Your Guide to Understanding Energy Conservation
Much like a small city, Purdue University requires a significant amount of energy to run seamlessly. Conserving energy not only reduces our impact on the environment but also helps the university avoid costly future infrastructure investments and limits utility curtailments. Faculty, staff and students must all work together on energy conservation initiatives in order to ensure a functional and comfortable campus environment, especially during extreme temperatures and humidity levels.
What are “Energy Conservation Action Days?”
- Energy Conservation Action Days are days with projected high temperatures and/or humidities that are beyond the design of our building systems and are expected to strain our utility system’s ability to keep our spaces at a normal comfort levels.
Quick actions to take to reduce energy consumption
By working together, we can ensure a comfortable and operational campus even when outdoor temperature and humidity levels are extreme.
Please take the following actions:
- Close windows, blinds and doors in air-conditioned facilities, to prevent heat from entering
- Turn off and unplug any unused equipment/devices to eliminate power loss and reduce risk of electrical fire
- Eliminate/reduce indoor heat sources: ovens, autoclaves, coffee makers
- Close fume hood sashes completely when not in use to reduce the amount of conditioned air that’s exhausted
- Turn off equipment and lights when leaving the lab and set the computers to automatically turn off or enter sleep mode
- Report drips of water from sink taps, chilled water connections or Reverse Osmosis (RO) faucets
- Furnishings should not block vents nor should devices be placed near thermostats that would affect the temperature
- Use preferred appliances, which carry the energy star rating
- Turn off and unplug any unused equipment/devices to eliminate power loss and reduce risk of electrical fire
- Close windows and doors in air conditioned/heated areas
- Close blindes, drapes and curtains during warm weather
- Turn off uneeded light
- Keep air vents clear
- Turn off and unplug any unused electrical equipment
Building occupants can submit non-emergency work orders for maintenance and service requests online. These can aid in the conservation of energy by reporting issues such as leaky faucets, drafty windows and doors, air conditioning and/or heating issues, etc. Log in with your BoilerKey credentials.
What is chilled water and how is it utilized?
- Chilled water is used through the campus to provide air conditioning and process cooling for research equipment. Chillers and chilled water pumps distribute chilled water to campus buildings to provide the necessary cooling.
- Using a centralized chilled water system to cool campus buildings is a more sustainable and efficient approach compared to installing individual air conditioning units on each building. These efforts greatly contribute to reducing the University’s energy consumption.
Campus infrastructure and initiatives supporting chilled water efforts
The Purdue University West Lafayette campus benefits from a combined heat and power system that utilizes steam not only to provide heat to facilities but also to generate electricity and the chilled water that is used to cool facilities. Additionally, the university rents additional electric, air-cooled chillers during the peak summer months to increase chilled water capacity to combat extreme heat and humidity.
To increase cooling capacity to Purdue’s ever-expanding campus, a capital project has been set in motion to install a new cooling tower at the Wade Utility Plant and a dedicated chilled water main to south campus. Both additions will increase campus cooling capacity and the efficiency of the campus chilled water distribution piping.
On days where the outside temperature and humidity levels are extreme, certain actions must be taken in order to cool campus buildings and conserve energy. While taking action to reduce energy consumption is ideal to incorporate into everyday life, on energy conservation action days, such actions are vital.
