Student group wants lights out

Walking past Posvar Hall late at night, it’s hard for students to ignore the light radiating… Walking past Posvar Hall late at night, it’s hard for students to ignore the light radiating from the building. Lectures have ended, exams have been collected and professors and faculty have gone home for the night.

So why is the interior of Posvar Hall completely illuminated at night? And just how much energy is being used?

Members from Pitt’s Engineers for a Sustainable World and Free the Planet wondered these same questions and came up with a way to find out.

Working together, the two groups have started a project where members across campus count the number of light bulbs that remain on even when classrooms aren’t in use. They then calculate the amount of energy being used and the cost with the hope that it will spread greater awareness about energy conservation.

So far, the project, tentatively named Lights Out, has calculated the energy use in Benedum, Posvar and Thackeray Halls. Their ultimate goal is to examine all buildings on campus.

Emily Broich, co-president of Free the Planet, estimated that between 5,000 and 9,000 watts of energy were being used in a single lecture hall on the first floor of Posvar Hall almost two hours after the final class had ended.

The reason for this, according to Pitt spokesperson John Fedele, is that Posvar Hall’s original lighting design “does not allow control of individual areas, but instead controls large banks of lights, making it very difficult to efficiently light the facility after hours,” he said in an e-mail.

However, changes have been proposed to alleviate this issue in campus buildings.

According to Fedele, $900,000 has been invested in lighting fixture upgrades in Posvar Hall since 2002.

The renovations are projected to save approximately 5.2 million kilowatts of electricity per year, which is enough electricity to serve about 850 homes for one year and results in an annual savings of $290,000.

Additionally, Pitt has taken steps to promote energy conservation in other ways.

“The University is currently commissioning a new steam generation plant, located behind Trees Hall, that is expected to reduce annual carbon emissions from steam generation by approximately 46 percent,” Fedele said.

The University’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine in the Southside Works recently achieved a gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is widely accepted as the standard for judging the environmental-friendliness of buildings.

According to a study by the Green Building Alliance of Pittsburgh, the McGowan Institute achieved this certification by incorporating a number of energy saving features, such as the collection and storage of rainwater for later use and the total reliance on bio-mass to supply energy for the building.

But energy conservation can also be achieved through simpler measures.

Pitt’s department of facilities management has incorporated a number of energy-saving designs into the construction of new buildings as part of its Sustainability and Green Initiatives.

Panther Hall was built to maximize exposure to the sun during the winter while minimizing it in the summer, thereby reducing heating and cooling costs, an idea supported by Engineers for a Sustainable World.

High-efficiency fluorescent lights and the use of recycled building materials are other examples of energy conservation at Pitt.

The new Darragh Street student housing complex also utilizes sustainability initiatives like natural lighting. Additionally, many buildings on campus like the Cathedral of Learning and Benedum Hall already use motion-sensor lights as a way to conserve energy.

“Facilities Management procedures dictate that occupancy sensors are provided in all spaces as renovations occur or as lighting upgrades are completed,” Fedele said.

“The University has invested aggressively in energy conservation initiatives that have resulted in over $21 million in energy cost avoidance to date,” Fedele said.

“In addition to providing significant reductions in energy usage, these initiatives have also improved the University’s mechanical and electrical infrastructure.”

One such conservation effort has been the re-commissioning of Sennott Square.

The Facilities Management website states that the goal of this project is to “identify areas where modifications to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems would provide energy savings,” with the hope that the building could also receive a LEED certification.

The estimated energy savings from this project alone would be more than $100,000, which could repay the initial investment in just two years.

However, Broich notes that, “Pitt still gets most of its energy from coal, and that is something we would obviously like to see change.”

She and others advocate the use of wind, solar, and hydro-power as a way to diversify Pitt’s energy sources.