What can you do as a student?

Live on campus. Residence halls are setup for more efficient use of energy and water than most homes or apartments. There are also transportation friendly locations -- eliminating the need the a vehicle and with good alternataive transportation when you need to go beyond campus.

In Your Residence Hall (On-Campus Students)

• Thermostat control. The single biggest difference you can make in your residence is to turn the thermostat to 78 degrees in the summer and 65 degrees in the winter. Heating and cooling comprises about half of the energy use in a normal house. You can make the most of your manual thermostat by adjusting the temperatures daily before you leave the house and when you go to sleep at night. Typically, adjusting temperatures 5–8 degrees (down in winter, up in summer) can help save energy if you're going to be away from home for several hours.

• Shut the Window.Turn off the heating or cooling when windows are open. Report problems with heating and cooling to maintenance instead of opening windows.

• Use Common Areas.Instead of bringing a microwave, TV, etc use those provided in common areas. You'll seave energy. Any appliance with an LED consumes power at all times -- whether in"full" use or not.

• Unplug when not in use.Use power strips to turn off appliances when not in use. Chargers or devices with LED consumer power when they are plugged in, whether in "full" use or not. It's called phantom power. more on Phantom Power

• EnergyStar. Energy Star appliances must meet strict energy efficiency standards set by the EPA and the DOE to help protect the environment through increased efficiency products and practices. more...

• More tips on energy conservation in residence halls....more...

In Your Laboratory

• Shut the SashChemical Fume Hoods in laboratories can save lives but they are a huge energy hog. The single most important thing you can do in a laboratory with a chemical fume hood is to lower the sash when you are not actively using the fume hood. Seriously, we are talking that a single buildng, like the Ford Engineering and Science Building with many hundreds of labs, can save thousands of dollars every month of energy costs by lowering sashses. Want some data?