The Office of Sustainability has created a “Building Dashboard” website to show energy use in all campus buildings and to let students to better see a connection between their habits and energy consumption.
Dashboard meters that measure energy use were installed in fall 2010. The website showing energy use went online in the spring.
The site aids AU’s participation in the nationwide energy consumption contest, Campus Conservation Nationals, according to Office of Sustainability Outreach Specialist Joshua Kaplan.
“This was done so we could show students exactly what their efforts were achieving,” Kaplan said.
The Building Dashboard website can be found at buildingdashboard.net/american.
It was constructed through Lucid Design Group, a company that creates such systems for companies, institutions and residences, according to its website.
Users can view information about real-time energy use and details about energy usage in campus buildings since Oct. 31, 2010 for all of AU’s 12 residence halls and 19 academic buildings.
The dashboard also shows how much energy is produced by the solar panels on the roof of the School of International Service.
The website also features a “comparison” tab, which can be used to show per person or per square foot energy usage in the buildings.
The Office of Sustainability is also working on getting the recently installed solar panels on six campus buildings hooked up to the site.
“This is really cool!” said Scott Berman, senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and Eco-Sense president. “It allows us to see each day if what we are doing is working.”
But Berman said the site should be more publicized and made more accessible to students.
Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science Kiho Kim agreed.
“This is a great idea, but the Office of Sustainability should do much more to let people know this site is out there,” Kim said. “Awareness, when coupled with education, is a great way to involve students, and I think the office should make the connection between what students and faculty do and energy use more explicit, and have people confront this connection.”
The dashboard also uses the terms kilowatt and kilowatt-hours, measurements of energy, which can be hard to understand for the average person.
The Office of Sustainability is working to fix this problem and to increase awareness of the Building Dashboard, but they do not have concrete plans for either issue at the moment.
“On the dashboard, we rely on visuals instead to show relative energy use, either between buildings or per capita, as those things are much more relatable, particularly to people not paying electric bills,” Kaplan said.
The Office of Sustainability, Eco-Sense and other campus groups will be holding events in the near future to promote energy conservation including a wear-your-ugly-sweater competition. Results of the competitions will be posted in the dorms daily and updated online using the Building Dashboard.
The Office of Sustainability will also be using the website to tailor specific strategies to reducing AU’s energy emissions and continually track progress of their programs, according to Kaplan.
“Evidence suggests that individual behavior changes when it’s linked with consciousness about an issue, so we’re trying to move farther in that direction,” said Director of Sustainability Chris O’Brien. “As a University, we are committed to reducing our footprint as a whole, as well as training students to address issues that will impact their lives.”
During last year’s Campus Conservation Nationals in November 2010, AU reduced energy use by eight percent, according to Sustainability Coordinator Emily Curley. This amounted to a savings of $4,000 over a three-week period.
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