Be the We

This column features the We Conserve program and its work on campus. Learn more at We Conserve.

A project under way in the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Building (AOSS) helps demonstrate the importance of collaboration in efforts to conserve, while also serving as a model for other departments interested in reducing energy consumption.

As part of the University Committee’s Gaia project in 2008, a group of people began meeting to discuss potential ways to mitigate climate change across campus.

However, because a majority of the participants were from the AOSS Building, a decision was made to narrow the group’s focus to reducing the carbon footprint of that building.

To inform building occupants on what they can personally do to promote sustainability, a volunteer Eco Educator was assigned to each floor. These individuals would try to visit each office on their floor, encouraging faculty and staff to do simple things such as turn off their lights or computer monitors when not in use and print in a double-sided format.

Right-sizing the energy use for the building’s heating, cooling and lighting systems, on the other hand, required more than individual effort. To investigate which aspects of facility operations could be made more efficient, a partnership was developed with We Conserve to analyze energy needs and then engineer a more efficient system.

“We already knew why we needed to change, but we didn’t know how,” explains Margaret Mooney, an outreach specialist from AOSS who helped organize the meetings between members of her building and We Conserve.

With the analyses complete, changes being made to the building will reduce the amount of electricity used for lighting by 62 percent and the amount of energy required to operate the heating and cooling systems by 37 percent. These reforms will lead to a savings of more than $192,000 per year.

In addition, AOSS volunteered to participate in a pilot program that has increased the amount of material recycled by 30 percent through the strategic placement of additional receptacles and other measures.

The result of the collaboration between these two groups — one full of researchers studying climate change and one bent on reducing energy use across the UW–Madison campus — has been a success. These accomplishments have already inspired others to take similar steps, as “greening” our buildings is quickly becoming the norm rather than the exception.