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CLEAN
ENERGY NOW!
Spring 2002 Energy Summit Speakers
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Walter Simpson is the Energy Officer at SUNY Buffalo and the Director
of the UB Green Office. Walter has lead a campus energy conservation
program responsible for savings of over $60 million (now $9 million
annually). He was also the project manager for a demand side management
project at SUNY Buffalo that was recognized as "Energy Project
of the Year" by the Association of Energy Engineers Career
accomplishments recognized in 2000 when admitted into the Association
of Energy Engineers "Energy Managers Hall of Fame."
Presentation
View Walter Simpson's
presentation for the Spring 2002 Energy Summit.
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Interview
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Can you describe the campus greening initiatives at
the University of Buffalo? |
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At the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB),
we have actively been involved in green campus activities and programming
for over twenty years. In the early 1980's, when I got involved, the
focus was exclusively on energy conservation. Then, in the late 1980s,
we reinvigorated recycling with the encouragement and help of student
activists. In 1990 our campus Environmental Task Force was formed,
beginning a new phase of campus greening. The Task Force developed
numerous campus environmental policies which address many issues from
recycling to heating and air conditioning temperatures, green purchasing,
and even the number of phone books which should be distributed on
campus! Over the years we have bolstered our program by organizing
our Building Conservation Contacts (BCC) Network with 170 members
connecting our environmental program to nearly all offices and departments
on campus; shifting half of UB's paper consumption to 100% post-consumer
recycled process chlorine free paper; organizing our Think Green Campaign
with a variety of Think Green educational resources, green partnerships
between campus facilities, computing, libraries, residence life, food
service and other units; establishing our UB Green website, http://wings.buffalo.edu/ubgreen;
and founding the UB Green Office within University Facilities to champion
green programs with full time staff and student assistants. |
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What have you done to conserve energy at UB? |
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Our energy conservation program has a number of components
including energy policies, energy awareness within Facilities and
throughout the campus community, and energy measures and projects
(lighting, heating, cooling, motors, drives, energy management, building
shell, etc.). Many of these measures and projects are in-house and
operational. But much has also been accomplished through larger, comprehensive
projects. We completed a $17 million demand side management project
in 1997, which won recognition as the Association of Energy Engineers
“Energy Project of the Year.” We are currently developing
another large self-financing energy conservation project. We are also
starting to apply the principles of green design to new construction.
Our estimated saving from energy conservation are in excess of $60
million cumulatively and $9 million annually. |
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How important are individual choices, compared to infrastructure
investment by the university? |
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It is not either/or; you need both. Infrastructure energy improvements
are essential but will not occur unless there is top-level campus
administrative support for the energy program and strong leadership
from the facilities unit. Thus, the individual choices which are
most important are those made by campus leadership and the facilities
unit. The significance of facilities should not be underestimated.
Facilities runs the campus physical plant itself and is in the best
position to reduce its environmental impact. Of course, a successful
energy conservation program needs everyone's involvement and cooperation;
hence the individual choices of all members of the academic community
are important.
One caveat on capital improvement or infrastructure projects. New
equipment is not enough. To achieve energy savings, it must be operated
conscientiously by an organization committed to energy conservation.
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Why should university administrators care about energy
efficiency? |
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First, its the right thing to do. Energy use and waste
contribute mightily to the campus’ environmental impact. Conservation
and efficiency mean less strip mines, oil fields and spills, smog,
acid rain, and global warming. Also, less foreign energy dependency
and the awful liabilities that implies. Secondly, and perhaps of greater
importance to campus administration, is the fact that conservation
and efficiency generally mean large dollar savings, freeing up funds
for other programs on campus. Moreover, conservation projects can
be set up so that they pay for themselves with no upfront money required.
Campuses would be crazy not to do these projects just from a financial
point of view. |
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Why should students care about energy efficiency? Can
universities help lead the way towards the use of renewable energy? |
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Students should care about energy efficiency because it is an essential
ingredient for creating a society that is sustainable and can persist
without environmental degradation. Today's students are going to
have to live in this world twenty, thirty, fifty or more years from
now. Unless we, as a society, reduce our addiction to fossil fuels,
that future world will be polluted, subject to climate shifts, and
vulnerable to energy wars which conceivably could go nuclear. This
is not much of a world to look forward to. The U.S. is 4% of the
world's population and we use 25-30% of the world's annual energy
production. That is not sustainable environmentally or politically.
If campus administrators don't get it, maybe it is up to students
to see the problem and force the solutions. The good news is that
the solutions are out there; they are obvious.
Renewable energy technologies and strategies are an essential part
of the solution. Adding solar onto existing campus buildings can
be difficult-to-impossible—so that puts a premium on green
building design (building right in the first place) which utilizes
daylighting, passive solar heating and building integrated photovoltaics.
But even in the case of these renewable strategies, the first step
is efficiency, then efficiency, and more efficiency. Buildings that
derive a substantial portion of their energy from renewables will
be buildings which have low energy needs in the first place. Students
need to insist on solar designs to push the envelope. Europe is
light years ahead of us. Its time we looked beyond the fossil fuel
haze.
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