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Cash-strapped colleges ask students to cut power
Energy costs are too high, schools say
By Margarita Bauza / The Detroit News
East Lansing -- Every time Michigan State University junior Elizabeth Reamer leaves her dorm room, a sticker glued to her light switch reminds her to shut it off. She's happy to obey, for

Dale G. Young / The Detroit News
MSU junior Elizabeth Reamer says she is happy to cut back on power usage for environmental reasons.

environmental reasons, and she figures it will help save tuition money in the long run. "It's really important for us to do this," said Reamer, whose room has a television set, VCR, refrigerator, microwave, computer, printer and several lamps.
"If we cut back, we'll make it better for everyone."
Reamer, of Monroe, is among thousands of Michigan college students returning this week to campuses less tolerant of the unrestrained use of electricity.
With state higher education funding increases now in jeopardy and tuition on the rise, administrators are tackling a costly and quickly rising aspect of their budget: power.
Energy consumption on campuses has skyrocketed in the past decade. At MSU alone, electricity use rose from 175,000 megawatts in 1989 to 225,000 in 1999. MSU's fuel budget has doubled, from $11.6 million in 1990 to $21.4 million in 2001.
Administrators attribute the rise in part to inflation, but more to the costs of running facilities with advanced technologies, computer systems and cooling systems needed to sustain them.
In addition, freshmen are required to have their own computers, which they run constantly, plus a slew of other electronic equipment -- and no friendly parental reminders to power it off when it's not in use.
"All that heavy-duty science requires energy," said Fred Poston, MSU vice-president for finance and operations and treasurer.

Dale G. Young / The Detroit News
Reamer typically has a television, VCR, refrigerator, microwave, computer, printer and several lamps in her dorm room.

Computers skyrocket
Computer use on campus has skyrocketed since the 1980s and it's been a challenge to get students to turn them off, Poston said.
"We've had a continual increase in energy consumption," Poston said.
MSU's conservation goal is to cut energy use 10 percent for an annual savings of $1 million.
That seems like small change in MSU's $650.7-million operating budget. But administrators say the small savings is an important element in the larger campaign to make campuses greener.
"We're asking for voluntary behavioral changes ... turning lights off, turning off computers, turning down the thermostat," said director of utilities Bob Ellerhorst.
"The hard part is convincing people. We're not going to attempt to force anyone to make big changes."

Small changes large
Even small changes can lead to significant savings, studies show.
Shutting down faculty and staff PCs at night can save about $300,000 a year; turning down thermostats one or two degrees can save $175,000, said Kristan Tetens of MSU's conservation initiative.

The University of Michigan has a conservation drive that began several years ago, and there's a renewed effort to enlist student help.
Conservation programs, such as sensors that shut lights off in vacant rooms, have averaged savings of $4.2 million a year, said William Verge, associate director for utilities and plant engineering.
U-M's initiative, called Energy Star, calls for upgrades to lighting and mechanical systems, and a variety of campus-wide energy conservation measures. The effort began in 1997.
Lighting changes in 10 million square feet of U-M building space will reduce costs by an estimated 30 percent. Additional savings come from mechanical tune-ups to fans, pumps and thermostats in 119 buildings.

Promoting conservation
The students, faculty and staff need to pitch in, Verge said.
"We've never been able to stop the growth entirely," he said. "Students have a lot more electrical equipment nowadays. But we think (behavioral changes) can have a very positive effect."
New this month at U-M's residence halls is Ecolympics, a contest in which each dorm compete with others to lower energy usage.
The residence halls are promoting conservation, said Alan Levy, director of housing public affairs.
Dorm residents are asked to turn off lights, eliminate halogen lamps, shut off computers, forgo screen savers and open blinds to let daylight replace lamps.
They're also urged to cut down food waste, Levy said.
"Other efforts deal with purchasing products that are environmentally friendly, that are less toxic and do less damage," he added.
Reamer, the MSU political science student, believes she's helping conserve energy by changing her habits. But she fears others will need constant reminders.
"We pay for everything," Reamer said. "If we cut back, we make it better for everyone.
"People tend to leave their computers on all the whole time. Some (students) are really interested in helping out. People are willing to shut off the light when they leave and stuff like that.
"We just need to make everyone aware."

You can reach Margarita Bauza at (313) 222-2311 or mbauza@detnews.com.

This story appeared in the Detroit News 09-JAN-02.
Click here for the original online version.