VU Plant Operations and the Sustainability and Environmental Management Office are reminding faculty, staff and students to power down before leaving the office or home for the July 4 holiday.
Small, collective efforts can have a large impact across the entire university.
To help conserve energy, follow these tips:
- Turn off lights in your workspace when you leave, even if only for a short period of time. Turning off your lights will save energy if you are gone for more than 30 seconds.
- Turn off lights to common areas such as kitchens, bathrooms, break rooms, classrooms and conference rooms when you leave and especially before leaving for the holiday.
- Turn off office or lab equipment. If allowed in your area, computers, printers, copiers, scanners and some lab equipment can be turned off when you leave for the holiday (or at the end of your work shift, if they will not be used again for several hours). Otherwise, activate sleep modes and energy-saving settings.
- Set thermostat settings to 76-78 degrees F. Remember also to adjust thermostats in classrooms unoccupied during the holiday.
- In laboratory spaces, close fume hood sashes when not in use or when the lab is closed over the holiday. A single fume hood running 24 hours can use the same amount of energy as a single-family home in a year.
For more information, contact Chelsea Hamilton at (615) 322-9022, or
FutureVUSustainability@vanderbilt.edu.