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TIPS TO KEEP WARM THIS WINTER
 Scarves are in! Wear a scarf for style, and to keep warm.
Exercise Go for a quick walk around your building on your breaks to get the blood flowing.
Layer, layer, layer Wear thermals or other thin layers under your clothes. The extra clothes will help keep you warm.
Heat those feet Put toe warmers in your shoes. Disposable or even reusable!
Eat warming food Soup, hot cocoa, tea, etc will keep you warm. Add a little cinnamon to stimulate circulation.
Hand warmers Fingerless gloves will keep your hands warm and leave your fingers free to type. INITIATIVES
To lessen our immediate consumption of energy, these steps will be taken:
Building temperatures: The heat in all campus buildings will be set at 68 degrees for the duration of winter. In the summer, cooling will be set to 74 degrees. It is recommended that you bring a sweater to work. Students are advised similarly, and it would be helpful if faculty members reminded students in class of this change as the outdoor temperature falls. (Temperature-sensitive operations, such as some areas in research, will be exempt from these adjustments.) Questions? Please call the PFOC Service Center at ext. 7415.
Use of space heaters: Please discontinue the use of portable electric space heaters in University buildings. Space heaters influence the temperature of the thermostats, which may affect your office-mate's comfort. Regulating office temperatures using thermostats is the most efficient and effective way to make everyone more comfortable.
Power down: Please make a conscious effort to turn off lights, computers, copiers and the like at the end of the work day and over weekends. SUCCESSES
Throughout Campus
Guzetta Hall
- Smart HVAC system senses motion and turns on lights and heat based on motion in the rooms.
Parking Garage Lighting
- will conserve 1,000 megawatt hours annually, which is a 24% annual increase in efficiency
- predicted to save $76,000 a year
Rob's Cafe Renovation
- new Rob's Cafe uses 49% less energy for lighting
- 8% cooling load decrease
Green Space throughout campus
- reduced heat islands
- 2,800 new trees absorb 14 tons of CO2 per year
Paper Recycling from Jan 06 - Oct 07 has saved:
- 5,522.6 trees
- 974.56 cubic yards of landfill
- 2,274,013 gallons of water
- 1,331,921.90 kw of electricity (enough to heat 182 homes for 6 months)
- 19,490 lbs of air pollutants
Materials Salvage
Prior to the demolition of Carroll Hall, other buildings on campus, and homes in the footprint of the new stadium, crews salvaged usable materials for the university to reuse, or to donate to Habitat for Humanity.
Early results suggest the temperature setback across campus has saved significant energy. After correcting for temperature variations:
- Energy savings through mid-January 2007 exceed 3.9 billion Btu from expected consumption.
- Based on our energy sources, reduced demand avoided 296 tons of CO2 emissions. CO2 is a “greenhouse gas”.
- Energy savings averted producing 3 tons of particulates.
Using data from the U.S. Forest Service and D.J. Nowak (1993 & 1994), the CO2 savings are comparable to:
- driving 556,247 vehicle-miles, and
- the environmental benefit (CO2 absorption) of 60,000 urban trees.
COMMITTEE PURPOSE
In October 2006, The University of Akron launched an intiative to lessen its impact on the environment. In addition, the initiative, called "Blue, Gold and Green," seeks to:
- recommend ways to educate and remind faculty/staff/students about conservation issues on campus;
- involve students and other constituencies in our conservation efforts;
- increase recycling efforts;
- study how we use energy and water resources; and
- review the use of renewable technologies and resources.
With upward of 25,000 people on campus daily, the University is in effect a small city, with an environmental impact equally as great. The Blue, Gold and Green initiative is an acknowledgement by the University that it must play a leadership role in environmental efforts to satisfy its mission. The University is uniquely suited to lead, thanks to a number of highly qualified faculty members with expertise in the environmental sciences, a robust recycling effort already in place, energy-efficient new facilities as part of our New Landscape for Learning and a number of other established programs that are helping to minimize our impact on the environment. The Blue, Gold and Green initiative seeks to unify our current efforts and to encourage the exploration of additional steps that can be taken.
The purpose of this committee is to:
- recommend ways to educate and remind faculty/staff/students about conservation issues on campus;
- involve students and other constituencies in our conservation efforts;
- increase recycling efforts;
- study how we use energy and water resources; and
- review the use of renewable technologies and resources.
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