Energy Conservation

 Delta State seeks to minimize energy consumption and reduce energy expenditures. 

With more than 1.4 million square feet of building space, the energy needed for heating and cooling, lighting, and power is substantial. 

This website describes the programs and activities Delta State engages in to create energy-efficient building operations and promote energy conservation practices. Our programs are managed by a dedicated staff of professionals. We are supported by a number of departments and skilled trades that collaborate and cooperate in the mission of maintaining high performance and energy efficiency.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please email us.  And thank you for your interest in energy management!

Facilities Management
Delta State University
Cleveland, MS  38733
Phone: 662-846-4740
Fax: 662-846-4745
Email: energy@deltastate.edu

Facilities Management is currently working on the following projects and programs designed to reduce energy consumption on campus.

• Weather stripping doors.
• Caulking windows.
• Installing timers in outdoor lighting.
• Installing energy efficient fluorescent lamps.
• Reducing light levels in halls, stairwells, and other transient areas while ensuring there is plenty of light for safety.
• Constructing a new chiller loop system on campus.
• Fine- tuning energy controls to provide comfortable temperatures during working and class hours, while setting back temperatures at night and on the weekends.
• Shutting down academic and auxiliary buildings during holiday periods.
• Working with Entergy officials to manage peak electrical demand.
• Working with Building Managers on energy conservation practices in their respective buildings.
• Developing checklists for Building Managers to ensure.
• Working with the Registrar to ensure the most energy efficient assignment of classrooms, particularly in the summer.

General Energy Quick Tips:

• Avoid the use of portable electric space heaters; call Facilities Management if rooms are too hot or too cold.
• Keep thermostats set at 68 degrees during the heating season and 78 degrees during the cooling season.
• Keep exterior doors and windows closed.
• Remember to close windows when rooms will be unoccupied.
• In the summer time daytime, close the blinds on the east, south, and west sides to reduce heat gain from the sun.  In the winter daytime, open drapes on the south side to increase heat gain from the sun.  In the evening, reverse the position of the shades.
• Use hot water sparingly.
• Avoid hot-plate coffee makers; use thermal carafe style coffee makers instead.
• Turn off all unused electrical appliances when not in use.
• Know and cooperate with scheduled hours of building operations; do not expect buildings to have fully operational HVAC systems during evenings and weekends when there is minimal occupant use.

Energy Efficient Lighting Tips:

• Use natural daylight when possible.
• If you spend a lot of time working at a computer, consider reducing the overall brightness level in your room to enhance CRT screen visibility.
• Report any lighting problems to your Building Manager. This might include a burned-out lamp, defective occupancy sensor, or a flickering bulb. A list of Building Managers can be found under Building Managers on this website.
• Turn off the lights in classrooms, offices, and restrooms when the rooms are not being occupied, even for five minutes.
• Consider using desk lamps (“task lighting”) and reducing overhead lighting in the room.
• If your building has areas where “occupancy sensors” are being used to turn lights on and off (such as in conference rooms, rest rooms, and hallways), please cooperate with their use.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs where possible.

Energy Conservation in the Laboratory:

• Keep fume hood sashes closed when not in use. Fume hoods operate in a vacuum by drawing room air and any undesirable fumes through the cabinet and exhausting it out the building’s exhaust stack. In almost all laboratories on campus, the room air being exhausted is 100% fresh outside air. Fresh air is very expensive to heat or cool. Lowering the sash (the glass window) when the fume hood is not in use reduces the amount of conditioned air exhausted.
• A Bio-Safety cabinet is another type of fume hood; it filters the air rather then exhausting it. This type of fume hood uses a recycling-air vent, which does not necessarily need to be kept on at all times. Remember to turn off the fan when not in use.
• When using running water for cooling or condenser systems, remember to turn off the valve when finished.
• If possible, use a cooling system with a re-circulating pump as opposed to running once through water.
• Turn off all equipment when not in use. This includes everything from hot plates to lights to computers.
• Keep the hallway door shut as much as possible. This is not only a safety measure, but it helps balance the air system in the laboratory.
• When using automatic glassware washers, wait until you have a full load before operating.
• Maintain refrigerators and freezers by keeping coils clean and doors properly sealed.
• If refrigerator or freezer is over 8 years old, consider upgrading to a newer more energy-efficient model.
• Do not place refrigerators or freezers next to room thermostats.
• Consolidate contents of refrigerators or freezers–a full freezer is more efficient to keep cold than a half empty freezer. Turn off the empty, unused appliance.

Energy Efficient Computing:

We hear about it every night on the news: the world is in an energy crisis; greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise, global warming s a serious problem. Youve tried to be a part of a solution by recycling, carpooling when possible, and or walking or riding a bike. But have you ever thought about your computer? Just by changing a few simple actions, you can help improve energy management, increase energy efficiency, and reduce waste.
Personal computers and other office equipment consume a significant amount of energy.  We can all do our part to help reduce the energy consumption on the campus and thereby reducing our energy bills.  Below are some guidelines that can significantly reduce the Delta State Universitys energy bill as well as conserve critical resources. 

Does it harm the PC to turn it off?
Older computers did not have the ability to self-park hard drives and the recommendation was to leave them on all the times so that there was less wear and tear on the hardware.  Todays computers are designed to take advantage of self-parking drives and more efficient power management.  Turning off computers does not shorten their lifetime. 

Is there a significant savings potential?
The average desktop computer and monitor consume .12 KWH per hour.  Turning the computer off at night and on the weekends could result in a significant cost savings for Delta State.

The following is a list of suggestions that you can use to reduce the energy usage of your personal computer.

• Shut down your computer, monitor, and personal printer or place them in a standby mode when you leave the office for more than two hours.
• Do not turn on your computer, monitor, or printer in the morning until you actually need them.
• A misconception is the belief that computers and monitors purchased with the Energy Star logo are already energy efficient. In reality they have built in energy conservation features but your computer cannot take full advantage of these built in energy saving mechanisms until the power management features are enabled and configured.
• Try to plan your computer-related activities so you can do them all at once, keeping the computer off at other times.
• Do not turn on the printer until you are ready to print. Printers consume energy even while they are idling.
• Do not print out copies of email unless necessary.
• If you spend a large amount of time at your computer, consider reducing the light level in your office. This may improve CRT (cathode ray tube) screen visibility as well as save energy.
• The best screen saver is no screen saver at all – turn off your monitor when you are not using it. This option is second best only to turning off your computer all together.
• Use “paperless” methods of communication such as email.
• When typing documents, especially drafts, use a smaller font and decrease the spacing between lines, or reformat to keep your document to as few pages as possible, especially when typing drafts.
• Review your document on the screen instead of printing a draft. If you must print a draft, use the blank back side of used paper.
• Use a printer that can print double-sided documents. When making copies, use double-sided copying.
• Always buy and use recycled-content paper. Look for papers with 50-100% post-consumer waste and non-chlorine bleached. Also, recycle your paper when done.
• Buy a monitor only as large as you really need. Although a large monitor might seem more attractive, you should remember that a 17-inch monitor uses 40 percent more energy than a 14-inch monitor. Also, the higher the resolution, the more energy it needs.
• Buy vegetable (or non-petroleum-based) inks. These printer inks are made from renewable resources; require fewer hazardous solvents; and in many cases produce brighter, cleaner colors.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Is it more energy efficient to keep turning fluorescent lighting on and off all day or to just leave it on? Our office uses the room at least every 20 minutes during an 8-hour work day but no one is ever in there all day.
A: By leaving fluorescent lamps on you save the lamp life, but not energy costs.
Its a tradeoff between buying new fluorescent lamps which are generally pretty cheap and the cost of electricity to run the lamps all day for 20 minutes of actual use. This depends on your cost of electricity. Basically, weve found it more energy efficient to turn lights off when not in use. (For that type of room it might be cost effective to install an occupancy sensor unless people actually turn the lights off when they leave.)

Q: Is it more energy-efficient to let a lightbulb burn for a short period of time, or to turn it off and then on again? I read once that the surge in power when a bulb is turned on is equal to letting the bulb burn for a while?
A: It is more energy efficient to turn the light off than to leave it on. Energy is measured with respect to time. The unit used to measure electrical energy is the kilowatt-hour or thousand-watt-hour, the amount of power or watts that you use in one hour. The momentary or millisecond or less surge of electricity required to start your light bulb will not impact your energy cost, but leaving it on all the time will. With the rising cost of energy, its probably a good idea to turn the lights out when you are not using it.
(Not to mention the pollution impact, less energy use, less emissions from power plants.)
Turning the lights on and off a lot will impact your lamp life, however. If you compare the number of bulb(s) you need to buy versus the cost to let the light burn all the time, it will still probably be cheaper to turn the lights off.

Q: How do I check to see if my computer equipment has an Energy Star feature? (Some computers, like mine, were built by someone and they dont have the Energy Star logo on them.)
A: It will usually be necessary to make a few changes to the computers BIOS (Basic Input Output Options) before changing the operating system settings. Making these changes is typically quite simple, but because there are many different systems in use today, it is impossible for us to give you detailed instructions on every BIOS. Check the documentation that came with your computer or the manufacturers or distributors website.

A critical part of power management is the major system timersthese are typically called doze, standby (or sleep), and suspend, and occur in that order.

Doze reduces power during periods of inactivity by lowering processor (CPU) speed and powering down unused logic and memory.

Standby usually sends a signal to power down the monitor, but may also slow down the whole system (in a BIOS without a Doze mode).

Suspend typically sends the command to go to the lowest power operation by sending the off signal to the monitor and CPU and cutting system board power [Source: EPAs Energy Star website]

Q: Yesterday I had a 7:30 pm meeting in the College of Education building, and two different thermometers registered 80 degrees! Why is it necessary for the heat to be on so high during the evening hours?
A: In order to conserve energy, many buildings utilize what is called a temperature setback. This is a process through which building air handling units are automatically scheduled based on occupancy patterns. In a building that is typically empty during nighttime hours, air handling units are shut down so as not to waste energy by heating or cooling spaces while it is unoccupied. In these situations, a particular space will only receive heating or cooling in extreme temperature cases. If your schedule requires you to spend extended periods of time in a building during its setback period, you may want to speak to your building facility manager to request an override or building schedule modification.

Temperature setback is the probable explanation if you experienced this during the summer months. However, if this situation occurs in the winter, it may be an indication of equipment failure and you should notify the Plant Department.

Q: Recently, the fluorescent bulbs in our office were replaced, but the plastic panels covering them were left off. I sit directly under this light at a computer 8 hrs a day. I heard that plastic stops the UV rays coming through and without it, a person is exposed to these rays unnecessarily. From a health and safety point of view, is there a real risk here?
A: Ultraviolet content emitted from the energy-efficient T8 fluorescent lamps used at U-M is very low. The amount of UV produced by standard fluorescent lamps is not hazardous and does not pose a major health concern. In fact, a paper by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) explores this subject in more detail. It cites a study in which it was determined that UV exposure from sitting indoors under fluorescent lights at typical office light levels for an eight hour workday is equivalent to just over a minute of exposure to the sun in Washington, D.C. on a clear day in July [Source: GE Lighting, NEMA]. For more, see the Permissible Exposure Time PDF in the Energy Conservation Tools section.

Sustainability Policy 

DEFINITIONS

ASHRAE 90.1 – The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers energy standard which provides the minimum requirements for energy efficient designs for buildings.

PROCEDURES and RESPONSIBILITIES

This policy shall apply to all faculty, staff and students. The DSU Energy Management Committee is responsible for guiding the implementation of energy management and conservation efforts on the campus. The Energy Management Committee shall provide an annual report to the President of the university regarding the campus implementation of the Year of Green Goals and sustainability practices outlined below.

Year of Green Goals for FY 2012 – 2014

• Increase the university’s recycling rate by 25% and reduce the amount of solid waste sent to landfills by 25%.
• Adopt and achieve an appropriate model for green laboratories and reduce lab-related waste and energy use.
• Reduce campus energy consumption by 15% below the FY10 level.
• Reduce paper consumption by 25%.
• Use green cleaning products in all buildings and reduce the use of chemicals in cleaning and maintenance.
• Reduce printing and copying costs by 10%
• Eliminate the use of Styrofoam and similar products on the campus.

Sustainable Practices

• The DSU procurement office shall consider the effect of products on the environment. Consideration shall be given to the purchase of Energy Star^® appliances, green seal chemicals, and other environmentally sound items found not only on state contract, but also through other reliable sources. Contracts for new construction and major repair/renovation shall consider sustainability in the purchase requirements and specifications for the materials to be installed.
• All new construction and/or major repair/renovation of existing facilities shall be designed to meet energy-efficient goals, which exceed ASHRAE 90.1 by 30% when determined cost effective.
• All new construction and/or major repair and renovations of existing facilities shall include the requirement for the development and approval of an energy model during the early design stages. The design professional shall certify the model meets the Institutions of Higher Learning’s energy program and at the conclusion of the construction and/or renovation (prior to final acceptance) the design professional shall certify the facility has been constructed as designed and modeled.
• Renovation of historically significant buildings should meet or exceed ASHRAE 90.1 standards where appropriate for the scope of work and determined cost effective.
• No less than 25% of the expected annual recurring savings from completed energy efficient projects shall be set aside each year in the appropriate fund and used to finance future energy efficient projects. If the annual recurring savings are dedicated to the repayment of debt, then these funds shall be set-aside in the first year after such debt is retired.
• Water efficient measures shall be implemented in new building construction and major building renovation projects.
• All new construction and/or major repair/renovations of existing facilities shall address and consider sound design techniques that maximize wind, solar, aspect, shading, and other design expressions embracing our climatic realities. The design criteria shall encourage overhangs, natural day lighting, and other passive design techniques and should not be confused with renewable energy.
• All new landscape construction, major repair and renovations of landscapes, and any site work in general shall consider and encourage the use of resource-efficient plants including native plant palettes, with a goal of decreasing the uses of herbicides and pesticides when possible, while increasing tree canopy through reforestation and reducing potable water used in irrigation.
• All new landscape construction, major repair and renovations of landscapes, and any site work in general shall include the requirement to protect and enhance water quality through innovative storm water best management practices.
• DSU shall develop a comprehensive waste-minimization program. The program shall address a comprehensive campus wide recycling program that considers recycling of construction spoils/wastes from demolition and construction projects, garbage collection and disposal contracts, disposals of used equipment, furniture, chemical waste, electronic waste, composting, etc.
• All new streets or campus street renovations shall be developed to encourage walking, bikes, and other non-carbon producing emissions options in transportation.
• A ride share program should be developed, if feasible, to encourage car-pooling. This program should consider partnerships with the City of Cleveland and local businesses where appropriate and feasible.

DSU Year of Green Goals for FY 2012 – 2014 approved by DSU Cabinet