OU attempts to reduce energy used

by Brittany Yingling
Staff Writer

Ohio University officials are asking for students and employees to help save around $500,000 in energy costs next year.

"Our appetite for electricity has just skyrocketed in the past six to seven years," said Ted Fares, OU's director of engineering and technical support. "And it's going to continue."

OU's electric bill was $4.1 million last year, Fares said. It is expected to increase to roughly $4.8 million by the 2001-2002 school year.

OU's bill will increase about 6 to 7 percent in May because of electricity deregulation in Ohio, Fares said.

"We're at a point where we need to start saving," he said.

OU's Facilities Management has teamed up with VESTAR, a company from Cincinnati that will complete and pay the initial costs for an energy-saving project, Fares said. OU will repay VESTAR for the project within 10 years, using the money the university saves on electricity.

The first of five one-year phases began June 2000, said Andy Sinozich, site manager at VESTAR. This involved replacing lights, upgrading heating and ventilation systems and improving water conservation.

Heating in residence halls is inefficient, Fares said. Energy is lost when high temperatures in the halls cause students to open windows.

The first restorations affected nine buildings, including Alden Library, Stocker Center, Lausche Heating Plant and Boyd, Grosvenor, Irvine, James, Morton and Parks Halls, Sinozich said.

This phase will cost VESTAR $4.2 million in improvements, Fares said. The second phase will cost between $4.8 and $5.2 million and will begin April 1.

"OU will reap the benefits of the savings," he said.

After the five phases are completed, OU should save $2.5 million per year in energy costs, Fares said.

OU President Robert Glidden said at the Faculty Senate meeting Monday he wants students to shut off their computers at night.

Some students said they do not think about turning off their computers.

"We leave (the computer) on pretty much all the time," OU freshman Whitney Marken said. "We use it a lot during the day and we just don't turn it off at night."

OU sophomore Karissa Potter said she probably will comply with Glidden's request.

"Probably, (we will turn it off)," said sophomore Karissa Potter. "Usually, I don't even think about turning it off."

If more students turned off their computers, it would save money, Fares said. OU has about 4,500 computers in students' rooms on the Athens campus.

Using a computer costs about $130 per year, said Karyn Kaplan, recycling program manager at the University of Oregon.

But if users turn off a computer at night and on weekends, it costs only $31 per year, she said. And if the computer is turned off whenever it is not used, it costs $12 per year, she said.

"It's the monitors that takes up more juice than the computers do," said Adam Yulish, an OU computer support technician.