College Energy Practices

Through the Dartmouth Energy Campaign we are highlighting a series of college policies and practices aimed at reducing energy consumption and conserving College resources. As a community of students, staff, and faculty we can conserve energy and reduce climate pollution by working together to raise awareness of these practices.

1. Heat & Cooling
Facilities, Operations and Management Temperature Policies

Indoor temperature settings in all spaces during occupied periods will be:
68° F during the heating season
78° F during the cooling season.
Spaces such as research facilities requiring critical temperature settings will be more tightly controlled.
These temperatures will be set by Facilities Operations & Management (FO&M) in centrally controlled systems. Occupants who control their own thermostats are required to adhere to these settings.
Temperatures fluctuate within the buildings around these set points and every effort will be made to stay within 2° F of this range.
Supplemental electric heaters shall only be issued by FO&M when necessary. These devices can be a fire hazard and will be allowed only in controlled circumstances with the authorization of FO&M.
No other use of electric heaters is allowed and unauthorized heaters will be removed.

Additional practices:

The college has conducted an audit of the 20 buildings that consume 75% of the energy on campus and is implementing the results.
An energy consultant is involved in all new building projects.
Older buildings are being renovated (where possible) to include insulation.
One residence hall uses geothermal energy from 2 wells to supply approximately 80% of heating needs during the winter season and 100% of air conditioning need during the summer.
Two residence halls have radiant floor heating.
ORL and FO&M are working to secure better power rates for residence halls where possible. This involves using a local utility for infrastructure and transmission, and buying electricity at the best rate possible from the market.

2. Water

Tap water rather than bottled water or water coolers is encouraged for campus events and in college offices. Water coolers can be replaced with alternatives such as Brita pitchers or point of service units that use tap water with the help of FO&M.
Residential buildings have front-loader, high-efficiency washing machines. Students can monitor machine availability and usage patterns and view how much water is being saved by these machines via an online monitoring system.
In some residential buildings, heat is recovered from the water that goes down the drains during showers and used to ‘preheat' incoming water through a non-contact heat exchange process.
About half of residences have ‘on-demand' hot water heaters, which save energy and space, while providing reliable hot water to students.
Low-flow shower heads and toilets are installed when units are replaced.

3. Computer & Equipment

Public terminals, classroom computers, and centrally controlled computers are being set to power down and to automatically shut-down during times when buildings are closed and during breaks.
IT staff are available to reach out to college staff and faculty to assist with power management and rescheduling of back-ups/ updates so that personal computers can be shut-down on nights and weekends.
Staff and faculty are encouraged to use space on existing servers rather than purchase new ones in order to curb energy demands for computing.
Computers sold to incoming students are pre-formatted with a set-up screen promotes energy conservation and reminds students to turn off computers when not in use.
Staff should work with Procurement Services to purchase Energy Star appliances in laboratories and offices.

4. Lighting

Through a light-switch program, lighting continuously upgraded to CFLs and LEDs in campus buildings.
Occupancy sensors are being installed in common areas across campus.
Dartmouth College has a campus-wide ban on torchiere style halogen lamps.
1,000 light-switch stickers have been installed urging people to turn off unused lights across campus.

The following suggestions have been submitted by members of the Dartmouth community and are being evaluated:

Turn off process equipment in DDS facilities during low use time
Require smart vending machines in contracts and/or use vending misers where appropriate
Create Bottle-free zones
Turn off large screen TVs in libraries and other spaces during low-occupancy hours
Virtualize public computing stations by converting existing base of public computer terminals to operate direction from central servers
Use timers or provide reminders to turn off coffee makers, printers, and copiers when leaving at night and for the weekend
Eliminate use of trays in dining halls (and the energy and expense of washing them).
Routinely shut down lab equipment when it is not in use
Update lab, dorm, and office refrigerators to Energy Star compliant models