Did you know?During the summer months, Ontarians experience approximately 15 “peak energy” days, when energy is in the greatest demand.The amount of energy we use on these days typically drives a very large portion of the overall energy costs for the University. And a significant amount of the energy generated to meet this additional load comes from more emissions-intensive gas plants. As such, every action we can do to lower energy consumption during these peak times has a significant impact for ݮƵ on both energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.Today, due to the high temperature and efforts to stay cool, is expected to be a peak energy day.
How you can help:The Green IT committee invites you to help reduce energy demand by considering the implementation, typically between the hours of 3:00 and 8:00 p.m., of one or more of the following strategies:
- Shut down any unnecessary process or equipment loads, or put machines into sleep mode
- Power down or put in sleep mode any computer labs during this time
- Turn of lighting toward the end of the day, and when you leave the office
- Encourage staff to unplug laptops and use battery power for the last hour or so of the day
- Adjust cooling setpoints where possible for server rooms to ease some pressure on cooling systems
- Keep windows closed to prevent heat loss and blinds closed to prevent solar heat gain
- Use any major lab equipment earlier in the day, and avoid use or power-down during the expected peak hours
- Any other unique actions you can think of to reduce electricity consumption for that timeframe
Questions or concerns?Please contact Andrew McAlorum,amcalorum@uwaterloo.ca.