a one-time bonus of $1,000 for lowering energy use in their buildings by at least five percent over the last year.
These efforts helped shave CU’s $25 million-a-year energy bill by $90,000, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by more than 891 pounds, according to a CU press release.
Proctors Herb Kienle, manager of the Student Recreation Center, Donna Maes in the mathematics department and Sherril Potter in environmental health and safety all received bonuses for their work.
Moe Tabrizi, the campus conservation officer, said initiatives will remain the same going forward, and that most energy saving methods are either low-cost or no cost.
“It’s a journey,” Tabrizi said. “No matter how much we do, we can always do more.”
To decrease CU’s 118 million kilowatt hours used on a yearly basis, Tabrizi takes building proctors through an energy audit. The audit involves Tabrizi inspecting the building for examples of energy waste and recommending remedies for problem areas.
“His instructions were very easy to follow and to implement,” Maes said.
Maes said most of the steps were as easy as turning off unnecessary lights and enabling power management for desktop computers. She said the most time-consuming part was managing the heating and cooling systems throughout the year by maintaining comfort levels for each room in her building.
Potter, another recipient of the award, said the program puts a lot of emphasis on the proctor being a point person. Potter said it took ongoing communication from everyone in the building, and that everyone was glad to help.
She said the program is a big success, but that it will be harder to reduce costs on the older, less environmentally-friendly buildings.
“It is just little changes that make the biggest difference,” Potter said. “The best thing is that all that money is now available for something else.”
Tabrizi said the next training session for building proctors and other staff is on Tuesday, Nov. 14, and that it is a good bet more staff will take an active role in energy conservation.
